Arizona PTO Laws: Accrual, Carryover, and Employer Rules

Under the Arizona paid sick time law, every private-sector employee in the state earns one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year at employers with 15 or more workers and 24 hours a year at smaller ones. The rules come from the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act and cover full-time, part-time, and temporary employees the same way. What follows is what you can use the time for, how to request it, and what your employer can and cannot do about it.

Who Is Covered

Nearly every private employer in Arizona is covered. The statute defines “employer” broadly to include corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts, associations, sole proprietors, and political subdivisions of the state.¹ The only exclusions are the State of Arizona itself and the federal government, so if you work for either, this law does not apply to you.

The definition of “employee” also reaches people receiving public benefits who perform work as a condition of that assistance.¹ One practical note: the “year” used to track accrual and usage is whatever consecutive 12-month period your employer designates. It might be the calendar year, a fiscal year, or your work anniversary, so check your handbook.

How Much Sick Time You Earn

The accrual rate is the same for everyone: one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. The annual cap depends on how big your employer is.

At employers with 15 or more employees, you can accrue and use up to 40 hours per year, unless the employer sets a higher limit.
At employers with fewer than 15 employees, the cap is 24 hours per year, again unless the employer allows more.

An employer counts as the larger tier if it had 15 or more workers on the payroll for any part of a day in at least 20 separate calendar weeks during the current or preceding year. Those weeks do not have to be consecutive, and it does not have to be the same 15 people each time. Full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all count toward the headcount.²

What You Can Use Sick Time For

The permitted uses are broader than a typical sick-day policy. You can use earned paid sick time for:

Your own physical or mental illness, injury, health condition, medical diagnosis or treatment, or preventive care such as checkups and vaccinations.
The same health-related needs of a qualifying family member.
A closure of your workplace, your child’s school, or your child’s daycare by a public official’s order due to a public health emergency, or when a health authority or provider determines that you or a family member could expose others to a communicable disease.
Needs arising from domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking, including medical care, counseling, victim services, legal help, and relocation to secure safety for you or a family member.

Who Counts as Family

The family definition is generous. It includes your child (biological, adopted, foster, step, or one you are raising), your parent or your spouse’s parent (including stepparents and those who raised you), your spouse or domestic partner, grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings, along with in-law and step relationships on your spouse’s or partner’s side.¹ There is also a catch-all for anyone related by blood or by a close association that is the equivalent of a family relationship, which can reach a close friend or a neighbor you care for.

How to Request It and When Documentation Applies

You can ask for sick time orally, in writing, electronically, or by any method your employer accepts, and if you know the expected length of the absence you should include it. If the need is foreseeable, such as a scheduled procedure or a court date, make a good-faith effort to give advance notice and to schedule the time in a way that does not unnecessarily disrupt operations.³

Your employer can require documentation only when you are out for three or more consecutive workdays. A note from a healthcare provider confirming that leave was needed is considered reasonable. For absences tied to domestic violence, sexual violence, abuse, or stalking, you choose the documentation. A police report, a protective order, a signed statement from a victim services organization, a statement from an attorney or counselor, or even your own written statement will do.³ Your employer cannot require the documentation to reveal the nature of your illness or the details of the violence or abuse.

Waiting Period, Carryover, and Separation

You start accruing on your first day, but your employer can make you wait up to 90 calendar days before you actually use what you’ve built up. That waiting period applies only to employees hired after July 1, 2017.²

Unused hours carry over to the next year, though the annual usage cap still applies. As an alternative, your employer can pay you out for unused sick time at year-end and front-load a fresh balance that meets or exceeds the statutory minimum at the start of the new year, giving you immediate access without waiting to reaccrue.²

If you transfer to another division or location of the same company, your balance goes with you. If you leave and are rehired by the same employer within nine months, your previously unused hours are reinstated and you can use and accrue again right away.²

Arizona does not require employers to pay out unused sick time when you quit, are fired, or retire. If you have hours banked and leave for good, those hours disappear unless you return within that nine-month window.²

Retaliation Is Prohibited

Your employer cannot fire, demote, suspend, cut the hours of, or otherwise punish you for using or requesting earned paid sick time. The same protection covers filing a complaint, cooperating with an investigation, and informing a coworker of their rights under the law.⁴ If you report a violation you genuinely believed occurred and it turns out you were mistaken, you are still protected as long as you acted in good faith.

An attendance policy cannot treat earned paid sick time as an unexcused absence, and it cannot count against you in any point-based disciplinary attendance system. Sick time taken under this law has to be excluded from those calculations.⁴

What If Your Employer Already Offers PTO

An existing paid time off program can satisfy the law, but only if it meets every part of the minimum. That means accrual at least as fast as one hour per 30 hours worked, at least the same annual usage cap, and permission to use the time for all of the covered reasons, including domestic violence situations and public health emergencies. A PTO plan that accrues enough hours but restricts why you can use them is not a full substitute.

How It Works With FMLA

If you qualify for unpaid leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, your employer can require you to use your Arizona earned paid sick time at the same time. You get paid from your sick-time bank while the FMLA job-protection guarantee runs for up to 12 weeks.⁵ Your sick-time balance drains faster because the hours count against both benefits, and if the FMLA leave outlasts your paid balance, the remainder is unpaid unless you have other leave to use.

Employer Notices and Pay Stubs

Employers have to give every employee written notice at the start of employment explaining the right to earned paid sick time, how much is available, the terms of use, the prohibition on retaliation, the right to file a complaint, and Industrial Commission contact information. The notice must be provided in English, Spanish, and any other language the Commission designates.⁶

Each paycheck must also show, on the stub or an attachment, how much sick time you currently have available, how much you’ve used in the current year, and how much you have been paid for sick time.⁶ If those numbers are missing from your stubs, that alone is a violation.

Filing a Complaint

If your employer refuses to provide earned paid sick time, retaliates against you for using it, or fails the notice requirements, you can file a complaint with the Industrial Commission of Arizona. The Commission investigates alleged violations and can order remedies including payment of unpaid sick time and civil penalties, and separate civil penalties apply to notice violations under ARS 23-375.⁶ Filing information is available at azica.gov.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-371 – Definitions
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-372 – Accrual of Earned Paid Sick Time
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-373 – Use of Earned Paid Sick Time
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-374 – Exercise of Rights Protected; Retaliation Prohibited
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 23-375 – Notice