Arizona Paid Sick Leave: Accrual Rate and Beyond

Do you need to give your employees paid sick leave? Several states have laws requiring it—including Arizona. If you’re an Arizona employer, you need to know your sick time responsibilities to stay compliant. So, are you ready to brush up on Arizona paid sick leave?

Read on for a Q&A on Arizona sick time, learn how to track sick pay, and get a list of must-know sick leave info.

Arizona paid sick leave: Q&A

When your employees are sick, working may be a struggle. But, they might not want to take time off from work and miss out on their wages. To combat this, many employers provide paid sick leave—either voluntarily or as a result of their state’s paid sick leave law.

Paid sick leave lets employees receive their normal wages and benefits (e.g., health care) when they take sick time. 

The Arizona sick leave law is called the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act. The act implemented a new state minimum wage and established accrued earned paid sick time in 2017.

So, what’s paid sick leave look like in The Grand Canyon State? Read on for common questions on sick time: Arizona. 

How many sick days do employers have to provide?

The number of sick days you need to give employees depends on how many total employees you have:

• Employers with 15 or more employees: Provide one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year
• Employers with fewer than 15 employees: Provide one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 24 hours per year

You can choose to set a higher accrual cap than 40 hours (15 or more employees) or 24 hours (fewer than 15 employees) per year. Employers can also opt to frontload paid sick time instead of using an accrual schedule. 

Use our quick-reference chart to find out your accrual rate and cap responsibilities:

Which employers have to provide sick pay in Arizona?

The Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act requires that all Arizona employers provide paid sick leave to their employees. 

However, employers can adopt a paid sick leave policy that is more generous than the state requires. For example, you could provide 56 hours of paid sick leave at the beginning of each calendar year. 

When can employees use Arizona sick time?

Generally, qualifying employees can use their paid sick time as they accrue it or when it’s available to them. However, employers can implement a 90-day waiting period before new hires can use accrued sick time. 

Employees can use their accrued sick time for the following reasons:

• Mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition of themselves or a family member
• Medical diagnosis, treatment, or care, including preventative medical care (self or family member)
• Closure of their place of business by a public official due to a health emergency
• Care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed by a public official due to a health emergency
• Care for themselves or a family member whose presence in the community may jeopardize the health of others (e.g., if they were exposed to COVID-19)
• Domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking (self or family member)

A family member includes the employee’s child, spouse or domestic partner, parent or legal guardian of the employee or their spouse, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling, or any other individual who is the equivalent of family.

Tracking sick pay in Arizona 

You know your responsibilities when it comes to Arizona paid sick leave. Now, it’s time to make sure you have a way to track paid sick leave and accruals. 

Consider using payroll software to streamline the process of tracking sick pay in Arizona. Generally, you can use software to:

• Set up accrual rules to automatically accrue time off for employees (e.g., one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked)
• Track employee paid sick leave balances
• Give employees an easy way to track their paid sick leave balances
• Easily pay employees for paid sick leave 

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Arizona sick time law summary

Need a quick and easy way to learn about the Arizona paid sick leave law? We’ve got it. Check out these fast facts:

• All Arizona employers must provide paid sick leave under the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act 
• Employers must provide one hour of earned paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Employers with 15 or more employees can cap sick time at 40 hours per year, while employers with fewer than 15 employees can cap sick time at 24 hours per year
• Employees can use sick time for qualifying reasons such as dealing with a mental or physical illness and caring for a child whose school is closed
• You can streamline the process of managing time off with payroll software 

For more information on AZ sick time law, check out the state’s website.

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