§ 6.1.3 Statute of Limitations. The statute of limitations governing wrongful discharge claims premised upon the public policy exception is one year.13 Prior to 1996, when this issue was addressed by statute, courts had held that the claim was subject to the two-year statute of limitations applicable to personal injury claims.14 In Zenaty-Paulson v. McLane/Sunwest Inc.,15 an Arizona federal district court judge rejected a constitutional challenge to the legislature's shortening of the statute of limitations governing public policy wrongful discharge claims.16
A classified public sector employee who is subject to a mandatory administrative procedure for challenging disciplinary actions may be required to file with the appropriate review board within as few as ten days in order to exhaust the remedies available under that procedure before commencing wrongful discharge litigation premised upon the public policy exception.17
--------
Notes:
[13] A.R.S. § 12-541(4); Zenaty-Paulson v. McLane/Sunwest Inc., 11 Am. Disabilities Cas. (BNA) 893, 904 (D. Ariz. 2000); cf. A.R.S. § 12-541(3) (one year limitations period for breach of employment contract); Redhair v. Kinerk, 218 Ariz. 293, 183 P.3d 544 (App. 2008) (rejecting the analysis in Thomas M. Rogers & David F. Gomez, All Employment Contracts Are Not Created Equal: Arizona's One-Year Statute of Limitations, 43 Ariz...
