Fair Pay

Fair Wages and Earned Paid Sick Time​

At Barton Mendez Soto, our fight for a more just and equitable world is rooted in real, tangible change. Our founders, alongside dedicated community partners at Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), literally wrote the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act. This landmark legislation wasn't just a political victory—it was a crucial step toward ensuring dignity and respect for every worker in Arizona.

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Earned Paid Sick Time

The Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act established a statewide minimum for earned paid sick time, a fundamental right we helped create. This law guarantees you 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours you work, protecting both part-time and temporary employees. We also built in a strong protection against retaliation: if an employer takes negative action against you within 90 days of you using your sick time, the law presumes it's an act of retaliation. The burden of proof is on your employer to show otherwise, not on you.

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Minimum Wage and Overtime

Our work with LUCHA also resulted in a significant increase to Arizona's minimum wage and an annual adjustment tied to inflation, so that a fair wage keeps pace with the cost of living. This is the floor, not the ceiling—and we also fight for higher wages at the local level. Voters in places like Flagstaff and Tucson have already exercised their power to establish higher minimum wages, creating even stronger protections for workers. In addition to these state-level protections, the Fair Labor Standards Act provides federal safeguards, including the right to overtime for many employees.

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Fighting Wage Theft

Employers often try to illegally avoid these obligations by misclassifying employees as "independent contractors" or by claiming they work for a third-party staffing agency. We have extensive experience holding these powerful interests accountable and ensuring you get the compensation you've rightfully earned. If you believe your employer has stolen your wages or retaliated against you for using your earned paid sick time, we want to hear from you. In many cases, you can recover two or even three times the amount in wages that your employer has illegally withheld.