Phoenix Employment Lawyers

It’s always smart to talk to a lawyer about your specific concerns. However, this is a general summary of some of the key workplace rights that protect many people in Phoenix.

Employees are often concerned about whether their employer is paying them properly. Phoenix doesn’t have its own minimum wage ordinance, in contrast to some other large cities in the U.S. However, Arizona has a minimum wage law. It generally requires that employers pay employees $14.70 per hour as of 2025. The minimum wage is adjusted each year according to increases in the cost of living. Employers can pay tipped employees up to $3.00 per hour less than the minimum wage if their tips make up the difference. The minimum wage law applies to part-time and temporary employees as well as full-time employees. Very few businesses and employees are exempt from the minimum wage law, which is enforced by the Industrial Commission of Arizona.

In addition, an Arizona employee may be covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor enforces the FLSA. The federal minimum wage is only $7.25 per hour, so this part of the law tends to be less helpful to Phoenix employees. However, the FLSA provides important rules for overtime pay. This is calculated as 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for any hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The FLSA doesn’t apply to certain types of employees, though, such as executive, administrative, and professional employees.

Sometimes an employee might want to know whether a certain type of activity counts as “hours worked” for the purposes of wage laws. Arizona regulations provide that “hours worked” include any hours for which an employee covered by the state minimum wage law is on duty or at their workplace, as well as any time that the employee is allowed to work. The Industrial Commission of Arizona also follows the interpretation of “hours worked” provided by federal regulations interpreting the FLSA. Some non-obvious situations that must be compensated under federal law include:

• Rest periods of 20 minutes or less
• Being on call while on the employer’s premises (being on call off the premises generally doesn’t count as working time, although it might in some cases)
• Attending training programs if they’re related to the job
• Traveling from one job site to another during the workday (but not regular travel from home to work)

Employers aren’t required to provide meal breaks. If a business chooses to provide a meal break, it generally doesn’t need to be paid if it’s at least 30 minutes long, and the employee is completely relieved from duty during that time. (Coffee and snack breaks are considered rest breaks rather than meal breaks.)

City, state, and federal laws protect employees in Phoenix from discrimination based on having certain protected characteristics. Discrimination can involve firing, demoting, or refusing to hire or promote an employee, but it can also take less obvious forms. These may include paying an employee less, giving them less favorable job assignments, or withholding access to certain benefits or training programs. Harassment in the workplace may be considered a form of discrimination as well.

The Phoenix City Code prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or disability. This law applies to employers of all sizes. The Compliance and Enforcement Division of the Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department enforces the law for employees of businesses with fewer than 15 employees. Complaints involving businesses with 15 or more employees are transferred to state and federal anti-discrimination agencies.

Meanwhile, Arizona has a law that prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), religion (or creed), age (40 or older), or disability. The Arizona Attorney General has interpreted the sex discrimination prohibition to include sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, although the law doesn't make this explicit. This law generally applies to employers with 15 or more employees, but it applies to employers of all sizes where sexual harassment is concerned. The Civil Rights Division of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office enforces this law. Someone who suspects employment discrimination must file their complaint with the Civil Rights Division within 180 days.

More generally, Arizona employees are often protected under various federal anti-discrimination laws. Some of the core protections in this area include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Like the Arizona anti-discrimination law, Title VII and the ADA cover employers with 15 or more employees. The ADEA is slightly more limited, covering only employers with 20 or more employees. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces these laws. There’s generally a 180-day deadline for filing a complaint with the EEOC, but it extends to 300 days if a state agency enforces a state law that covers the same type of discrimination.

Sexual harassment is generally considered a type of discrimination. This may occur when a manager or another person with authority to make employment decisions demands that an employee engage in sexual conduct in exchange for getting a job benefit, or to avoid a negative action. For example, perhaps an employee’s boss tells them that they won’t be recommended for a promotion unless they give the boss a blowjob. These types of incidents are called quid pro quo (“this for that”) harassment.

The other main form of sexual harassment is known as a hostile work environment. This can be created not just by a supervisor but also by coworkers, customers, or clients of the business. A hostile work environment can arise from physical contact, verbal statements, or written communications, or a combination. It must be something that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would find offensive. The conduct must be either severe or pervasive, but it doesn’t need to be both. An employee might have a claim based on a single major incident, such as an assault, or a series of smaller incidents that build up over time.

As noted above, Arizona law covers sexual harassment at employers of all sizes, unlike other forms of discrimination. It also prohibits employers of all sizes from discriminating against an employee for opposing sexual harassment, filing a complaint of sexual harassment, or participating in an investigation of sexual harassment.

Employees who encounter a medical or family emergency may worry about whether they can take time off from their work to deal with this issue. Phoenix doesn’t have a law specifically addressing this topic, but Arizona has a paid sick leave law. An employee can accrue one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The law is enforced by the Industrial Commission of Arizona and applies to employers of all sizes. For a business with 15 or more employees, an employee can accrue and use up to 40 hours of earned paid sick time per year unless the employer provides a more generous limit. If a business has fewer than 15 employees, accrual and use are capped at 24 hours per year, although again an employer can set a higher limit.

An employee can use earned paid sick time for any of the following reasons:

• Medical care or an illness, injury, or health condition of the employee or a qualifying family member
• A public health emergency affecting the employee or a qualifying family member
• An absence related to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking involving the employee or a qualifying family member

Meanwhile, certain Phoenix employees may be protected by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, which is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. In contrast to the Arizona law, the FMLA provides only for unpaid leave, but it’s job-protected. This means that an employee is entitled to go back to their position or its equivalent when they return from their leave. The FMLA generally applies to employers with at least 50 employees. To qualify, an employee needs to have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months in total (not necessarily consecutively), and they must have accumulated at least 1,250 working hours for the employer in the 12-month period before taking leave. There also must be at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee’s workplace.

An employee generally can take FMLA leave for up to 12 weeks in a 12-month period. Qualifying reasons for this leave include:

• A health condition that prevents the employee from working
• Caring for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition
• Bonding with a new child during the first year after their birth, adoption, or foster care placement with the employee
• Qualifying exigency leave related to the military service of a family member

In addition, the FMLA provides up to 26 weeks of unpaid military caregiver leave in a 12-month period so that the employee can care for a family member in the military who has a serious injury or illness.

In general, Arizona applies the same “at-will employment” rule as most other states. Both an employer and an employee can end the employment relationship for any reason. However, there are certain exceptions to at-will employment. For example, an employer can’t fire an employee in violation of laws prohibiting employment discrimination. It also can’t fire an employee for filing a discrimination complaint in good faith, or helping an investigation of alleged discrimination.

Moreover, an employee can’t lose their job because they engaged in certain activities related to important public policies. Some of these activities include:

• Refusing to do something that would violate Arizona law
• Blowing the whistle on the employer or a coworker for violating the law
• Serving on a jury
• Exercising voting rights
• Filing a workers’ compensation claim

Some employees have contracts with their employer that provide a limited set of reasons for terminating their employment. A wrongful termination claim can arise if the employee believes that they were fired for a reason not allowed by the contract.

If you get injured or ill on the job in Arizona, you’re probably entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. You don’t need to prove that your employer caused your injury, but the tradeoff is that you can’t sue your employer for compensation beyond the limited scope of these benefits. However, you might have a claim against someone else, such as a manufacturer of defective equipment that injured you.

An employee who thinks that their injury is job-related should report it to their employer or supervisor as soon as it happens, or as soon as they realize that it’s related to their employment. There's a one-year period for filing a claim after the injury, or after the worker knew that the injury was job-related. If your claim is denied, you have 90 days to contest that decision.

Workers’ compensation claims in Arizona generally take two forms: medical only claims and time loss claims. In a medical only claim, the employee doesn’t experience a loss of earning capacity from the injury that lasts for more than seven days. This means that they get benefits only for their medical expenses. In a time loss claim, on the other hand, the employee experiences a loss of earnings from the injury for more than seven days. (You can get benefits for the first seven days of lost wages if your loss of earnings lasts for 14 days.) Wage benefits are usually paid at two-thirds of the employee’s average monthly wage, up to a set maximum.

Employees in Arizona who lose their jobs might be able to apply for unemployment benefits from the Arizona Department of Economic Security. These are available to people who meet certain requirements for wages earned or time worked during a certain period, and who are unemployed through no fault of their own. They can’t have been fired for misconduct or have voluntarily quit without good cause. They also must be able to work, available for work, and actively seeking work. There’s a work search rule that requires a claimant to make a systematic and sustained effort to search for work on at least four different days each week, while making at least four work search contacts each week.

The weekly unemployment benefits amount is subject to a $229 minimum and a $320 maximum as of 2025. A claimant can receive up to 24 weeks of benefits in a year if the unemployment rate in Arizona is below 5 percent, as is currently the case. If the unemployment rate is 5 percent or more, a claimant can receive up to 26 weeks of benefits in a year.

Phoenix has a diverse economy with major employers in sectors such as health care, technology, finance, education, and retail. Here are some examples:

• Banner Health
• Honeywell Aerospace
• Intel
• Wells Fargo
• American Express
• Phoenix Children’s Hospital
• Arizona State University
• Freeport-McMoRan
• Dignity Health
• Amazon
• Avnet
• USAA

Even if you work for a much smaller employer, though, you still have important workplace rights.

If you think that an employer in the Phoenix area has violated a law that protects you, you may want to know the agency responsible for overseeing that law. You could explore its resources for more information about the law and your rights, or you might file a complaint for the agency to investigate. Here are some of the key agencies to know:

• Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department, Compliance and Enforcement Division: enforces the Phoenix anti-discrimination law
• Industrial Commission of Arizona: enforces the state minimum wage law and the state paid sick time law
• Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Civil Rights Division: enforces the Arizona anti-discrimination law
• U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: enforces the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: enforces most federal anti-discrimination laws

The Industrial Commission of Arizona manages the workers’ compensation program, while the Arizona Department of Economic Security oversees unemployment benefits.

If you suspect that a dispute involving your employment might be on the horizon, you might want to explore the Employment Law Center in the Justia Legal Guides. This is one of many free resources that we provide to ordinary consumers so that they can learn about their legal rights.

Perhaps you’ve gotten a general sense of the law, but you’re not sure how it applies to a specific problem that you have. In this case, you might want to visit our Justia Ask A Lawyer platform and ask a question about your situation. Employment attorneys in Phoenix or elsewhere in Arizona might be able to provide useful answers. However, you should be aware that an attorney who answers your question doesn’t become your lawyer.

Once you’re ready to get your own legal counsel, you can explore this page in the Justia Lawyer Directory. It offers a lengthy list of Phoenix attorneys who handle workplace concerns. You should think through your options carefully and then start contacting some attorneys who seem especially intriguing.

Addressing a conflict in the workplace can be daunting, especially if it jeopardizes your career, personal wellbeing, and peace of mind. Although hiring a legal professional may seem like an unnecessary extra expense at first glance, it frequently proves to be worth the investment.

Attorneys bring an extensive range of skills that can bolster your chances of reaching a favorable outcome. They stay current on relevant laws and regulations and how courts view them. They will collect the evidence needed to demonstrate how your employer infringed on your rights, as well as how the violation affected you. In many cases, employment disputes are settled before they ever reach a courtroom or another formal setting. Legal counsel will ensure your interests are safeguarded during negotiations. They’ll also offer thoughtful assessments of settlement offers so that you can judge whether to accept or pursue further action.

If your case eventually moves to a hearing or trial, your lawyer can smoothly navigate through procedural requirements. They’ll know how to select a jury, cross-examine witnesses, and develop a strategy to present your position persuasively, while countering any defenses. It’s much harder for someone who isn’t familiar with the court process to do these tasks effectively.

Finding a lawyer who aligns with your needs can seem like a tall order. You might get a referral from someone whom you trust, but the chances are that you’ll rely on online resources in searching for an attorney. Platforms like the Justia Lawyer Directory can make it easier to evaluate and compare candidates.

Since employment law covers a broad spectrum, seek someone who regularly handles cases related to your particular issue. If your boss repeatedly propositioned you, for example, you’ll want to look for a sexual harassment lawyer. If you work at a restaurant where they’re applying too large a tip credit to the pay of the waiters, you should find an attorney experienced in wage and hour cases.

You should also check an attorney’s track record with the State Bar of Arizona. A small incident might not rule out a lawyer entirely, but a history of significant sanctions would be a red flag. A lawyer who doesn’t respect ethical rules may not treat you right or may make critical mistakes that derail your case.

Exploring a firm’s website can show whether they’ve pursued similar matters successfully. Client reviews can shed light on communication skills and professionalism, while positive feedback from other lawyers points to a solid reputation that may prove advantageous in negotiations or in court.

Employment lawyers in Phoenix often offer a free initial consultation, which is an excellent chance to discuss your case and gauge whether a potential advocate seems competent and compatible with you. You should work with someone who values you as a client and approaches your concerns with respect and genuine empathy.

1. What happens if a state or local law has a different scope from a federal law?

   The law that is more generous to employees will take priority. State and local governments can add to the rights provided by the federal government, but they can’t take away from federal rights.

2. How do I know if I’m an employee or an independent contractor?

   The proper classification of a worker depends on multiple factors, including the degree of control that the employer has over the work, the method of payment, and the level of integration with the employer’s business. Misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor can have a major impact on wages and benefits. You’re not an independent contractor just because a business says so. If you think that you were misclassified, you may want to contact the Industrial Commission of Arizona or talk to an attorney.

3. What should I do if I’m facing harassment at work?

   If you think that you’re experiencing harassment, you should keep a record of all the acts and statements that seem offensive. You should follow any reporting policy provided by your employer, such as telling your supervisor, Human Resources, or someone else who has been assigned to handle these types of complaints. If the situation isn’t promptly resolved, you may need to file a complaint with the Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department, the Arizona Civil Rights Division, or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Make sure to keep track of deadlines so that you don’t file your complaint too late.

4. When should I get my final paycheck after leaving a job?

   Under Arizona law, an employer generally must pay all wages due to an employee who has been fired within seven working days, or by the next scheduled payday if that’s sooner. If an employee quits or resigns, they’re entitled to get their wages by the next regular payday.

5. How much do I need to pay my employment lawyer?

   These attorneys often charge hourly fees to their clients. Thus, the total fee may vary greatly depending on how much time the lawyer spends on the case. However, some employment lawyers charge contingency fees, which can make representation more affordable. They don’t charge anything upfront but instead take a portion of a settlement or verdict that they win for a client. (The chunk tends to be larger if the case goes to trial than if it ends in a settlement.) Occasionally, a lawyer might charge a flat fee for a certain task or service. This means that you’ll know in advance exactly how much you’ll need to pay them.