Blog Posts: Employment

The first thing employees need to know is that not all harassment and discrimination is unlawful. Arizona is an at-will employment state, which means that an employee can legally be terminated (or harassed) for any reason or no reason, except a limited list of unlawful reasons. Federal discrimination laws require qualifying employers to take "prompt remedial actio...

I get this call pretty frequently. A client wants know whether it should accommodate an employee by allowing the employee to telecommute or work remotely. The answer, in typical attorney fashion, is "it depends." And it does. An employer or the employee may suggest telecommuting as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA. And it may not be a bad idea. But be caut...

In Arizona, courts will enforce a confidentiality agreement if it is “reasonable.” Often, confidentiality agreements are written to encompass all of the employer’s information. A court may take issue with such an agreement because confidentiality agreements are supposed to prohibit disclosure of information that is truly confidential. Depending on the employe...

In Arizona, non-solicitation agreements may be enforceable if they are “reasonable.” This means employers may be able to prohibit an employee from soliciting other employees and customers/clients for a period of time. It is never easy to determine what an Arizona court will think is “reasonable.” New court decisions are issued on a semi-regular basis that i...

In Arizona, non-compete agreements may be enforceable if “reasonable.” In determining whether a non-compete is “reasonable,” courts evaluate several factors, none of which are controlling. The factors are:Duration. In determining whether the duration is reasonable, courts evaluate how long it would take to find and properly train a replacement. For som...

Many Arizona employees are often subject to non-compete agreements, or “covenants,” in which the employee agrees in advance to not compete with his or her employer for some time after leaving or being terminated by the employer. These covenants may also include an agreement that the employee will not solicit the employer’s customers for a time aft...

What is a Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA? Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, as amended (“ADA”), employers have a duty to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with a disability. It is important for employers to understand their duty to meet and confer and what makes an accommodation “reasonable.” Duty to Meet and Confe...

Arizona employers are often confused by the laws that govern employee terminations in this so-called “right to work” state. The “right to work” has nothing to do with an employee’s right to keep his or her job. What they are really talking about is the opposite idea, that Arizona is a “no right to work,” “at-will” employment state. This means that...

Arizona employers often ask me what kind of flexibility they have in adopting paid time off (“PTO”) policies. Below are some common questions:Can employers have a “use it or lose it” policy where employees will not be paid any PTO upon separation, regardless of the reason? Can a PTO policy state that employees who quit will not be paid any accrued PT...

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has jurisdiction to audit employers to ensure compliance with overtime and federal minimum wage laws. An audit can be stressful and expensive. Generally, an auditor will come to the company’s place of business and inspect all of their employment and payroll records. The DOL will ask about and review payment policies and pa...