Arizona Paid Sick Leave FAQ: Accrual, Usage, and Retaliation

Arizona paid sick leave gives nearly every worker in the state one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, capped each year at 40 hours if your employer has 15 or more employees and 24 hours if it has fewer. The rules come from the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act, which Arizona voters passed as Proposition 206 in 2016, and the Industrial Commission of Arizona enforces them.

How Much You Earn

The accrual rate is the same for everyone: one hour of paid sick time per 30 hours worked. What changes with employer size is how much you can bank and use in a year.¹

15 or more employees: up to 40 hours per year.
Fewer than 15 employees: up to 24 hours per year.

These are floors. An employer can offer more, never less. Full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers all accrue at the same rate, and all count toward the headcount that sets the cap.¹

Coverage is broad. The law applies to private businesses, nonprofits, and political subdivisions like cities, counties, and school districts. It does not apply to the State of Arizona or the federal government, so state and federal employees are not covered. A narrow exception may apply to certain family-member employees of a business owner.²

When You Can Start Using It

Accrual starts on your first day. Using the time is a different question. Your employer can make you wait until your 90th calendar day of employment before you tap into your balance. Once that day arrives, every hour you have already earned is available at once.¹

Unused hours carry into the next year, though you still cannot use more than the 24- or 40-hour annual cap. Employers who prefer not to track carryover have another option: pay out unused time at year-end and give you a fresh, fully available bank on day one of the new year that meets or beats the statutory minimum.¹

What You Can Use It For

Sick time covers your own illness, injury, mental health condition, and preventive care such as a physical or dental cleaning. It covers the same needs for a family member.³

“Family member” is defined broadly: children (biological, adopted, foster, or step), parents and stepparents, spouse or domestic partner, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings. It also reaches anyone whose close relationship with you is the equivalent of a family bond, even without a legal or biological tie.²

The same hours work as “safe time.” If you or a family member experience domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking, you can use accrued time for medical care, counseling, victim services, legal help, or to relocate or secure your home. Sick time also covers absences when a public official closes your workplace or your child’s school for a public health emergency.³

Notice and Documentation

When you know an absence is coming, make a good-faith effort to tell your employer in advance and try to avoid disrupting operations. For anything unexpected, notice as soon as reasonably possible is enough. Your employer can set reasonable rules about how you communicate the request, such as a call or an email.⁴

For absences of one or two days, your employer generally has to take you at your word. Documentation can only be required when you miss three or more consecutive workdays.³ Even then, the documentation cannot reveal your diagnosis or the specific nature of your condition. Under Arizona’s administrative rules, reasonable documentation is either a note signed by a healthcare professional confirming the time was necessary or a written statement from you attesting the time was used for a covered purpose. Either one is enough.⁵

What Your Employer Has to Tell You

At the start of employment, your employer must give you a written notice covering your right to earn sick time, the amount you are entitled to, the ban on retaliation, your right to file a complaint, and the Industrial Commission’s contact information. The notice must be provided in English, Spanish, and any other language the Commission designates.⁶

Every pay stub, or an attachment to it, must show three numbers: total earned sick time available, sick time used year-to-date, and pay received as sick time.⁶ If you have never seen those figures on your pay stub, that alone is a violation.

Retaliation and Attendance Points

Your employer cannot interfere with, restrain, or deny your use of earned paid sick time. They cannot retaliate against you for requesting or using it, filing a complaint, taking part in an investigation, or talking to a coworker about their rights under the law.⁷

One rule catches employers off guard more than any other: an attendance or absence-control policy cannot count earned paid sick time as an occurrence that leads to discipline, demotion, suspension, or discharge. If your workplace uses a points-based attendance system and gives you a point for calling in sick with earned time, that violates the law.⁷

Protection extends to good-faith complaints even if they turn out to be mistaken. You do not lose that protection just because you were wrong about whether a violation occurred.⁷

What Happens When You Leave

Arizona does not require employers to pay out unused sick time when you quit or are terminated. The balance simply lapses. This is one of the most common misunderstandings about the law.

If the same employer rehires you within nine months, your previously accrued unused sick time must be reinstated, and you can begin using and accruing again right away without another 90-day wait. If the employer voluntarily paid out your unused balance at separation and you accepted that payout, the Industrial Commission has said it will not enforce the reinstatement requirement.⁸

Filing a Complaint or Lawsuit

If your employer denies your sick time or retaliates against you, you can file an administrative complaint with the Industrial Commission of Arizona. Any person or organization can file on behalf of an affected worker, and the Commission will keep the complaining employee’s name confidential for as long as possible during its investigation.⁹

You can also sue. The statute of limitations is two years from the last violation, or three years if the violation was willful. The clock pauses while the Commission or another law enforcement agency investigates, and an open investigation does not stop you from filing your own lawsuit at the same time.⁹

How This Differs From FMLA

Arizona’s paid sick time is separate from the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, but only at employers with 50 or more employees and only for workers who have logged at least 1,250 hours in the prior year. Arizona’s sick time has no such minimums. If both apply to the same absence, your employer may require paid sick time to run concurrently with FMLA leave, turning otherwise unpaid FMLA time into paid time.

Documentation rules differ. FMLA allows employers to require medical certification for any qualifying leave, while Arizona’s law permits documentation requests only for absences of three or more consecutive workdays.³ When both laws apply, the employer can follow FMLA documentation rules for the FMLA portion, but Arizona’s privacy limits still restrict what the employer can demand about your sick time itself.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-372 – Accrual of Earned Paid Sick Time
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-371 – Definitions
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-373 – Use of Earned Paid Sick Time
4
Arizona Secretary of State. Arizona Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act
5
Arizona Secretary of State. Arizona Administrative Register – Notice of Final Rulemaking
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-375 – Employer Notice and Record Keeping
7
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-374 – Exercise of Rights Protected; Retaliation Prohibited
8
Industrial Commission of Arizona. Frequently Asked Questions About Minimum Wage and Earned Paid Sick Time
9
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-364 – Enforcement