Texas: Minimum Wage

[00:00:00] So look, if you're servicing, if you're a payroll professional, you are servicing employees that reside in Texas, right?

[00:00:06] Or that are employed in Texas, right?

[00:00:08] You want to be understanding of the fact that, look, these people may be getting paid federal minimum wage of $7.25.

[00:00:15] Or if they're a tipped employee, maybe the tipped wage is a little bit lower than that, even though it has to add up to the federal minimum wage at the end of the day.

[00:00:23] But you want to be more understanding of that because there's a stat out there that I looked up that said that the recommended income to live comfortably in Texas is between $56,000 to $80,000.

[00:00:39] $725 times $28,000.

[00:00:41] Welcome back, folks.

[00:00:42] This is episode, is it 125?

[00:00:46] 125, yep.

[00:00:48] All right.

[00:00:48] Because we took a little break, if y'all notice.

[00:00:50] A well-deserved break.

[00:00:51] Before we get into all of it, man, what is good, Walt?

[00:00:54] How you doing, sir?

[00:00:55] What's good, William?

[00:00:56] How you doing, William, sir?

[00:00:57] Walter Williams.

[00:01:00] WD?

[00:01:01] Yeah.

[00:01:02] W.

[00:01:02] Yeah.

[00:01:03] We had a funny story.

[00:01:05] Like, we talked about it with some guys earlier, and then Brian's going to be a perfect segue for Brian to announce something for us.

[00:01:12] But we were having a conversation with some gentlemen earlier today about Brian met me when I was still going by my first name.

[00:01:19] But everybody that knows me, has known me for a long time, has called me by my middle name or Bill for short.

[00:01:26] Because it's William, Bill, short for long.

[00:01:27] Your mom is the one.

[00:01:29] You told me when you said your mom told you Bill.

[00:01:31] I was like, another name, bro?

[00:01:34] Like, what?

[00:01:35] Yeah.

[00:01:36] So, like, everybody in my family knows me as Bill or William or Will, you know, whatever.

[00:01:41] So I was like, you know what?

[00:01:41] And I'm going to start going by William from now on.

[00:01:44] And then this is either Brian and I reconnected and he was like, bruh, I can't do it.

[00:01:50] I was like, how am I going to do that?

[00:01:51] I'm always going to call you Walt.

[00:01:52] Like, I met you as Walter.

[00:01:53] You know, it was tough.

[00:01:55] But then, and it was all, you know, and I know you were just joking or whatnot, but like, he was like, oh, something about respect.

[00:02:01] And I was like, no, it was all love.

[00:02:03] Cause like, I was just, I know you as Walter.

[00:02:06] But William is good.

[00:02:08] William, we can go William, man.

[00:02:10] Willie.

[00:02:10] Slit Willie.

[00:02:11] I tried it already.

[00:02:13] I'm just going to go with Sticker Walt.

[00:02:15] Sticker Walt.

[00:02:16] That's it.

[00:02:17] The codename William D.

[00:02:20] Willie D.

[00:02:21] Willie D.

[00:02:21] Code name Willie D.

[00:02:23] No doubt.

[00:02:24] Billy D.

[00:02:26] Yeah.

[00:02:27] So perfect segue for Brian to the little snow.

[00:02:29] And I, and I teased it on a little drop that we did, or I dropped while we were, so we took two weeks off and, but it was, it, the evolution of things have been right on time.

[00:02:41] Look, we just got signed to a new network work defined.

[00:02:47] Go check it out.

[00:02:48] Well, the links will be in the show notes and it's a business network, right?

[00:02:53] As we fill in, as we fall right into and fit right into as far as this, the podcast is concerned, both podcasts, right?

[00:03:03] Paycheck and payroll.

[00:03:04] It's about your paycheck.

[00:03:05] It's about payroll.

[00:03:07] And we're talking about these things.

[00:03:09] We're super honored and excited to be a part of this new network.

[00:03:13] There's a bunch of good shows on the network.

[00:03:16] Pete, I got to look at his name every time to pronounce it.

[00:03:19] And tell the Yakos, um, Pete and Julie payroll, HR 2.0.

[00:03:24] We did a swap cast with them earlier.

[00:03:27] And these folks reached out to us, man.

[00:03:29] And they were like, guys, we've been hearing about you from other folks.

[00:03:31] And we were like, what?

[00:03:32] Oh man.

[00:03:33] So it was just a tremendous honor and, and just the right fit for us to keep evolving the show.

[00:03:41] So you'll hear more from that.

[00:03:43] We're going to have the owners on the show at some point.

[00:03:45] We got to, we're going to plan it up, William and Ryan, like how crazy, right?

[00:03:51] William and Ryan.

[00:03:52] And yeah, man, we super excited about it.

[00:03:55] And that's the big announcement and more to come.

[00:03:59] We'll keep elevating the show as we keep trying to deliver a really great product for our listeners,

[00:04:06] both on the payroll side and the paycheck side.

[00:04:09] And yeah, man, that's it.

[00:04:10] How are you feeling about it?

[00:04:12] I'm excited.

[00:04:13] Always looking to grow and to change and evolve and deliver a good product to people.

[00:04:20] So we're going to continue to do that.

[00:04:21] We're going to continue to do our best to remain relevant and to remain as loudspeakers for payroll.

[00:04:28] And for employees.

[00:04:30] No doubt.

[00:04:30] Yeah.

[00:04:31] That's how I feel about it.

[00:04:33] Dope.

[00:04:34] Dope.

[00:04:34] Yeah.

[00:04:35] So with that being said, let's get into it today.

[00:04:37] We're talking about taxes.

[00:04:40] We're continuing our series on state, on employee.

[00:04:44] How can we say?

[00:04:46] Things employees need to start thinking about and being savvy about as it goes state to state.

[00:04:51] We cover some things on California.

[00:04:52] We're doing it in order of how many W-2s and W-2s, W-2 employees exist in that state.

[00:04:59] Because we're like, what order do we do it in?

[00:05:02] And let the data drive your decisions, right?

[00:05:06] Folks, if you're having trouble figuring things out, let data help you figure it out.

[00:05:10] And the data was California was first and most employees in the state.

[00:05:14] And then New York and then Texas.

[00:05:16] We're going to circle back because we're continuing to evolve and just refine how we do this.

[00:05:22] And today we're talking about Texas minimum wage.

[00:05:26] Just the minimum wage, right?

[00:05:28] Because there's so many little nuances and things that an employee should understand and should know, be aware of, be savvy about.

[00:05:36] And then, of course, naturally for payroll pros, you're going to hear it and be like, whoa, what?

[00:05:40] I didn't even know that.

[00:05:42] So before we get into that, we can cover some pay news updates.

[00:05:47] And I think you are up first, Walt, with yours.

[00:05:50] Yeah, mine's going to be short and sweet.

[00:05:53] It's about a Texas man that was sent to prison for defrauding over $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

[00:06:02] So like the PPP loan?

[00:06:04] Yeah.

[00:06:05] Yeah, a lot of companies did that.

[00:06:08] That was from Houston.

[00:06:09] He was sentenced to four years in federal prison for some little fraudulent small business administration, SBA, paycheck protection program.

[00:06:18] Like you said, the PPP loan application documents and collecting money for personal use.

[00:06:23] So yeah.

[00:06:24] Zane Khan was a 43-year-old resident of Sugar Land with sentenced on August 7th of this year in the U.S. District Court of Southern.

[00:06:35] The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas for four years, like I said, in federal prison, immediately followed by three years of supervised release.

[00:06:45] He pled guilty to wire fraud on April 10th.

[00:06:49] And he was ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution to the SBA.

[00:06:56] Dang.

[00:06:57] Yeah.

[00:06:58] But wait, he stole $1 million.

[00:07:00] What did he say?

[00:07:00] He stole $1 million?

[00:07:02] Over $1 million.

[00:07:03] Yep.

[00:07:04] So what is it?

[00:07:05] I wonder.

[00:07:05] I'm not, I don't know.

[00:07:06] But what, is he serving the time because he can't pay the restitution?

[00:07:10] Or is it both?

[00:07:12] I think it's both.

[00:07:12] He has to pay it.

[00:07:13] He has to do the time and he has to pay it back.

[00:07:15] And he has to pay it back?

[00:07:16] Yeah.

[00:07:17] So you paying a little, he's going to be paying a note for the rest of his life.

[00:07:22] And he's a fellow.

[00:07:23] He has something on it.

[00:07:24] Unless he has a sale.

[00:07:25] He invested.

[00:07:26] Yeah, unless he invested word up, right?

[00:07:28] If he was smart, he flipped it.

[00:07:30] Oh, but gosh, man.

[00:07:33] Look, and that's what we trying to.

[00:07:35] I do not control.

[00:07:37] Look, I, if y'all want to go to prison, y'all go right ahead.

[00:07:40] But I am not trying to get to prison.

[00:07:43] That's part of the true crime stuff.

[00:07:45] And why we share this stuff is don't do this.

[00:07:48] You're gunning at court.

[00:07:50] It's especially with the money and like these, especially with all the digital stuff right now.

[00:07:55] Yes, you took the bus.

[00:07:57] Right?

[00:07:58] How are you getting away with, you're not getting away with it.

[00:08:01] You're not, I'm sorry.

[00:08:02] You're not getting away.

[00:08:02] It's not back in the day where you could steal and nobody know.

[00:08:06] There's so much paper trail.

[00:08:08] There's so much little digital stamps of things and your phone is listening and the cameras are watching.

[00:08:15] Get out of here, man.

[00:08:17] You better off just trying to, a legit hustle.

[00:08:21] I don't get it.

[00:08:22] I don't get it.

[00:08:23] But all right, cool.

[00:08:24] Thanks for that.

[00:08:24] You got it.

[00:08:25] Mine, so mine is something near and dear to me is I always talk about how remote work gets a bad rap.

[00:08:32] Like I hate the rap that remote work gets because I strived in remote work.

[00:08:37] I was whole for four years.

[00:08:39] I strived and thrived in remote work.

[00:08:41] Both of us, you as well.

[00:08:42] We got promoted.

[00:08:44] You still, you know what I'm saying?

[00:08:45] And I'm in hybrid now, which is cool.

[00:08:48] I like hybrid.

[00:08:49] And, but even that now companies are, I think, what was it?

[00:08:53] Amazon or Google.

[00:08:54] One of them, one big company mandated a return to work mandate full, not hybrid, full return to work.

[00:09:01] And when you who, this article in Texas, because we're talking about Texas is University of Texas basically is striking because they tried to do a mandate return to work.

[00:09:13] And they're saying, well, we got to go back to work.

[00:09:16] Then we want $10,000 more.

[00:09:18] It's a union.

[00:09:19] And, and I think, yeah, the, the, the show, the link will be in show notes and you can dig in on it.

[00:09:26] My point is, I think that's a valid argument.

[00:09:28] If you've been home for whoever knows how long or like the, for me, my point is there's a, and to, to employers as well.

[00:09:37] It's, wait a minute, you might even have employees that'll take less to stay home a hundred percent.

[00:09:45] Have you ever been to a webinar where the topic was great, but there wasn't enough time to ask questions or have a dialogue to learn more?

[00:09:51] Well, welcome to HR and payroll 2.0, the podcast where those post webinar questions become episodes.

[00:09:56] We feature HR practitioners, leaders, and founders of HR, payroll, and workplace innovation and transformation, sharing their insights and lessons learned from the trenches.

[00:10:05] We dig in to share the knowledge and tips that can help modern HR and payroll leaders navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead.

[00:10:11] So join us for highly authentic, unscripted conversations and let's learn together.

[00:10:16] You know what I'm saying?

[00:10:17] Hey, you could drop my salary a bit because think about the wear and tear, the commute.

[00:10:23] Talked about this on this, on paycheck show a million times about the expenses that go into having to commute to work because it's not just gas and car maintenance.

[00:10:33] It could be tolls as well, parking as well.

[00:10:36] What if you have little ones?

[00:10:38] What if you have a pet?

[00:10:38] Yes, we talked about.

[00:10:40] Yeah, thank you.

[00:10:40] Talked about all those different things.

[00:10:41] Yes.

[00:10:42] Oh, it was like 50 to $70 a day that you spend because you have to commute.

[00:10:48] My thing is also eating out because not everybody is diligent about bringing food and it took me a lifetime to do it.

[00:10:57] What?

[00:10:57] But think about it because if you do have to travel and say one way, you have to drive an hour or two, getting up early in the morning and then you're getting home late at night.

[00:11:10] Yep.

[00:11:11] Most people are not going to want to cook.

[00:11:13] Nope.

[00:11:14] Or anything.

[00:11:15] So they're going to order something.

[00:11:17] Yep.

[00:11:17] And they're going to order the next day too.

[00:11:19] Yep.

[00:11:20] So this is going to be a vicious cycle for some people.

[00:11:22] Exactly.

[00:11:23] Yeah, of course.

[00:11:24] But see, for me, when I was in New York, and of course some places lend more to it than others, but when I was commuting to Manhattan from Queens, man, there was so many little things to eat along the way.

[00:11:40] I would go get out of work and I got an hour and a half commute home.

[00:11:45] So I'm like, I get out of work.

[00:11:46] I'm grabbing a hot dog.

[00:11:47] I'm grabbing a slice of pizza, street food, quick things.

[00:11:51] There's a million quick things, a shish kebab, falafel, kebabs, whatever, shawarma, they call it.

[00:11:56] Oh, street, street meat.

[00:11:58] We called it too.

[00:12:00] And it was all, and then that added in.

[00:12:02] Even when I brought food, I was still one of my jobs.

[00:12:06] We had a weekly breakfast deal.

[00:12:10] So every Friday, somebody on the team bought breakfast for everybody.

[00:12:15] And it was a collective.

[00:12:17] And this was a few years ago, so sandwiches were still fairly cheap.

[00:12:20] I remember it wasn't more than 30 or 40 bucks.

[00:12:23] It was like a good eight of us that had sandwiches.

[00:12:26] They all had breakfast sandwiches.

[00:12:28] And everybody got what they wanted.

[00:12:30] And it cycled through.

[00:12:31] So you really, you only ended up buying like every six weeks.

[00:12:36] It was like on the next, maybe even two months because it was so many people.

[00:12:41] Like you, so you got breakfast every Friday, but you only had to pay once per whenever your time was up.

[00:12:47] So things like that came up.

[00:12:49] We did that.

[00:12:49] So it was so many little things.

[00:12:51] But anywho.

[00:12:53] Yeah, just that's my folks getting mad about it.

[00:12:56] People, some people like it.

[00:12:57] One of the things that we talked about was like, what was it?

[00:13:00] Only 30% of the workforce actually worked home.

[00:13:03] That was a, that was a, how can I say?

[00:13:06] An awake, like a.

[00:13:08] Eye opening.

[00:13:08] An eye opening.

[00:13:09] Thank you.

[00:13:09] Yeah.

[00:13:10] It was an eye opening moment because I was like, damn, I thought it was more.

[00:13:13] But it was only that.

[00:13:14] So it's, I've gotten more lax with it.

[00:13:16] All right, we got to go back to work.

[00:13:18] In my immediate family, I'm the only one that's fully remote.

[00:13:21] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:22] My sister, she works for a while, yeah.

[00:13:24] Yep.

[00:13:25] Sometimes the most issues go into the office.

[00:13:27] My brother goes into his job.

[00:13:29] My mom goes into her job for work when they have to commute.

[00:13:33] Right?

[00:13:33] So.

[00:13:34] Yep.

[00:13:34] Like, if you take that, one of four people, that's 25%.

[00:13:39] What about 30%, right?

[00:13:40] Yep.

[00:13:41] No, same here, man.

[00:13:42] Same here.

[00:13:43] Yeah.

[00:13:43] Anywho, that was my share.

[00:13:46] What?

[00:13:47] Next.

[00:13:47] Let's pay the bills, sir.

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[00:14:45] That's T-I-M-E-T-R-A-K-Go.com.

[00:14:51] Let's go.

[00:14:52] Let's go.

[00:14:55] Let's go.

[00:14:56] And then now for the main event.

[00:14:59] Now for the juicy bits.

[00:15:01] Now for the juicy, for the nugget.

[00:15:05] So we're talking about, again, we're talking about Texas and specifically minimum wage.

[00:15:10] Yeah.

[00:15:10] And Texas, and the reason it's, anywho, Texas is one of those states where what makes it interesting,

[00:15:18] and I've talked about this topic many times, it's a state that does not withhold income tax for the state.

[00:15:27] They have it on a federal level, of course.

[00:15:30] If you're a W-2 employee, 99% of people have to pay federal taxes.

[00:15:35] There are some exemptions there.

[00:15:36] We should actually talk about that one day.

[00:15:39] But on the state level, there's only like nine states that don't do income tax at a state level.

[00:15:47] Now it's a double-edged sword because, yeah, you don't pay income tax,

[00:15:57] but employees don't actually have a governing body that protects them,

[00:16:02] that advocates, that acts on their behalf to get legislation and laws and things passed for their protection.

[00:16:11] Think about California.

[00:16:12] Think about New York and all of the other 40-some-odd states that have it, right?

[00:16:20] They have a protecting body.

[00:16:22] And California is a great example because they're super employee-centric,

[00:16:26] meaning they really advocate for the employee, they protect the employee.

[00:16:31] So yes, you're saving money, but on the flip side,

[00:16:35] you don't have anybody kind of making sure you're making more money or doing any protection.

[00:16:41] So Texas is one of those.

[00:16:42] So minimum point, a long way to say, long-winded way to say,

[00:16:45] the minimum wage in Texas is the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

[00:16:51] And that right there is your first downside.

[00:16:54] Whereas if you look at California and you look at New York,

[00:16:58] no, the minimum wages are double that.

[00:17:00] And it varies where you are in both those states.

[00:17:04] Like some towns in New York City or rather industries are more money,

[00:17:10] all these things.

[00:17:11] So I really wanted to dig into minimum wage in Texas and really highlight,

[00:17:18] look, minimum wage is only $7.25 in Texas.

[00:17:20] Sure, the standard of living is going to match and kind of be lower because of that.

[00:17:26] But not always, right?

[00:17:29] And it's still with all the prices and everything.

[00:17:31] With that being said, there are some exemptions to that rule,

[00:17:37] meaning there are some categories that they don't even have to pay minimum wage.

[00:17:42] So that's what I have to cover for us today.

[00:17:45] And I'm just going to share some of the categories that don't even have to pay the $7.25 minimum wage.

[00:17:52] So if you're in Texas, these are little things to be mindful of,

[00:17:56] both as an employee, if you're looking for a new job,

[00:17:59] and as a payroller, if you're servicing these industries.

[00:18:04] And if you're like, wait, why is they getting less than $7.25?

[00:18:07] You may know already, if you're a payroll or about to go into Texas,

[00:18:11] be mindful because these things can happen.

[00:18:14] So some of the...

[00:18:15] Before we move on, I need to let you know about my friend Mark Pfeffer and his show, People Tech.

[00:18:21] If you're looking for the latest on product development, marketing, funding,

[00:18:26] big deals happening in talent acquisition, HR, HCM,

[00:18:31] that's the show you need to listen to.

[00:18:34] Go to the Work Defined Network, search up People Tech, Mark Pfeffer.

[00:18:38] You can find them anywhere.

[00:18:41] The categories that don't have to pay the minimum wage are if you're a member of a religious order.

[00:18:49] And of course, it's while you're performing the religious duties.

[00:18:52] If you're under 18, you don't have to get minimum wage of a $7.25.

[00:18:58] If you're a bona fide executive administrator or professional,

[00:19:02] or you're commissioned outside salesperson or collector,

[00:19:07] if you're an elected official or member of a legislative body.

[00:19:13] Let me say that again because I bobbled it a bit.

[00:19:16] An elected official or member of a legislative body.

[00:19:20] While you're performing those services, not just because,

[00:19:23] it's so they don't have to pay you minimum wage.

[00:19:25] This one is if you're a babysitter or a personal caregiver in a private home,

[00:19:32] if you are in the state penitentiary or the local jail and you're doing stuff for them,

[00:19:38] you don't have to get minimum wage.

[00:19:40] I think that was kind of obvious, right?

[00:19:42] But hey, just so you know, if you're a volunteer or a non-employee,

[00:19:46] that would kind of seem obvious too because it's,

[00:19:48] duh, you're a volunteer or non-employee, but they spell it out.

[00:19:51] Yeah, just in case.

[00:19:53] Heck yeah, just in case you don't know.

[00:19:55] Now you know.

[00:19:56] What else?

[00:19:57] If you're a husband and wife employed by a non-for-profit educational institution,

[00:20:02] parents of children, that's,

[00:20:04] I always tell people that there are no such thing as child labor laws when it comes to your child.

[00:20:08] If your child works for you, the child labor laws don't apply.

[00:20:12] So this is another one there as well.

[00:20:14] This one was interesting.

[00:20:16] Handicapped persons under 21.

[00:20:19] Okay.

[00:20:19] And then what else we got?

[00:20:20] We got also employees of certain amusement or recreational establishments,

[00:20:24] employees of boys and girl scouts of America and employees of camps.

[00:20:31] And let's see what else.

[00:20:34] Maybe some non-profit, dairy farming employees.

[00:20:38] Agriculture.

[00:20:39] Well, see the agriculture one, you got to check out because there it depends.

[00:20:46] That's another one where there's exceptions to that exception.

[00:20:49] And then I think that's really it.

[00:20:51] That's all I'm going to cover.

[00:20:52] For the rest, go look it up.

[00:20:54] If you still want to know, that's basically 99% of it.

[00:20:57] And then the rest kind of gets a little granular and gets a little Vietnamese.

[00:21:02] You know what I mean?

[00:21:03] So you got to kind of go look it up.

[00:21:04] But if you're going into Texas, please be aware that there are some exceptions.

[00:21:08] And if you're an employee, don't get jobs in these areas because you can get paid less.

[00:21:13] Right?

[00:21:13] Don't get...

[00:21:14] I don't know what...

[00:21:15] Look, that's what your school levels at.

[00:21:17] Try not to.

[00:21:18] Well, if you have to and you're okay with living that, you can make ends meet doing that.

[00:21:23] Yeah.

[00:21:24] For your life.

[00:21:25] Look, look, look.

[00:21:26] You're right.

[00:21:27] You have to go in there with an understanding of what you may be paid.

[00:21:33] Right?

[00:21:33] Yes.

[00:21:33] So going there equipped and understanding, that's just my opinion.

[00:21:37] Right?

[00:21:38] No.

[00:21:39] Absolutely.

[00:21:40] No, that's a good one.

[00:21:41] That's a good one.

[00:21:48] Go ahead.

[00:21:49] No, in any state for that matter.

[00:21:51] This is the point.

[00:21:52] In any state you're in, there's these exceptions.

[00:21:55] Go look at that.

[00:21:57] If somebody offers you a crazy rate and then you're like, what?

[00:21:59] How much?

[00:22:00] To go keep savvy around what's going on in your state because it could be, that could be it.

[00:22:06] That's all I had.

[00:22:07] And look, I'm just going to touch on the employee piece a little bit because Brian talked to the minimum wage piece of it is like really who's involved in something that you may have known as a payroll professional.

[00:22:19] You may not know.

[00:22:19] Or if you're an employee listening to this and you're thinking about like Brian's point, to Brian's point, you're thinking about going into a certain sector or industry.

[00:22:28] This is something for you to potentially learn about.

[00:22:30] And look, minimum wage.

[00:22:33] I'm just joking.

[00:22:34] The federal minimum wage, look, really, if it's federal minimum wage, usually impacts the hourly folks, right?

[00:22:43] Because salary folks do have a set or fixed pay.

[00:22:46] And there's a threshold, a salary threshold, if you're classified as a salary employee in Texas, that employer has to require.

[00:22:55] Yep.

[00:22:56] What do you got to say?

[00:22:56] No, Texas was trying to fight that though.

[00:22:59] Yeah, I know.

[00:22:59] So that's another thing, right?

[00:23:00] Texas was trying to fight that.

[00:23:02] Be careful where you at.

[00:23:03] Be employees.

[00:23:04] And that's what I really love about it.

[00:23:06] Employees, beware.

[00:23:07] Look up the stuff that's happening in your state.

[00:23:09] Yep.

[00:23:10] Listen to the show.

[00:23:11] Get that free game.

[00:23:12] So you have to really understand if you are making a minimum wage, what are things you could leverage as an employee?

[00:23:18] You need to know what the rest and meal breaks are and what employers can legally do and what they can't legally do.

[00:23:27] Yes.

[00:23:28] You know, and they're required to provide you with paid meal breaks or unpaid meal breaks or rest breaks, right?

[00:23:35] Yes.

[00:23:35] You know, because there might be some exceptions for certain job categories.

[00:23:40] Yep.

[00:23:40] That's all right.

[00:23:41] And like to Brian's point, you want to understand what your employer-employee rights are.

[00:23:45] Right?

[00:23:46] You may have some rights regarding minimum wage.

[00:23:48] Like you may have some leave entitlements, FNLA entitlements, right?

[00:23:52] Workplace safety.

[00:23:53] You need to be, if they're paying you that little, then hey, they should make sure that you're safe.

[00:23:59] At least safe on the job that you're doing, right?

[00:24:01] Right.

[00:24:01] Conditions that you're doing your job.

[00:24:03] Yep.

[00:24:03] You want to make sure that you're protected against discrimination and retaliation.

[00:24:07] So you want to understand those things as an employee.

[00:24:11] And even as a payroll pro, understand, hey, you may be servicing someone, to your point, Brian, they may be servicing someone that is paid federal minimum wage.

[00:24:21] Especially if you're a new employee and this is your first job.

[00:24:24] And that's a big, we all have heard the stories, right?

[00:24:28] Unfortunately, I lost someone in my family.

[00:24:29] I had to drop out of school.

[00:24:31] I had to get a job.

[00:24:32] I had to do this.

[00:24:33] Something happened in life that I had to step up and start working.

[00:24:38] And this is the first, this is the only job.

[00:24:40] I didn't have any skills.

[00:24:41] I didn't have any experience.

[00:24:43] This is the only job that I could get.

[00:24:44] And it's paying $725.

[00:24:46] And they had to bust their hump and work long hours to know to be able to do that.

[00:24:50] So it's advantageous for you as an employee and for you as a payroll person to understand this.

[00:24:57] And as a payroll person to be more understanding of that as well.

[00:25:01] So if there is an error, it's somebody's paycheck.

[00:25:04] If there is something like an hour could make or break somebody.

[00:25:08] A PTO day that's not paid could make or break somebody's, you know, day or whatever.

[00:25:14] You know what I'm saying?

[00:25:14] So one thing is you want to consider as an hour employee.

[00:25:18] You want to consider what overtime rules you're entitled to.

[00:25:21] One and a half times the irregular rate of hours for 40 hours worked in a week.

[00:25:25] What's that story that, that the situation that I talked about years ago where the manager was changing the employee's hours to get the budget beneath.

[00:25:33] That happens all the time.

[00:25:35] I hear that so much in every job.

[00:25:37] Like that's like a thing.

[00:25:40] Like I walk into new jobs.

[00:25:42] Like what are these managers doing?

[00:25:43] Yep.

[00:25:44] Yep.

[00:25:45] Cause they all think they could do it is no.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:49] Yeah.

[00:25:49] So that's the thing you need to consider, right?

[00:25:52] Yes.

[00:25:52] Especially as the employee.

[00:25:53] So look, if you're servicing, if you're a payroll professional and you are servicing employees that reside in Texas.

[00:26:00] Yes.

[00:26:00] Or that are employed in Texas, right?

[00:26:02] You want to be understanding of the fact that look, these people may be getting paid federal minimum wage of 725.

[00:26:10] Or if they're a tipped employee, they may, the tipped wage is a little bit lower than that.

[00:26:14] Even though it has to add up to the federal minimum wage at the end of the day.

[00:26:18] But you want to be more understanding of that because there's a stat out there that I looked up.

[00:26:23] It said that to the recommended income to live comfortably in Texas, it is between 56,000 to $80,000.

[00:26:32] You have a 25 times 28.

[00:26:34] Wait, yeah.

[00:26:35] What's that?

[00:26:36] 14,000, 15,000.

[00:26:38] Maybe when you're 15 starts.

[00:26:40] Yeah.

[00:26:41] That's the, a little trick for employees.

[00:26:44] The hourly rate doubled and you add all the zeros is your, is like the annual.

[00:26:49] So $7 an hour, double that as $14.

[00:26:53] 14,000 is probably the, is the annual.

[00:26:56] Roughly.

[00:26:56] Think about that.

[00:26:57] It's not a lot.

[00:26:58] And they look way below the, you, you need five people in the house to, to live comfortable.

[00:27:04] And yeah, I don't know what's going on.

[00:27:06] Uh, it's crazy.

[00:27:08] So think about it.

[00:27:09] So 725 times 40 is probably 290, maybe something like that in a week.

[00:27:15] That's it?

[00:27:16] Yeah.

[00:27:17] It's not much.

[00:27:18] Hi there.

[00:27:19] I'm Peter Zollman.

[00:27:21] I'm a co-host of the Inside Job Boards and Recruitment Marketplaces podcast.

[00:27:26] And I'm Steven Rothberg.

[00:27:27] And I guess that makes me the other co-host.

[00:27:29] Every other week, we're joined by guests from the world's leading job sites.

[00:27:33] Together, we analyze news about general niche and aggregator job board and recruitment marketplaces sites.

[00:27:39] Make sure you sign up and subscribe today.

[00:27:43] Go seven times.

[00:27:45] Seven times four is 28.

[00:27:47] Walt's good in his head like that, but I got to do the Excel.

[00:27:50] I'm so dependent on Excel.

[00:27:52] Hold on.

[00:27:52] See how my screen lit up?

[00:27:54] Hold on.

[00:27:55] 725.

[00:27:56] Times 40.

[00:27:57] Times 40.

[00:27:59] Exactly right.

[00:28:00] 290 a week.

[00:28:01] Golly.

[00:28:04] 290.

[00:28:04] So think about that.

[00:28:05] If that's what you make in a week.

[00:28:07] That's going to get taxed.

[00:28:08] Yes.

[00:28:09] Times four.

[00:28:10] Let's just keep it.

[00:28:11] Times four.

[00:28:12] That's what?

[00:28:13] That's 1160, right?

[00:28:15] Times four.

[00:28:16] 1160.

[00:28:17] It's 1160.

[00:28:18] Oh my gosh.

[00:28:19] Times 12.

[00:28:20] Times 12.

[00:28:21] But think about that.

[00:28:23] That average rent, the lowest.

[00:28:25] We're just going at the lowest piece.

[00:28:27] It's 1025 a month.

[00:28:30] You can't.

[00:28:31] If they do it like Florida, you got to make three times the rent.

[00:28:36] And so that's not going to work.

[00:28:38] That'll be.

[00:28:38] You need to have.

[00:28:40] You got to live in a slumlord.

[00:28:41] Or you need to have roommates.

[00:28:43] Roommate.

[00:28:44] You need three or four roommates.

[00:28:46] Yeah.

[00:28:46] You need three or four roommates.

[00:28:48] Yeah.

[00:28:48] You need to rent a room or something like that.

[00:28:50] So think about that.

[00:28:51] Think about the impact of minimum wage and how it impacts.

[00:28:55] It could impact a person's morale.

[00:28:58] That's why turnover may be high.

[00:29:00] It is something that pay lower.

[00:29:03] Right?

[00:29:03] Right?

[00:29:04] So that's why they churn and burn those employees.

[00:29:07] Right?

[00:29:07] Churn and burn.

[00:29:08] Cost of churn and burn.

[00:29:10] And so you want to be more as thoughtful as possible as a payroll professional.

[00:29:14] It's just my opinion.

[00:29:15] You want to be as understanding as thoughtful as possible when it comes to these people that

[00:29:19] are paid in Texas because look, like you can barely pay your rent.

[00:29:23] Yeah.

[00:29:24] You can barely survive off of this.

[00:29:26] I even have money for groceries or let alone anything else.

[00:29:29] Yeah.

[00:29:30] You know what I'm saying?

[00:29:30] The cost of living, the minimum wage does not add up to the cost of living in Texas.

[00:29:36] Right?

[00:29:36] Thank you.

[00:29:38] Good stuff, man.

[00:29:40] Yep.

[00:29:40] Good stuff.

[00:29:41] All right.

[00:29:41] Before we end it, we got our safe talk question.

[00:29:45] Why don't we out here?

[00:29:47] Safe talk.

[00:29:48] Where you at?

[00:29:48] Where you at?

[00:29:49] Where you at?

[00:29:50] Should anyone think, anyone thinking of moving to Texas, consider the political stance that

[00:29:56] the state has taken?

[00:29:57] So I've been waiting to ask you about this.

[00:29:59] Or does that come second to doing what's best for you and your loved ones?

[00:30:02] And so my first question is, what do you mean by political stance?

[00:30:07] Trashed on it earlier.

[00:30:09] Well, how Texas was trying to fight that new by the FLSA about raising the salary threshold

[00:30:15] and like they've been fighting that and fighting other stuff and fighting this and fighting

[00:30:19] that.

[00:30:19] Like, do you believe that somebody should consider that if they're thinking about moving to Texas?

[00:30:23] Because look, a lot of people, I saw a documentary where they said, they showed a lot of people

[00:30:27] were moving out of California, even though California, to your point, is employee-centric.

[00:30:31] Very employee-centric.

[00:30:32] But because of the taxes, they moved to Texas.

[00:30:35] I didn't realize until very late and more recently in life that folks even consider the

[00:30:44] political aspect of things.

[00:30:46] I would imagine, yes, you should, in any state that you're moving to, how, what the state's

[00:30:54] politics are about and how that'll impact you and your family.

[00:30:57] You know, so what about you?

[00:30:59] What do you think about it?

[00:31:00] I absolutely think that for me, you definitely should consider it, but I think your family

[00:31:06] should be first, right?

[00:31:08] If there's a better opportunity for you in Texas, if there's a better way of life for

[00:31:11] you in Texas than where you currently are.

[00:31:14] And it's in, look, the area you may move to may be the type of area you want to live in.

[00:31:20] Right.

[00:31:20] There's little pockets of this and that, people that believe the same thing you believe in,

[00:31:25] whatever.

[00:31:26] You have to be able to function and navigate life because there's going to be people who

[00:31:30] are going to have differences of opinion than you anyway.

[00:31:33] Yeah.

[00:31:33] So you're going to have, I don't think, I don't think, in my opinion, I don't think that you

[00:31:39] should, what was that saying?

[00:31:42] I know the last part of it is to spite your face.

[00:31:44] It's like something.

[00:31:45] You bite your nose to spite your face.

[00:31:47] You bite your nose to spite your face.

[00:31:48] Right.

[00:31:48] Yeah.

[00:31:49] So if I had an opportunity for a better way of life and it was going to change my life

[00:31:54] in a dramatic way.

[00:31:56] Yeah.

[00:31:56] I moved from my current state to Texas and it was going to be better for my family, better

[00:32:02] for me.

[00:32:04] It's not about, it's not just about me and what I want.

[00:32:08] It's about my loved one.

[00:32:09] Now, if I was a single person, I may move different.

[00:32:13] I may think about that differently.

[00:32:15] You have people depending on you.

[00:32:16] It's a different frame of mind in my opinion.

[00:32:19] Yeah.

[00:32:20] And before we wrap it up, I'll give you a great example.

[00:32:24] My daughter, my oldest is part of the LGBTQ community and Florida is not always the safest

[00:32:33] place.

[00:32:35] Politics wise is something that she brought to my attention.

[00:32:38] I was like, damn, we moved here when she was still young and then she came out to us

[00:32:43] while we were here.

[00:32:44] And I think about it, damn, maybe we wouldn't have, maybe it wouldn't have been the safe.

[00:32:49] Well, that's what I, when I saw that question, that's what I thought about right away.

[00:32:52] And yeah, and I get it now, but right.

[00:32:55] It wasn't a factor before when we came down here.

[00:32:58] My, my wife was thinking that South Florida was going to be like the deep South, which

[00:33:04] it's not, thank God.

[00:33:06] But that would have been a concern because we're a Brown family.

[00:33:10] And it's crazy because I'm pretty light and, but in the deep South, they see my one drop

[00:33:16] as language.

[00:33:18] Right.

[00:33:19] And then when you're talking about some deep racism to, to the racist folks, if you have

[00:33:24] one drop of African blood, you are black.

[00:33:28] Right now I've done my DNA and I am pretty much 50, 50 European African.

[00:33:33] And I have some Daino in there too.

[00:33:35] Not as much as I would like to claim, but it's 50, 50 black and white and, or African

[00:33:41] European.

[00:33:43] And so I'm definitely black.

[00:33:47] And then when I was, when I spent some time in the deep South working, it's funny.

[00:33:51] Cause when I came back to headquarters and it was while I was working, living here in

[00:33:56] South Florida, somebody referred to me like, Oh yeah, that black guy that was just here.

[00:34:00] I'd like, I'm pretty light.

[00:34:03] Like I could fool some, right?

[00:34:05] Like sometimes I would imagine I could fool some people.

[00:34:08] I didn't fool theirs.

[00:34:10] Like, they was like that black dude that was here.

[00:34:13] And I was like, dang, you know what I mean?

[00:34:17] Look, one of the things you're absolutely right.

[00:34:20] One of the things that kind of helped me is what a supervisor said to me, my direct supervisor.

[00:34:27] She said, think about companies looking like the United States, right?

[00:34:34] Most companies, men have that same setup.

[00:34:37] You might have some people in the company that are inherently or subconsciously prejudiced,

[00:34:45] racist, sexist, homophobic, whatever they may, their beliefs are.

[00:34:49] Yep.

[00:34:50] And you have to be able to navigate that no matter where you are in life.

[00:34:55] You can go from one company, you can be in the state of California who's really employee

[00:34:59] centered.

[00:34:59] There's still racism there.

[00:35:01] There's still sexism there.

[00:35:02] Absolutely.

[00:35:02] Still, all the isms are still there.

[00:35:05] All the isms are everywhere.

[00:35:06] Yeah, they're everywhere.

[00:35:07] Well, no matter where you go, you're going to find an ism.

[00:35:10] Yep.

[00:35:11] Right?

[00:35:12] So you just have to figure out what's best for you and your family because it's everywhere.

[00:35:17] Now, it may be more prevalent in some places than others, but that's for you and your family

[00:35:23] to decide.

[00:35:24] Yeah.

[00:35:25] Yeah.

[00:35:25] He works.

[00:35:25] It's a, it is a, it was a good question.

[00:35:27] And I think folks do have to consider that, especially if you're going somewhere fresh,

[00:35:32] like you protect us or not, wherever you got to consider the, consider the politics.

[00:35:38] If you're going there and moving there, it's true.

[00:35:41] Consider the, I have a close friend that his mom only invested in companies that were socially

[00:35:47] conscious.

[00:35:48] You know what I mean?

[00:35:49] So the politics of a company that you're dealing with.

[00:35:52] Yep.

[00:35:52] Report.

[00:35:52] Report.

[00:35:53] So it's a, the politics of it all really, it's everywhere.

[00:35:57] And it's like, you got to make a decision.

[00:35:59] Like you said, we got to make a decision.

[00:36:00] What's best for you.

[00:36:01] What's best for your family.

[00:36:02] What's best for the collective, for yourself.

[00:36:04] How are you moving?

[00:36:05] But yeah, it's a lot of things, man.

[00:36:07] It's a lot of things, but good stuff, bro.

[00:36:09] Good episode, man.

[00:36:10] All right.

[00:36:10] Yes, sir.

[00:36:12] So look out for next week.

[00:36:15] I don't know what we're talking about next week.

[00:36:17] More paycheck stuff and payroll stuff.

[00:36:21] Check out Work Defined Network.

[00:36:22] There are a ton of great shows on there.

[00:36:25] You're going to start hearing more about that on the show and we'll be advertising and promoting

[00:36:30] those episodes and those different shows out there.

[00:36:33] We're looking forward to it.

[00:36:36] Bringing great new, I know they got some HR stuff.

[00:36:39] They got some employee stuff.

[00:36:40] They got our, again, our friends, Pete and Julie from HR Payroll HR 2.0 out there on the

[00:36:47] network.

[00:36:47] So I'm super excited and more to come, man.

[00:36:51] Let's go.

[00:36:52] Shout out to Time Track Go.

[00:36:53] This episode is brought to you by Time Track Go.

[00:36:55] Let's go.

[00:36:57] We love you.

[00:36:58] Peace.

[00:36:59] Peace.

[00:37:02] Before we sign off, here are a couple quick things.

[00:37:05] Don't forget to follow It's About Payroll on LinkedIn and it's about your paycheck on Facebook

[00:37:09] and TikTok.

[00:37:12] Thank you for being part of our payroll community and thank you for being a part of this journey

[00:37:17] with us.

[00:37:18] Until the next time, keep learning, keep growing, and most importantly, keep going.