Opinion ID: 1402780
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Equal Privileges Clause

Text: ¶ 52 Petitioners contend that the EPA violates the equal privileges clause of the Arizona Constitution, requiring that [n]o law shall be enacted granting to any citizen, class of citizens, or corporation other than municipal, privileges or immunities which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens or corporations. Ariz. Const. art. 2, § 13. With the exception of sexual harassment cases, employers with fewer than fifteen employees are exempt from ACRA. ¶ 53 Petitioners make the argument that because the EPA protects large employers (fifteen or more employees) from wrongful discharge tort liability, the employee's sole recourse necessarily depends either on Arizona or federal statutes protecting employees from employer discrimination. They claim that because small employers are exempt from ACRA, their employees are left without any viable ACRA-based claim, and because the EPA eliminates public policy tort claims against employers, they are without any claim and thus victims of unequal treatment. See A.R.S. §§ 41-1401 through -1492; 42 U.S.C. § 2000a. Petitioners argue this circumstance violates the equal privileges clause of the constitution. ¶ 54 Because both employers, Denny's and Calvary, employ more than fifteen workers and are thus subject to ACRA, petitioners are uninjured by the perceived inequality. See A.R.S. § 41-1461(2); see, e.g., Brown v. Ford, 905 P.2d 223, 228-29 (Okla. 1995). On this record, therefore, we do not reach the equal privileges question because petitioners lack standing to raise it. Determining whether a party has standing has led us to hold that a person who is not injured by an unconstitutional provision of a statute may not raise an objection as to its constitutionality. Salinas v. Kahn, 2 Ariz.App. 181, 193, 407 P.2d 120, 132, modified on other grounds, 2 Ariz.App. 348, 409 P.2d 64 (1965). Constitutional issues will not be determined unless squarely presented in a justiciable controversy.... School Dist. No. 26 v. Strohm, 106 Ariz. 7, 9, 469 P.2d 826, 828 (1970).