If you’re thinking of moving to Arizona and could land a minimum wage job, knowing what to expect from local employers can help you budget for the first year in your new home. While there is a federal minimum wage ($ 7.25 in 2018), some states, including Arizona, have passed laws requiring a higher rate, which employers must pay despite less federal regulation.
In November 2006, Arizona voters approved a measure to increase the state’s minimum wage in stages, year after year. At that time the minimum wage went from $ 5.15 per hour to $ 6.75 per hour. That initiative also required an increase in the cost of living, called indexation, in subsequent years, which would apply on January 1 of each year. As of January 1, 2018, the minimum wage in Arizona increased to $ 10.50 per hour.
All full-time, part-time, and temporary employees are covered by the minimum wage law, but independent contractors, sometimes called freelancers, are not covered. Additionally, some occupations and employees, including tipped workers, high school and college students, and certain disabled workers are excluded from these regulations.
Minimum wage increases scheduled in Arizona
In November 2016, Arizona voters approved a new minimum wage measure to raise the minimum to $ 12 per hour by 2020. Under the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act (the minimum wage law in Arizona), the Minimum wage will increase from 2018 minimum wage ($ 10.50) each year:
- $ 11 per hour as of January 2019
- $ 12 per hour as of January 2020
Additionally, the measure required that Arizona’s minimum wage be adjusted each year based on the cost of living in the state, beginning in January 2021. As with the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, a panel of elected representatives will vote on incremental annual increases based on current federal and state inflation rates, economic stability, and the cost of goods and services in Arizona.
Tips and Minimum Salary
While waiters and service industry workers are generally exempt from the minimum wage rule for Arizona, there are still state and federal laws that ensure that these types of workers are entitled to fair wages. Fortunately for industry people moving to Arizona, the state has a higher minimum hourly wage ($ 7.50 as of 2018) than the federally required ($ 2.13) for tipped employees.
Additionally, employers may pay a tipped employee an hourly rate that is $ 3 less per hour than Arizona’s minimum wage, as long as the tips earned and distributed to the employee would raise that rate at least up to the wage. minimum.
For example, if a server in a restaurant has an hourly wage of $ 7 per hour, the tips earned by the employee must raise earnings to at least the required Arizona minimum wage for that year. If the tips are not enough to raise the accumulated earnings to the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference with the employee.
Who must pay the minimum wage?
All employers in the state of Arizona, except the state itself, the U.S. government, and small businesses, defined as “any corporation, property, partnership, joint venture, limited liability company, trust, or partnership that has less than $ 500,000 in gross annual income «: You must pay employees at least the state mandatory minimum wage.
If the employer is not exempt from the minimum wage law, all employees must be paid at least the legal minimum wage in effect for that year or the legal minimum wage in relation to tipped employees. No employee can agree to work for less than minimum wage, either verbally, in a written agreement or by contract.
Exceptions to the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act
The Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, which governs the minimum wage in Arizona, does not apply to employees of the State of Arizona or the United States government, which have their own minimum wage requirements, or to a person employed by a father or brother
Additionally, the City of Flagstaff adopted Proposition 414 on November 8, 2016, which dictated an increase in the citywide minimum wage to $ 15.50 by 2022. As a result, the minimum wage in Flagstaff increased to $ 11 in 2018. The Legislation required the minimum wage to increase to $ 12 in 2019, to $ 13 in 2020 and to $ 15 and $ 15.50, or $ 2 more than the scheduled state minimum wage, in 2021 and 2022.
