| Arizona employers who misclassify their | | | | employment laws have been violated as a result |
| employees as exempt or as independent | | | | of your classification as exempt or non-exempt. |
| contractors may be required to pay damages and | | | | Employees should understand that just because a |
| penalties to those employees. | | | | job has a title of "supervisor," or "manager," or |
| State and federal laws allow Arizona employees | | | | because you have been informed that the job |
| to recover unpaid wages and/or penalties when | | | | has been classified as a professional position and is |
| such employees are not paid all wages they are | | | | therefore exempt, that does not mean the |
| entitled to be paid during the term of their | | | | classification is correct. Whether a job is exempt |
| employment. Two common mechanisms | | | | or not depends on the actual work you perform, |
| employers use to deny compensation to | | | | not just the title of the job. The relevant |
| employees, sometimes without the intent to do | | | | considerations, depending on the exempt |
| so, are misclassifying an employee as an | | | | classification being relied upon by the employer, |
| "exempt" employee and misclassifying an | | | | may include whether you have supervisory |
| employee as an independent contractor. | | | | responsibilities, if you are allowed to exercise |
| Regardless of whether such a misclassification is | | | | independent judgment, whether you have the |
| the result of the ignorance of the employer; an | | | | power to hire and fire other employees, how |
| accidental oversight, or a deliberate act to limit an | | | | much you are paid, and how much discretion you |
| employee's pay, employees can generally recover | | | | have regarding how you perform your job duties. |
| such unpaid wages provided they bring their | | | | Similar considerations apply to the misclassification |
| claims within the various applicable statutes of | | | | of an independent contractor. This misclassification |
| limitation. Because the state and federal laws | | | | can result in unpaid overtime and is also often |
| governing the classifications and damages are | | | | used to deny benefits that an employee would |
| complex, an Arizona employment law attorney | | | | have been entitled to receive if he or she had |
| should be consulted to give you a better | | | | been classified properly. |
| understanding of whether Arizona state or federal | | | | |