Arizona Leave of Absence Laws: Sick Time, FMLA, and More

Arizona leave of absence laws come from two directions: a state statute that guarantees paid sick time to nearly every private-sector worker from day one, and federal laws that cover longer absences for serious health conditions, new children, military service, pregnancy, and disability. Arizona has no state family and medical leave statute of its own, so extended job-protected leave for most workers runs through the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. On top of that, state law adds specific protections for jury duty, voting, crime victims, and public-employee military service.

Paid Sick Time Under State Law

The Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, in effect since 2017, is the one leave right that reaches almost every private employee in Arizona. It covers every private employer and local government entity in the state; state and federal government employers are excluded from the definition of “employer.”¹ There is no minimum tenure, hours threshold, or employment classification bar. Part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers accrue sick time from their first day.

Workers earn one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The annual accrual cap depends on employer size: 40 hours per year at businesses with 15 or more employees, 24 hours per year at smaller ones. Employers can set higher caps if they choose.²

What You Can Use It For

The permitted uses go well past personal illness. Employees can use accrued sick time for their own medical care, diagnosis, or preventive treatment, and to care for a family member with a health condition or appointment. If a public official closes the workplace or a child’s school because of a public health emergency, sick time covers that absence too.³

Sick time also covers absences related to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking. Covered reasons include seeking medical attention, obtaining counseling, relocating or securing a home, using services from a victim advocacy organization, and attending related legal proceedings.³ That matters because the state’s standalone crime victim leave law does not reach smaller employers.

FMLA: Up to 12 Weeks of Unpaid, Job-Protected Leave

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible workers up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period. Because Arizona has no state analog, FMLA is the main route to an extended protected absence for most private-sector workers.

Who Qualifies

Three conditions all have to be met. The employer must have at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius. You must have worked for that employer for at least 12 months, which do not have to be consecutive. And you must have logged at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months before leave begins.⁴ The 50-employee count is measured at the time you give notice of your need for leave.⁵ Independent contractors are not covered.

Qualifying Reasons

FMLA leave is available for the birth or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, and for your own serious health condition that prevents you from doing your job. A serious health condition generally means one requiring inpatient care or ongoing treatment by a healthcare provider. The employer can request medical certification to verify the condition.⁴

Notice

If the need for leave is foreseeable — a scheduled surgery, an expected due date, planned treatment — you must give at least 30 days’ advance notice.⁶ For an emergency or a sudden health crisis, notice should come as soon as practicable.

Intermittent Leave

FMLA leave does not have to be taken all at once. When medically necessary, you can take it in separate blocks: a few hours for a chemotherapy appointment, a full day for recovery later. The medical certification has to support why intermittent leave is needed. For the birth or placement of a healthy child, intermittent leave is available only if the employer agrees to it.⁷

Military Family Variants

FMLA has two military-specific categories. Qualifying exigency leave gives up to 12 workweeks for urgent matters tied to a family member’s foreign deployment, such as attending military events, arranging childcare, or handling financial and legal affairs. Military caregiver leave provides up to 26 workweeks in a single 12-month period to care for a current service member or recent veteran with a serious injury or illness.⁴

Pregnancy, Lactation, and Disability Leave

The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act applies to employers with 15 or more employees and requires reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.⁸ Leave itself can be a reasonable accommodation under this law, even after you have used up all available FMLA leave or employer-provided benefits. An employer cannot force a pregnant worker to take leave if a different accommodation would work.⁹

An employee who takes leave as a PWFA accommodation is generally entitled to return to the same position unless the employer can show that holding the job open would impose an undue hardship. The key question is whether the employee can reasonably be expected to perform the essential functions of the job at the end of the leave.⁹

The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act requires most employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space, not a bathroom, for employees to express breast milk for up to one year after a child’s birth. The space must be shielded from view and free from intrusion.¹⁰

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations, which can include schedule modifications or extended unpaid leave, unless the accommodation creates an undue hardship.¹¹ This matters most for workers who have exhausted their 12 weeks of FMLA but still cannot return because of a disability. Undue hardship is evaluated case by case, taking the cost of the accommodation, employer size, and nature of the business into account.

Military Leave

The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act covers every employer in the country, public and private, with no minimum size.¹² Service members can take leave for military duties without losing their civilian job. They must give advance notice when possible and, on return, must be reinstated to their previous position or a comparable one, provided they meet service-duration and notification requirements. Employers cannot discriminate against workers based on military service.

Arizona adds a paid layer for public employees. Under ARS 26-168, officers and employees of the state or its political subdivisions who belong to the National Guard or U.S. Armed Forces reserves are entitled to paid leave for field training and active duty, without loss of their efficiency rating. The duration tracks the employee’s regular schedule, and workers cannot be charged military leave for days they were not otherwise scheduled to work.¹³ The administrative code caps paid military leave at roughly three times the employee’s average weekly hours per year, about 15 working days on a standard 40-hour schedule, with a higher cap spread across two consecutive federal fiscal years.¹⁴ Private-sector employees in Arizona are entitled to unpaid military leave but keep full reemployment rights under USERRA.

Crime Victim Leave

Arizona provides job-protected leave for employees who are victims of a crime, but only if the employer has 50 or more employees. Covered workers can take time off to attend court proceedings, obtain a protective order, or seek an injunction against harassment. The employer does not have to pay for this time, and the employer can require you to use accrued vacation, personal leave, or sick time instead.¹⁵

Before taking leave, you must provide documentation, such as a law enforcement report or a copy of a court order, along with notice of any scheduled proceedings. An employer cannot fire, refuse to hire, or otherwise penalize a worker for exercising these rights, and must keep leave records confidential. The employer can limit the leave if the absence would create an undue hardship, defined as significant difficulty and expense considering the size of the business and how critical the employee’s role is.¹⁵

If you work for a smaller employer, the paid sick leave law still allows you to use accrued sick time for absences related to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking, regardless of employer size.³

Jury Duty and Voting

Jury Duty

Arizona law prohibits employers from penalizing workers who serve on a jury. An employer cannot dismiss, demote, or otherwise punish an employee for responding to a jury summons, participating in jury selection, or serving on a grand or trial jury. An employer also cannot require you to burn vacation, personal, or sick leave on jury service, a protection many employees do not realize they have.¹⁶

Employers are not required to pay you during jury service, but you cannot lose seniority, and you must be returned to your previous position (or a higher one if seniority would normally warrant it) when you come back. Violating these protections is a class 3 misdemeanor.¹⁶

Voting

Arizona provides time off to vote under ARS 16-402. Employees who lack sufficient time outside working hours to get to the polls on election day can take paid time off at the beginning or end of their shift. You are generally expected to notify your employer before election day that you will need the time.

What Happens to Your Health Insurance

During FMLA leave, your employer must continue group health coverage on the same terms as if you were still working.¹⁷ The employer keeps paying its share of the premium. You are still responsible for your share, and if a payment runs more than 30 days late, the employer can drop coverage after providing at least 15 days’ written notice.¹⁸

Even if coverage lapses because of missed payments, the employer must restore you to equivalent coverage on return, with no new waiting periods, no pre-existing condition exclusions, and no requirement to pass a medical exam.¹⁸ For leave that is not FMLA-protected, or when an employee does not return from FMLA leave, a COBRA qualifying event may be triggered. COBRA generally applies to private-sector employers with 20 or more employees and allows workers and their dependents to continue group health coverage at their own expense.¹⁹

Reinstatement and Retaliation

Under FMLA, eligible employees returning from leave must be restored to their original job or an equivalent position with the same pay, benefits, and working conditions. Under USERRA, returning service members must be reinstated to the position they would have held had they never left, accounting for any promotions or raises they would have earned. Arizona’s jury duty law also requires reinstatement to the previous position.¹⁶

Retaliation is barred across the board. Employers cannot fire, demote, reduce hours, or take any adverse action against an employee for requesting or using legally protected leave. That rule applies to FMLA leave, paid sick time, jury duty, crime victim leave, and military service. Under the state paid sick leave law, filing a complaint about denied sick time is itself a protected act.²⁰

Filing a Complaint

For denied or improperly handled paid sick leave, complaints go to the Industrial Commission of Arizona’s Labor Department, which investigates claims, enforces compliance, and can order remedies including back pay.²¹

For FMLA problems, including wrongful denial, failure to reinstate, or retaliation, you can file with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which can seek reinstatement, lost wages, and other corrective action.²² You can also file a private lawsuit. The statute of limitations is two years from the date of the last violation, or three years if the employer’s conduct was willful.²³ Remedies include lost wages, employment benefits, and other compensation, plus an equal amount in liquidated damages in some cases.

For a denied accommodation under the ADA or the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, file a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For military-related violations, USERRA complaints go to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, which can refer unresolved cases to the Department of Justice or the Office of Special Counsel.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 23 Labor 23-371
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 23-372 – Accrual of Earned Paid Sick Time
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 23-373 – Use of Earned Paid Sick Time
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor – Employee Eligibility
6
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.302 – Employee Notice Requirements for Foreseeable FMLA Leave
7
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.202 – Intermittent Leave or Reduced Leave Schedule
8
Federal Register. Implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
9
eCFR. Part 1636 – Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
10
U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA Protections to Pump at Work
11
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The ADA – Your Responsibilities as an Employer
12
U.S. Office of Special Counsel. USERRA Overview
13
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 26-168 – Military Leave
14
Cornell Law Institute. Arizona Admin Code R2-5A-D603 – Military Leave
15
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 13-4439 – Right to Leave Work; Scheduled Proceedings; Counseling
16
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 21-236 – Employment Rights; Automatic Postponement; Violation; Classification
17
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
18
eCFR. 29 CFR 825.212 – Employee Failure to Pay Health Plan Premium Payments
19
U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers
20
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes 23-375 – Notice
21
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 23 Labor 23-364
22
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77B – Protection for Individuals Under the FMLA
23
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 2617 – Enforcement