AZ SB1659

Amends Arizona Revised Statutes section 23-341 to prohibit employers from paying employees less than the wage rates paid to employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.

Establishes four permitted wage rate differentials: seniority systems, merit systems, earnings based on quantity or quality of production, and bona fide factors other than sex (such as education, training, or experience) that are job-related and consistent with business necessity.

Prohibits employers from reducing any employee's wage rate to comply with equal pay requirements.

Adds a new provision prohibiting labor organizations from causing or attempting to cause employers to violate equal pay requirements.

Maintains existing enforcement mechanisms allowing employees to file complaints with the commission, pursue civil actions for wage recovery within six months, and recover back pay (limited to 30 days prior to written notice of the violation), with the burden of proof on the claimant to establish pay differentiation is sex-based.