• Arizona's minimum wage laws should be of interest to anyone starting out on the bottom rung.Cash image by Greg Carpenter from Fotolia.com
  
  Although federal minimum wage laws exist, individual states also have their own minimum wage laws. Some of Arizona's minimum wage regulations have caused a great deal of controversy. Similar to many other states, Arizona also has a list of jobs or situations in which traditional minimum wage laws do not apply.
  
  

Federal Minimum Wage

• The federal minimum wage as of 2010 is $7.25 an hour--the same rate as Arizona's. The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act outlines the responsibility of large businesses to pay a minimum wage and the rights of workers. Arizona follows the FFLSA in administering minimum wage laws, even keeping the same exemptions for businesses that gross under $500,000 in sales per year.
  
  

Sub-Minimum Wage Certificates

• Sub-minimum wage certificates were used under Arizona minimum wage laws until 2007, and could be used to pay less than minimum wage to certain groups of workers. Any employer still practicing this is in violation of Arizona law. The only exceptions to Arizona minimum wage law are those outlined in the federal guidelines, including tipped employees, children working in a family business, casual baby sitting or a business that grosses less than $500,000 in sales a year.
  
  

Arizona Minimum Wage Initiative

• The Arizona Minimum Wage Initiative passed in 2009 forces the state minimum wage to be raised every year based on inflation. As inflation increases, the state minimum wage for Arizona will increase by the same amount on January 1 of each year. In theory, that means there is a new minimum wage every year in Arizona. There are three major exemptions to the Arizona Minimum Wage Initiative: state employees, federal employees and small businesses that gross less than $500,000 in sales.