Statute
Classes protected
- Sex, race, color, religion, age, national origin, and disability.
Key language on pay discrimination
- “No employer shall pay any person in his employ at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex in the same establishment for the same quantity and quality of the same classification of work.”
- It is illegal for an employer to discriminate in compensation of an employee based on the employee’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or on the basis of disability. This provision applies to employers, and their agents, that have fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in a current or preceding calendar year.
- Phoenix: Under the city code, is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to pay equal compensation to men and women who perform jobs that require substantially equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and that are performed within the same establishment under similar working conditions, except where payment is made based on: (1) a seniority system; (2) a merit system; (3) a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (4) a differential based on any other factor other than sex. An employer may not reduce the wage rate of any employee to achieve compliance with the code. The code applies to all employers, both public and private, regardless of size.
Exceptions for pay disparities (including affirmative defenses)
As per Arizona Equal Pay Law, AZ Rev. Stat. § 23-340 et seq.
- Seniority
- Length of service
- Ability
- Skill
- Difference in duties or services performed, whether regularly or occasionally
- Difference in the shift or time of day worked
- Hours of work
- Restrictions or prohibitions on lifting or moving objects in excess of specified weight
- Other reasonable differentiation, factor, or factors other than sex, when exercised in good faith
As per Arizona Civil Rights Act, AZ Rev. Stat. § 41-1463
- Seniority
- Merit System
- Measurement of earnings by quantity or quality of production
- Difference in location
Anti-Retaliation
- Phoenix: It is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee who exercises and seeks protection, or helps another exercise or seek protection, of the anti-discrimination rights in Phoenix City Code §18-4.