Ballot Measures Breakdown:
Arizona and Massachusetts

In recent years, significant shifts in employment laws have paved the way for ballot measures addressing minimum wage adjustments and paid sick leave requirements. GovDocs is watching these ballot measures and will bring you a series of blogs for the remainder of this month providing details on which states have similar ballot measures to be decided in the November election.   

The third blog in the series includes minimum wage ballot measures in Arizona and Massachusetts.  

Arizona Tipped Wage Ballot Measure

Arizona Proposition 138 is a tipped wage measure on the ballot for Arizonans on election day. According to the official ballot measure language from Arizona’s Secretary of State, voters will determine the following: 

• ✅ A YES vote shall have the effect of amending the Arizona Constitution to allow employers to pay employees up to 25% less than the minimum hourly wage if the employer can establish that the employee’s wage plus tips or gratuities is at least $2 more than the minimum wage for every hour worked.  
• ❌ A NO vote shall have the effect of maintaining the current laws regarding minimum wage.

As noted above, if the voters approve Proposition 138 on Nov. 5, it will amend Arizona’s constitution, adding a new section on tipped worker wages. Notably, employers may pay their tipped workers up to 25% less than the state minimum wage if the tipped worker received at least the minimum wage plus $2.  

Arizona has announced their indexed minimum wage increase to $14.70, effective Jan. 1, 2025. If Proposition 138 is passed, the tipped base wage would become $11.03. If Proposition 138 does not pass, the tipped based wage would remain at $3 less than the minimum wage, or $11.70.

Glendale, Ariz., Hospitality Minimum Wage Ballot Measure

At the local level, the city of Glendale in Arizona also has a minimum wage question on the Nov. 5 ballot. Specifically, Proposition 499 would increase the minimum wage for certain hotel, event, and conference center workers to $20.00 per hour in Glendale, create a new department of labor standards for the city, and also establish wage and working conditions enforced by the city.  

Glendale will fill in a “yes” or “no” for the following question on their ballots: 

• Shall hotel and event center workers receive a $20.00 per hour minimum wage (increases annually), service charge payments and premium pay to be enforced by a newly created city department of labor responsible for investigating employer violations involving payment of wages, reporting, recordkeeping and overtime requirements?  

According to the city, Proposition 499 would apply to a variety of event centers, from Arizona Cardinal’s State Farm Stadium and Sahuaro Ranch Park to go kart racing and high school event complexes.  

Massachusetts Tipped Wage Ballot Measure

On the flip side of Arizona, voters in Massachusetts will decide whether to approve Initiative 23-12, which would gradually eliminate the tipped employee wage over the next several years in the Bay State. Massachusetts Secretary of State released a booklet with voter information on the 2024 ballot questions, including the following for the tipped worker wage increase: 

• ✅ A YES vote would increase the minimum hourly wage an employer must pay a tipped worker to the full state minimum wage implemented over five years, at which point employers could pool all tips and distribute them to all non-management workers.  
• ❌ A NO vote would make no change in the law governing tip pooling or the minimum wage for tipped workers. 

Under Initiative 23-12, the tipped employee wage would gradually increase over the next 5 years until it equals the state minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2029. Currently, the state minimum wage is set at $15.00 while the tipped employee wage is set at $6.75. If Initiation 23-12 passes, the tipped employee wage would increase to 64% of the state minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2025, or $9.60.  

Conclusion

To stay up to date with the minimum wage and paid leave ballot measures, check out the GovDocs Employment Law News Blogs this month.