Arizona labor laws, including Arizona labor laws 2025, impact the daily lives of employees and employers in Arizona. Residents of Arizona have many questions that affect them every day regarding Arizona labor laws from minimum wage rates, overtime, wage payments, vacation and sick leave, child labor, meal and rest breaks, and more.
In addition to Arizona labor laws, employer must also comply with federal labor laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and many other federal laws. And when federal laws are different from state Arizona labor laws, usually companies must comply with the law that provides their workers the best protection.
Below we provide comprehensive information and resources regarding your more pressing Arizona labor law questions to help you answer the question and help you make the right decision about you and your employment.
Minimum Wage
Arizona’s current minimum wage is $14.70.
Under the state minimum wage requirements set forth in the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, employers may pay them $3 per hour less than the standard minimum wage if employees earn tips. However, tipped workers must earn a minimum wage of $11.70 per hour, which, when combined with tips, must earn at least the standard minimum wage of $14.70 per hour. There are also some situations where employers may be allowed to pay certain employees a subminimum wage.
For more information on Arizona’s minimum wage laws, visit our Arizona Minimum Wage Laws page, which includes topics such as minimum wage, tip minimum wage, tip sharing and pooling, and subminimum wages.
Related topic covered on other pages include:
Overtime
Arizona labor laws do not have state laws governing the payment of overtime. Thus, Federal overtime laws apply.
Federal laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) state that employees are eligible for overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week unless otherwise exempt. Standard overtime pay is 1.5 times the regular pay. See FLSA: Overtime for more information regarding overtime requirements.
Prevailing Wages
Under certain circumstances, employers in Arizona may be required to pay residents wage rates established by the federal or state prevailing wage rates and rules. The prevailing wage rates may be different from the state’s standard minimum wage rates.
Employees may be eligible for prevailing wages if they work on federal or state government or government-funded construction projects or perform certain federal or state government services. See the Arizona Prevailing Wages, Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), and Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act (PCA) for more information about prevailing wages.
Meals and Breaks
Arizona labor laws do not require an employer to provide a meal period or breaks to employees, thus the federal rule applies. The federal rule does not require an employer to provide either a meal (lunch) period or breaks. However, if an employer chooses to do so, breaks, usually of the type lasting less than 20 minutes, must be paid. Meal or lunch periods (usually 30 minutes or more) do not need to be paid, so long as the employee is free to do as they wish during the meal or lunch period. DOL: Breaks and Meal Periods.
Nursing Mother Breaks
Arizona labor laws do not require employers to provide nursing mothers with breaks to express breast milk. However, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires certain employees to provide nonexempt nursing mothers for one (1) year following a child’s birth with reasonable rest breaks to express milk and private spaces, other than a bathroom, to express breast milk.
Leave Laws
Vacation Leave
Employers in Arizona are not required to provide their employees with vacation benefits, whether unpaid or paid. However, if an employer provides such vacation benefits to employees, it must comply with the terms established in the employment contract or vacation leave policy. Employers in Arizona may also implement a use-it or lose-it policy. There are no established Arizona labor laws regarding the payment for accrued vacation days.
Information about Arizona vacation leave laws may now be found on our Arizona Leave Laws page.
Sick Leave
Under the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, employers are required to provide their employees with paid sick leave. Under Arizona employment laws, employees are required to provide their employees with one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours that they have been worked. If the company has 15 or more employees, employees can earn up to 40 hours of paid sick leave per year. If a place of business has fewer than 15 workers, employees can earn up to 24 hours of paid sick leave per year.
Under the Arizona labor law regarding sick leave, eligible employees way take leave for:
- the medical care or mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of the employee or any of the employee’s family members
- a public health emergency, as defined by Arizona Revised Statutes § 23-373, affecting the employee or a family member
- an absence due to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking involving the employee
or any of the employee’s family members
Under Arizona Rev. Stat. § 23-373, a family member includes:
- Regardless of age, a biological, adopted or foster child, stepchild or legal ward, a child of a domestic partner, a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis, or an individual to whom the employee stood in loco parentis when the individual was a minor;
- A biological, foster, stepparent or adoptive parent or legal guardian of an employee or an employee’s spouse or domestic partner or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee or employee’s spouse or domestic partner was a minor child;
- A person to whom the employee is legally married under the laws of any state, or a domestic partner of an employee as registered under the laws of any state or political subdivision;
- A grandparent, grandchild or sibling (whether of a biological, foster, adoptive or step relationship) of the employee or the employee’s spouse or domestic partner; or
- Any other individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.
Information about Arizona sick leave laws may now be found on our Arizona Leave Laws page.
Also, an Arizona employer may also be required to provide eligible employees with unpaid sick leave according to the regulations set out in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or other federal laws.
Holiday Leave
Under Arizona labor laws, employers in Arizona are not required to provide their employees with unpaid or paid holiday leave. An employer in Arizona may also require employees to work holidays; however, they do not have to pay their employees premium pay, such as 1.5 times the standard rate, unless working on these hours also qualifies for overtime under federal overtime laws.
However, if an employer provides employees with unpaid or paid holiday leave, it must comply with the employment contract or the established holiday leave policy. Arizona state holidays are officially recognized and observed.
Information about Arizona holiday leave laws may now be found on our Arizona Leave Laws page.
Jury Duty Leave
Employers are required to allow employees to take time off for jury duty as required but may not require that employees use sick leave, vacation time, or annual leave for this purpose. However, an employer is not required to pay an employee any wages for the time spent performing jury duty.
Upon return from jury duty, an employee must be returned to their original position or a higher position and cannot lose seniority. An employer who fails to allow employees to attend jury duty is guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.
Information about Arizona jury duty leave laws may now be found on our Arizona Leave Laws page.
Voting Leave
Under Arizona labor laws, as long as the request is made the day before the election, employers must provide employees with time off to vote for primary and general elections. This is paid time off. Employers are required to give employees paid time off to vote to allow for at least three consecutive hours between the opening of the polls and the start of their shift, or the end of their shift and the closing of the polls.
However, the employer may be allowed to specify the hours during which the employee can leave to go vote. Under Arizona labor laws, an employer that does not provide an employee with the right to pay the voting leave is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Information about Arizona voting leave laws may now be found on our Arizona Leave Laws page.
Severance Pay
Arizona labor laws do not require employers to provide employees with severance pay. See the AZ Industrial Commission’s pamphlet, “The State of Arizona’s Labor Law: Your Wages and Working” (not available online). If an employer chooses to provide severance benefits, it must comply with the terms of its established policy or employment contract.
Unemployment
Under certain circumstances, Arizona residents may be eligible for unemployment benefits while they search for another job. You are required to certify that you are unemployed on a weekly basis to receive these benefits.
To qualify for unemployment benefits in Arizona, you must be willing to work, able to work, and actively seeking new employment. In addition, you must have also earned at least 390 times the Arizona minimum wage in your highest earning quarter, and the total wage of the other three quarters must equal at least half of the amount earned in your highest quarter.
See Arizona State Unemployment Benefits.
Other Arizona Labor Laws Topics and Resources
There are several other Arizona labor laws governing the employers and their workplaces. Below are those topics and resources:
- Arizona Child Labor Laws covers topics including work during school hours and summer hours, school days and summer days, hour restrictions, and hazardous occupations.
- Arizona discrimination and civil rights laws are enforced by the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division. Employees are also protected by federal discrimination laws enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The state and federal discrimination laws offer employees protections and violations based on the following:
| Disability (a mental or physical impairment) | Sex, including sexual harassment | Gender expression | National Origin |
| Race (includes hair texture) | Sexual orientation | Religion | Ancestry |
| Creed | Gender identity | Age (40+) | Pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions |
| Color |
- Arizona wage payment laws including covering frequency and manner of wage payments, regular paydays, pay periods, deductions, direct deposit and payroll cards, pay statements, record keeping, final paychecks, and notice requirements.
- Minimum wage and overtime exemptions covering non-exempt employees and exempt employees.
- Arizona law regarding hours worked including rest breaks, meal breaks, on-call, waiting, travel, sleeping, and meeting times.
- Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH) enforces the state laws and regulations regarding workplace safety and health. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) that covers federal workplace safety and health requirements.
- Active employees, including those in the national guard, and veterans may also be eligible for military leave under the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
- The Industrial Commission of Arizona manages the state’s worker compensation insurance claims and enforcement. Employees who are injured on the job may be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits that minimizes the financial impact on the employee.
- If Arizona employers provide employees health insurance benefits, they must comply with the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) that provides health coverage protections to employees under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events.
