PHOENIX — The state Court of Appeals says the Legislature can’t block local governments from mandating that private employers provide more fringe benefits to workers than required by state law.
In a unanimous ruling Tuesday, the judges said it is clear that when voters adopted the state’s first wage law in 2006, they wanted to give local governments the power to go above and beyond bare minimums.
They said that includes not just wages but also any requirement for benefits, whether that’s time off or health insurance.
Tuesday’s ruling is a setback for the Arizona Restaurant Association and its Republican allies in the Legislature, who approved a 2016 law the appellate judges found illegal.
Restaurant association lobbyists, unable to block the minimum wage law in the first place, got the GOP-controlled Legislature to at least trim the ability of cities and counties to impose more requirements on them.
In turn, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and 32 Democratic lawmakers sued, saying the law illegally overruled the 2006 voter initiative.
Appellate Judge Jennifer Campbell said the Voter Protection Act in the Arizona Constitution precludes lawmakers from tinkering with what has been approved at the ballot.
She rejected as not making sense arguments by Attorney General Mark Brnovich, seeking to defend the 2016 law, that when voters authorized local governments to regulate minimum wages and benefits, they really didn’t intend for that to extend to actual fringe benefits.
Brnovich said he had no comment on whether he will seek Arizona Supreme Court review.
But unless Tuesday’s ruling is overturned, it paves the way for local governments to consider what kinds of requirements they want to put on private employers.
There already have been discussions in that direction.
Tucson City Councilwoman Regina Romero has been pushing for years to require employers in the city to offer paid parental leave.
Romero said Tuesday that, for the moment, she is content with the city having adopted a policy of six weeks off for its own employees. She hopes private employers follow suit, particularly in a place like Tucson, which Romero describes as a “low-wage city,’.” so that both sectors are working together “for a better quality of life’’ for residents.
On top of the 2006 law, voters also approved a 2016 initiative that expanded on it. Arizona employers now must pay at least $11 an hour, while the federal minimum wage set by Congress is $7.25.
The 2016 initiative also requires employers to provide at least three days of paid personal leave.
Both voter-approved laws also specifically empower local governments to regulate minimum wages and benefits as long as they do not provide for a wage lower than voters approved.
