# Texas — State employment law headcount triggers that deviate from federal thresholds For Texas, law category is anti-discrimination; state law name is Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) - Sexual harassment; state threshold is 1; federal threshold is 15; key differences is Texas lowers the threshold for sexual harassment liability to one employee, compared to Title VII's 15-employee threshold. Applies to any employer or individual who acts in the interest of an employer toward an employee, recorded from its source on 2026-08-14. - **State:** Texas _(verified: appears in the quote below)_ - **Law category:** anti-discrimination _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_ - **State law name:** Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) - Sexual harassment - **State threshold:** 1 - **Federal threshold:** 15 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_ - **Key differences:** Texas lowers the threshold for sexual harassment liability to one employee, compared to Title VII's 15-employee threshold. Applies to any employer or individual who acts in the interest of an employer toward an employee. - **Coverage / scope:** Sexual harassment claims; applies to any employer or individual who acts in the interest of an employer toward an employee - **Statute citation:** § 21.141(1) ## What the source says > Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Act (Texas COBRA) | Health benefit continuation - state law | 4 employees | Any | Immigration Reform and Control Act | National origin/U.S. citizenship | 4 employees | Non-profit | Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | ## Sources disagree More than one authority states this, and they do not state the same thing. Both are reproduced with the source each came from. ### State law name efte.twc.texas.gov says state law name is **Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) - Sexual harassment**, as of 2026-08-14. > Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Act (Texas COBRA) | Health benefit continuation - state law | 4 employees | Any | Immigration Reform and Control Act | National origin/U.S. citizenship | 4 employees | Non-profit | Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html efte.twc.texas.gov says state law name is **Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code)**, as of 2026-08-14. > Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Any | Title VII , ADA , GINA , Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) | Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age (state law), genetic information | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html ### State threshold efte.twc.texas.gov says state threshold is **1**, as of 2026-08-14. > Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Act (Texas COBRA) | Health benefit continuation - state law | 4 employees | Any | Immigration Reform and Control Act | National origin/U.S. citizenship | 4 employees | Non-profit | Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html efte.twc.texas.gov says state threshold is **15**, as of 2026-08-14. > Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Any | Title VII , ADA , GINA , Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) | Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age (state law), genetic information | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html ### Key differences efte.twc.texas.gov says key differences is **Texas lowers the threshold for sexual harassment liability to one employee, compared to Title VII's 15-employee threshold. Applies to any employer or individual who acts in the interest of an employer toward an employee.**, as of 2026-08-14. > Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Act (Texas COBRA) | Health benefit continuation - state law | 4 employees | Any | Immigration Reform and Control Act | National origin/U.S. citizenship | 4 employees | Non-profit | Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html efte.twc.texas.gov says key differences is **State law matches the federal 15-employee threshold but adds age as a state-law protected class at 15 employees, whereas the federal ADEA requires 20 employees for age discrimination coverage**, as of 2026-08-14. > Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Any | Title VII , ADA , GINA , Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) | Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age (state law), genetic information | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html ### Coverage / scope efte.twc.texas.gov says coverage / scope is **Sexual harassment claims; applies to any employer or individual who acts in the interest of an employer toward an employee**, as of 2026-08-14. > Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Act (Texas COBRA) | Health benefit continuation - state law | 4 employees | Any | Immigration Reform and Control Act | National origin/U.S. citizenship | 4 employees | Non-profit | Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html efte.twc.texas.gov says coverage / scope is **Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age (state law), genetic information**, as of 2026-08-14. > Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Any | Title VII , ADA , GINA , Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) | Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age (state law), genetic information | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html ### Statute citation efte.twc.texas.gov says statute citation is **§ 21.141(1)**, as of 2026-08-14. > Small Employer Health Insurance Availability Act (Texas COBRA) | Health benefit continuation - state law | 4 employees | Any | Immigration Reform and Control Act | National origin/U.S. citizenship | 4 employees | Non-profit | Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html efte.twc.texas.gov says statute citation is **§ 21.002(8)(A)**, as of 2026-08-14. > Texas Unemployment Compensation Act | Unemployment compensation | 15 employees | Any | Title VII , ADA , GINA , Chapter 21 (Texas Labor Code) | Race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability, age (state law), genetic information | Source: https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html ## Source - https://efte.twc.texas.gov/thresholds_for_coverage.html Last verified: 2026-08-14. Review by: 2027-02-10. Part of [State employment law headcount triggers that deviate from federal thresholds](https://referencesource.org/state-employment-law-headcount-triggers/).