As of January 1, 2015, the minimum wage in Arizona increases to $8.05 per hour. In 2006, the Raise the Arizona Minimum Wage for Working Arizonans Act became law. In part it provides for annual increases in the Arizona's minimum wage. Increases to Arizona's minimum wage are based on cost of living increases using the Department of Labor, Consumer Price Index of All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
Arizona's rate is .80 cents per hour higher than the federal minimum wage and employers are required to pay the higher of the two wage rates.
Arizona's minimum wage law ("AMWA") has some important variations from the federal minimum wage law. The following entities are exempt from this law:
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A person employed in a small business not subject to the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and which has less than $500,000 in gross annual revenue;
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A person who is employed by a parent or a sibling;
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A person who is employed performing babysitting services in the employer's home on a casual basis;
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A person employed by the State of Arizona or the United States government; and there are also special rules regarding "tipped" employees.
There is an exception for certain federal construction and service contracts. The minimum wage for those contracts is $10.10. According to the Department of Labor, the higher minimum wage applies to new contracts and replacements for expiring contracts with the Federal Government that result from solicitations issued on or after January 1, 2015 or to contracts that are awarded outside the solicitation process on or after January 1, 2015.
The covered contractual agreements are defined as follows:
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Procurement contracts for construction covered by the Davis-Bacon Act
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Service contracts covered by the Service Contract Act
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Concessions contracts, including any concessions contract excluded from the SCA by the Department of Labor’s regulations at 29 CFR 4.133(b); and
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Contracts in connection with Federal property or lands and related to offering services for Federal employees, their dependents, or the general public.
Read Arizona requirements/ download required posters by visiting http://www.ica.state.az.us/Labor/Labor_MinWag_main.aspx .
