Alaska Labor Laws

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provides a basic framework for time management in the US, setting standards for hourly wage rates, overtime pay, and employee record-keeping. Federal time management laws ensure workers are compensated fairly for their time and effort in the workplace, protecting them from abuse and exploitation by employers. 

Alaska’s labor law regulations include state-specific standards for minimum wage as well as daily and weekly hour thresholds for overtime pay, which are as follows:

Employers who don’t comply with state time management laws can face severe legal ramifications, including fines, back pay, and damages. If an employee believes their employer has violated their rights, they can file a complaint with Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development for assistance. 

Alaska’s Anti-discrimination and Equal Opportunity Policy protects job applicants during the hiring process. Under this policy, discrimination or harassment based on the following characteristics is illegal in the workplace:

Employment contracts in Alaska adhere to the “employment-at-will” policy, This means that both employees and employers have the freedom to end the employment relationship at any time, for any reason, or no reason at all. 

However, at-will employment does not allow employers to fire an employee by breaching a covenant of good faith or fair dealing i.e. employees must be treated fairly and reasonably.

Alaska is not a right-to-work state, which means that working employees may be required to join a union after employment. Employees in Alaska have the right to a discrimination-free workplace and cannot be fired for reasons including filing a claim for wages, worker’s compensation, or whistleblowing.

If an employee is fired or laid off, they must receive their final paycheck within three business days of the termination date. Employees who resign must receive their final pay on the next regular payday, provided that the payday is at least three days after the resignation notice has been received.  

Some key labor regulations that govern employment conditions in Alaska are:

• Whistleblower Protection Laws: Employees in Alaska are protected from employee retaliation i.e. firing, demotion, disciplinary action, blacklisting, or work hour reduction, for whistleblowing health and safety standard violations at the workplace. Employees can file safety and health complaints with the  Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Department to report workplace injuries, diseases,  deaths, and safety concerns or request workplace safety inspections. An employee who has been wrongfully terminated for whistleblowing can file a complaint within 30 days with the state commissioner. Employees can be offered their job position with back wages as compensation. 
• Background Check Laws: Employers in Alaska can conduct background checks on job applicants following the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. Employers must inform applicants with written notice before conducting an inspection. Any conviction records older than seven or more years cannot be accessed by an employer. Additionally, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers cannot discriminate against an employee due to their criminal history and are required to inspect such records with careful consideration before making a final hiring decision.
• Drug Testing Laws: While state law does not mandate or prohibit drug testing in the workplace, employers in Alaska can choose to enforce testing policies to maintain a drug-free wokrplace under Alaska’s Regulation of Marijuana Act and Medical Use of Marijuana Act. Drug tests can be carried out randomly, under reasonable suspicion, post-rehabilitation or during the hiring process. Employees must be provided written notice before such tests are carried out. 
• Health Insurance Laws: Employees in Alaska are covered by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) which provides employees and their families continued access to health insurance after a job loss or other qualifying event. Coverage can extend from 18 to 36 months after termination of employment.
  
• Recordkeeping Laws: Alaska law requires employers to maintain accurate employee records for 3 years. These records should include the employee’s full name and social security number, address, occupation, birth date for those under 19, gender, and pay period information, including hours worked and pay rates. Specific records used for wage computations, such as time cards, wage rate tables, work schedules, must be kept for 2 years. All records are subject to inspection by representatives of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
• Workplace Safety Laws: Alaska’s Occupational Safety and Health (AKOSH) laws mandate employers to provide adequate training and education to employees for preventing occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Additionally, employees in Alaska have the right to report any concerns directly to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and request an external inspection.  Employees cannot be punished for exercising their legal right to report workplace safety issues. Any workplace accident that results in the injury or death of one or more employees must be reported to AKOSH wthin 8 hours of the incident.

As of January 1, 2024, Alaska’s legislation has raised the state’s minimum wage to $11.73 for regular employees. This wage rate must be paid to employees regardless of whether they earn by the hour, per piece, commission, or any other earning type.   

School bus drivers in Alaska are entitled to at least twice the minimum wage, i.e. $23.46 per hour. 

Tipped employees in Alaska are entitled to full minimum wage i.e. $11.73 per hour. Employers in Alaska are not allowed to take tip credit from a tipped employee’s wage.

Several occupations in Alaska are exempt from the state’s minimum wage law. Exempt individuals include:

• Agricultural workers
• Aquatic life caretakers
• Domestic service workers and babysitters in private homes
• State or local government employees
• Volunteers in non-profit organizations
• Executive, professional, or administrative workers
• Minor employees aged under 18 working part-time or less than 30 hours a week
• Employees involved in the service, repair, leasing, and sales of motor vehicles
• Volunteers in medical, ski patrol, or full-time firefighting services
• Taxi drivers 
• Watchmen or caretakers stationed at closed premises for more than 4 months
• Newspaper delivery workers
• Employees searching for placer and hard rock minerals
• Student learners enrolled in vocational training programs
• Summer camp employees working for more than 12 weeks annually

Learn more about minimum wage exemptions with the official summary of Alaska’s Wage and Hour Act.

An employee’s salary in Alaska can be paid on a semi-monthly or monthly basis. All employers in Alaska are required to provide employees with a written notice that includes information about the employee’s payment frequency and scheduled payday at the time of employment. 

Changes to an employee’s payment schedule can not be made in the middle of a pay period or retroactively to past pay periods. 

If an employer wants to adjust any aspect of an employee’s payment schedule, the employee must be informed with another written notice before the beginning of the pay period when the changes will take place.

Alaska’s labor laws outline daily and weekly overtime regulations that only apply to employers with four or more employees. 

Any employee who works more than eight hours a day or 40 hours a week is eligible to receive overtime pay. Overtime pay in Alaska is calculated at 1.5 times the employee’s regular hourly wage. 

To calculate overtime, employers must consider an employee’s weekly work hours including on-call hours and waiting time. However, any period lasting for more than 20 minutes that an employee uses for their own needs is not considered in overtime calculations. 

If an employee works a flexible work-hour plan, they may be eligible to receive overtime pay after 10 hours of work in a day.  

Employees who earn a minimum of $938.40 per week (or $48,796.80 annually) are considered exempt i.e. they are not entitled to any overtime pay. This includes employees in executive, administrative, creative, and professional roles. Other occupations considered exempt from overtime pay in Alaska include: 

• Outside salespersons
• Sailors
• Computer systems analysts, computer programmers or software engineers
• Employees involved in the handling, packing, storing, pasteurizing, drying, preparing, and canning of raw, natural, and agricultural commodities or in the production of cheese, butter, and other dairy products
• Agricultural workers
• Forestry or lumber workers in companies with fewer than 12 employees
• Hospital employees providing medical services
• Employees with flexible work plans arranged by a collective bargaining
• Workers in small mining operations with 12 or less employees who do not work more than 56 hours weekly or 12 hours daily with an annual schedule of 14 workweeks
• Employees of newspaper publishers with a circulation of less than 1,000
• Line haul truck drivers working routes exceeding 100 miles each way (with certain conditions)
• Switchboard operators employed by public telephone exchanges with fewer than 750 stations
• Public employees handling telegraphic, telephone, and radio messages working under contract with agencies earning less than $500 in communications revenue
• Outside buyers of eggs, poultry, milk, and cream
• Casual employees regulated by the Commission of Labor and Workforce Development
• Community health aides employed by local and regional health organizations

Learn more about Alaska Salaried Employees Laws and Alaska Overtime Laws.

Following federal and state law, employers in Alaska are not required to provide rest breaks to employees aged over 18. Unpaid meal or rest breaks can be provided to adult employees at the discretion of the employer.

However, if an employer allows breaks that last less than 20 minutes, they must be paid.  

There are no state-specific regulations that require breastfeeding breaks in Alaska. Under federal law, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act mandates employers to provide breastfeeding employees with breaks of reasonable duration every time the employee needs them. 

The employee must also be provided a place other than a bathroom to express breastmilk at work, which should be private and free from intrusion. Breastfeeding breaks must be provided for at least one year after a child’s birth.

Federal and state labor laws provide the following leave benefits to employees in Alaska:

• Family and Medical Leave: Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) , covered employers in Alaska are required to provide employees 12 weeks of paid or unpaid leave for a qualifying reason including family and medical issues. Employees can receive family and medical leave if they have worked for a covered employer with 50 employees in a 75-mile radius for at least one year with 1,250 hours. Employees in Alaska can also receive up to 18 weeks of paid or unpaid leave for similar reasons under the Alaska Family Leave Act.
• Jury Duty Leave: Employees in Alaska can take unpaid leave to attend jury duty. Employers cannot take any adverse action, including termination, threats, or coercion to stop an employee from attending their duty. If an employee faces unfair treatment, they can take civil action to recover lost pay as a result of their employer’s retaliation. 
• Voting Leave:  Employers in Alaska must provide employees with paid voting leave on election day. However, paid voting leave is not required if polls open two hours before the beginning of an employee’s shift, or end two hours after the end of an employee’s work hours. Refusal to provide time off to vote is considered an offense. 
• Military Leave: Employees serving in Alaska’s state militia can take military leave for active service. Employers are also required to provide military leave to employees who are state residents but members of the National Guard of another state. When an employee’s military duty ends, employers must reinstate the employee’s job position with all included benefits.

In

Here is a table of official US holidays observed in Alaska:

Any person under the age of 18 is considered a minor in Alaska.

Work Permits for Minors in Alaska

All minors aged 14 to 16 are required to obtain a work permit approved by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Permits may be required for minors aged 17 if federal law applies. 

However, there are certain requirements for the validity of a work permit. Minors can not work without the permission of a parent/guardian. Work permits issued without parental/guardian consent are considered invalid. Furthermore, minors must get a new permit is required every time a minor’s job description or employer changes. 

Generally, all minors in Alaska cannot work more than 6 days in a workweek. However, work hour schedules for minors aged 14 to 15 are specified as follows:

• When school is in session, minors aged 14 and 15 can work 9 hours daily, with school attendance and work hours combined.
• Work hours can be scheduled only between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m.
• Total work hours in a week may not exceed 23
• During summer break, they can work between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m., with a weekly total of 40 work hours

Breaks for Minors in Alaska

Minors are entitled to a meal break of 30 minutes after five hours of consecutive work. If a minor aged under 18 works a shift scheduled for 6 consecutive hours, they must be provided a 30-minute meal break that can be taken after the first hour and before the last hour of their shift. 

Certain professions and industries are also prohibited to those under the age of 17 as they are deemed unsafe. These include:

• Handling, manufacturing or using explosives
• Operating motor vehicles
• Coal or other types of mining 
• Logging or operating sawmills, lathe mills, shingle mills, and cooperage
• Operating power tools for woodworking
• Working with dangerous substances leading to radioactivity exposure
• Operating elevators and other power-driven hoisting apparatus
• Slaughtering, meat processing, packing, and rendering
• Operating and cleaning power-driven paper product machinery
• Manufacturing bricks, tiles, and related products
• Operating and cleaning of circular saws, guillotine shears, and band saws
• Wrecking, shipwrecking, and demolition
• Roofing operations
• Excavation operations
• Electrical work with voltages exceeding 220
• Work with exposure to blood-related pathogens
• Canvassing, solicitation, and door-to-door contributions

Minors aged 14 and 15 are further restricted from the following occupations: 

• Manufacturing, mining, and processing
• Operating power-driven machinery, excluding office machinery
• Construction work, excluding office work and repair/demolition
• Messenger services
• Working in or around canneries, excluding office work
• Engine room, boiler, and retort work
• Maintenance/repair of establishment machinery and equipment
• Working from ladders, scaffolding, windowsills, or similar structures
• Handling power-driven food slicers, choppers, cutters, grinders, and bakery-type mixers
• Work in meat coolers and freezers, and meat preparation for sale
• Loading/unloading trucks, conveyors, and railroad cars
• Warehousing and storage work, excluding office work
• Using sharpened tools
• Transportation of people and property, excluding office and sales work
• Any work in a location serving alcohol