Mandatory Sick-Leave
Mandatory Sick-Leave in Arizona
Employers in Arizona are facing a new requirement as of July 1st. It would benefit them greatly to know what that is and how to handle it. Welcome back to the Van Norman Law blog where we cover the history, the ins and outs, and the loopholes in the legal world. Last month we went over loads of new laws that will be affecting many Arizonans on the daily. This law will absolutely affect all Arizonans daily, but might be more of a priority for employers to understand.
As of July 1st, employers are going to be mandated to provide paid sick leave for their employees. This law is a part of the Proposition 206 package that was passed last November, that also raised the state minimum wage. So how does it work?
The law requires at minimum 24 hours of paid sick leave for employees of a business with 14 or fewer workers. At 15 or more employees, the required amount of paid sick time boosts to 40 hours.
Employees are required to make a reasonable effort to give employers notice, or to otherwise not “disrupt the operations” though these are not well defined in the law. Employers have limited ability to question why employees are using the time, but can require proof following 3 straight days of sick time. A number of things are, as of right now, unclear. For instance, this applies to employees, but independent contractors don’t fall under this umbrella. These will likely be better hashed out over the next couple of years as the law is implemented and cases come up from it.
What does an employer need to do? They need to alert their employees to this new law. They need to restructure their current process. If an employer doesn’t follow through on allowing this paid sick time they face fines of at minimum of $150 per day and possible further reprimanding.
If you run an Arizona business, or work for one, it would pay to take a look at the law and what might or should change in your works environment and have a handle on how this law affects you. Likely it already has begun to!