What do Alaska labor laws change in the schedule and the pay?
Alaska counts overtime by the day and the week. Under AS 23.10.060, hours over 8 in a day and over 40 in a week are paid at 1.5 times the regular rate, and daily overtime hours are left out of the weekly count1. The statute lists exemptions, among them employers with fewer than four employees in the regular course of business5.
Otherwise, a day of up to 10 hours avoids daily overtime only under a flexible work hour plan in a union agreement, or a voluntary plan the Department has approved3.
The minimum wage is $14.00 an hour from July 1, 2026, and $15.00 from July 1, 202742. Paid sick leave accrues at 1 hour per 30 hours worked6.
This text does not constitute legal advice. Obligations vary by establishment and change over time. Confirm yours with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development or a qualified advisor.
Which dates change the rules in Alaska?
- Paid sick leave starts
Under AS 23.10.066 to 23.10.0697.
- Minimum wage: $14.00
Tips cannot be credited toward it4.
- Minimum wage: $15.00
After that, it is adjusted annually for inflation; the Department calculates the adjustment each September 30, and the adjusted wage applies to work from January 1 through December 31 of the year for which it is effective28.
Past or upcoming as of November 12, 2026.
What changes in the week in Alaska?
When you build the schedule
Outside the exemptions, hours over 8 in a day and over 40 in a week are overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate. The weekly count leaves out hours already paid as daily overtime1. On a 10-hour day outside a flexible work hour plan, 2 hours are overtime1.
A voluntary flexible work hour plan has at least four workdays and 33 hours a week, and no more than 10 hours a day or 40 a week; overtime is owed past either. The employee must be offered an equivalent schedule with overtime after eight hours a day, and deviations are allowed in no more than 20 percent of the weeks, one in five9.
The employer gets the plan approved by the Department before offering it, and keeps the signed plan in the employee's file10. Once in, an employee may opt out only from November 1 through December 31 each year11. A plan in a union agreement needs no Department approval3.
When people clock in and take breaks
The Department says employers are not required to give breaks to employees 18 and over. A break the employer allows that lasts less than 20 minutes is paid; a meal period of more than 20 minutes with no work need not be12.
The employer records the start and end of each unpaid break of 20 minutes or longer13.
In payroll
The minimum wage is $14.00 an hour from July 1, 2026 and $15.00 from July 1, 2027, and tips cannot be credited toward it42.
The Department says comp time in place of overtime pay is not lawful in Alaska14. Public employers are outside the Wage and Hour Act, except as AS 23.10.065(b) provides15.
An employee in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity is exempt, and is paid a salary or fee of not less than two times the state minimum wage for the first 40 hours of employment each week16.
When someone calls in sick
Sick leave accrues at no less than 1 hour per 30 hours worked, overtime included6. Employers with fewer than 15 full-time equivalents allow up to 40 hours a year, and those with 15 or more up to 56; unused leave carries over unless the employer front-loads the year's amount17. Size is an FTE count for the previous calendar year18.
The employer may not require the employee to find someone to cover the shift, and may ask for proof only after more than three consecutive workdays19.
What changes for security, hospitals, airlines and dairy processing in Alaska?
Security
The Wage and Hour Act does not apply to an individual employed solely as a watchman or caretaker of a plant or property that is not in productive use for four months or more21.
Hospitals
AS 23.10.060 does not apply to an employee of a hospital whose employment includes the provision of medical services22.
A nurse in a health care facility may not be required or coerced to work beyond the agreed, regularly scheduled shift, or to accept overtime that in the nurse's judgment would jeopardize patient or employee safety, and gets at least 10 consecutive hours off after the shift23. That rule does not apply to a nurse who volunteers for overtime that is consistent with professional standards and safe patient care and does not exceed 14 consecutive hours, among other exceptions the statute lists23.
Facilities file a semiannual report of each nurse's overtime and on-call hours: for January to June before August 1, and for July to December before February 124. These rules do not apply to nurses at facilities operated by the federal government or a tribal organization25.
Airlines
Hours an air carrier employee works under a voluntary written shift-trading agreement, filed with the employer and stating that no overtime is due for traded hours, are outside AS 23.10.06026. So is work by an air carrier's flight crew: pilots, co-pilots, flight engineers and flight attendants27.
Agricultural and dairy processing
AS 23.10.060 does not apply to an employee handling, packing, storing, pasteurizing, drying, preparing in their raw state or canning agricultural or horticultural commodities for market, or making cheese, butter or other dairy products28.
What does an employer have to be able to show?
Employers keep, for at least 3 years, at the place where the employee is employed, each employee's rate of pay, the amount paid each pay period and the hours worked each day and each workweek29. The Department's fact sheet says records on which wage computations are based, such as timecards and work and time schedules, should be retained for two years13.
If the Department invalidates a flex plan, the employer can owe up to two years of back overtime for all hours over 8 a day, plus an equal amount of liquidated damages30.
What does the law leave open?
Which security posts the watchman exemption reaches. The exemption names an individual employed solely as a watchman or caretaker of a plant or property not in productive use for four months or more21. Whether a given post meets each of those words is a question for your counsel.
How long to keep timecards. The statute keeps the hours worked each day and each workweek for at least three years29; the Department's fact sheet says timecards and schedules should be retained for two13. Which period governs a given record is a question for your counsel.
What does the law say exactly?
(a) An employer who employs employees engaged in commerce or other business, or in the production of goods or materials in the state, may not employ an employee for a workweek longer than 40 hours or for more than eight hours a day. (b) If an employer finds it necessary to employ an employee for hours in excess of the limits set in this subsection, overtime compensation for the overtime at the rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay shall be paid. An employee is entitled to overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of eight hours a day. An employee is also entitled to overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of 40 hours a week; in determining whether an employee has worked more than 40 hours a week, the number of hours worked shall be determined without including hours that are worked in excess of eight hours in a day because the employee has or will be separately awarded overtime compensation based on those hours.
AS 23.10.060(d)(1) employers with fewer than four employees
(d) This section does not apply to […] (1) an employee employed by an employer employing fewer than four employees in the regular course of business, as “regular course of business” is defined by regulations of the commissioner;
AS 23.10.060(d)(13)-(14) flexible work hour plans
(d) This section does not apply to […] (13) work performed by an employee under a flexible work hour plan if the plan is included as part of a collective bargaining agreement; […] (14) work performed by an employee under a voluntary flexible work hour plan if (A) the employee and the employer have signed a written agreement and the written agreement has been filed with the department; and (B) the department has issued a certificate approving the plan that states the work is for 40 hours a week and not more than 10 hours a day; for work over 40 hours a week or 10 hours a day under a flexible work hour plan not included as part of a collective bargaining agreement, compensation at the rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay shall be paid for the overtime;
AS 23.10.065(a)(3) $15.00 from July 1, 2027
(a) Except as otherwise provided for in law, an employer shall pay to each employee a minimum wage, as established herein, for hours worked in a pay period, whether the work is measured by time, piece, commission or otherwise. An employer may not apply tips or gratuities bestowed upon employees as a credit toward payment of the minimum hourly wage required by this section. Tip credit as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 as amended does not apply to the minimum wage established by this section: […] (3) effective July 1, 2027, the minimum wage shall be $15.00 per hour; and
AS 23.10.065(a)(4) the inflation adjustment after that
(4) thereafter the minimum wage shall be adjusted annually for inflation; the adjustment shall be calculated each September 30, for the proceeding January-December calendar year by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, using 100 percent of the rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Anchorage metropolitan area, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor; the department shall round the adjusted minimum hourly wage up to the nearest 10 cents; the adjusted minimum hourly wage shall apply to work performed beginning on January 1 through December 31 of the year for which it is effective.
AS 23.10.055(a)(8) watchmen and caretakers
(a) The provisions of AS 23.10.050 — 23.10.150 do not apply to […] (8) an individual employed solely as a watchman or caretaker of a plant or property that is not in productive use for a period of four months or more;
AS 18.20.400 nursing overtime
(a) Except as provided in (c) of this section, a nurse in a health care facility may not be required or coerced, directly or indirectly, (1) to work beyond a predetermined and regularly scheduled shift that is agreed to by the nurse and the health care facility; or (2) to accept an assignment of overtime if, in the judgment of the nurse, the overtime would jeopardize patient or employee safety. […] (b) Except as provided by (c) of this section, after working a predetermined and regularly scheduled shift that is agreed to by the nurse and the health care facility as authorized by (a)(1) of this section, a nurse in a health care facility shall be allowed not less than 10 consecutive hours of off-duty time immediately following the end of that work. […] (5) a nurse voluntarily working overtime so long as the work is consistent with professional standards and safe patient care and does not exceed 14 consecutive hours;
AS 23.10.100(a) records
(a) An employer shall keep for a period of at least three years at the place where an employee is employed a record of the name, address, and occupation of each employee, the rate of pay and the amount paid each pay period to each employee, the hours worked each day and each workweek by each employee, and other payroll information that the commissioner may require.
Department of Labor and Workforce Development flex plan requirements
Flexible work-hour plans must be voluntary for both the employer and employee; the employer cannot require participation. […] A flexible work hour plan must consist of a minimum of four workdays and 33 hours per workweek. […] A flex plan schedule may not exceed ten hours in a single day or 40 hours in a workweek, and overtime compensation must be paid for any work in excess of 10 hours in a day or in excess of 40 hours a week. […] A voluntary flexible work-hour plan is valid only if the employee is offered an equivalent weekly schedule with overtime pay for hours over eight in a workday. […] Only occasional deviations up to 20 percent of the weeks worked (one in five weeks) are allowed.
How does a system hold daily overtime?
In Alaska, daily and weekly overtime land on the same schedule, the same timecard and the same payroll. This is how WorkAxle holds them:
- Daily and weekly hour limits and consecutive days are set up as rules, each with its start date.
- While the schedule is built, the platform flags each shift that breaks one of those rules and names the rule. The supervisor decides.
- Each clock-in and clock-out is recorded with its time, and at the close of the period hours come out classified by your rules, ready for your payroll system.
The supervisor keeps the last word.
What can you check this week?
- On your most common shift patterns, mark every hour worked past 8 in a day, and check whether a flex plan or an exemption on this page covers it13.
- If you run 10-hour days on a voluntary flex plan, find the Department's approval and each employee's signed plan310.
- Check every Alaska rate against $15.00 from July 1, 20272.
- Work out last year's FTE count to know whether the sick leave cap is 40 or 56 hours1817.
Sending it to finance, operations or your counsel? The link opens this page, and the printed brief carries the rules, the dates and the sources.
This text does not constitute legal advice. Obligations vary by establishment and change over time. Confirm yours with the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development or a qualified advisor.
Frequently asked questions
Does Alaska pay overtime after 8 hours a day?
Yes. Under AS 23.10.060, hours over 8 in a day and over 40 in a week are paid at 1.5 times the regular rate, and daily overtime hours are left out of the weekly count1. The statute lists exemptions, among them employers with fewer than four employees in the regular course of business5, hospital employees whose work includes medical services22, and employees who process agricultural commodities for market or make dairy products28.
Can Alaska employees work 10-hour days without overtime?
Outside the exemptions in AS 23.10.055 and 23.10.060(d), only under a flexible work hour plan in a collective bargaining agreement, or a voluntary plan with a signed written agreement filed with the Department and a certificate approving work of 40 hours a week and no more than 10 hours a day3.
What is the Alaska minimum wage in 2027?
$15.00 an hour from July 1, 2027, up from $14.00 since July 1, 202624. After that it is adjusted each year for inflation8.
Are breaks required in Alaska?
The Department says employers are not required to give breaks to employees 18 and over; a break the employer allows that lasts less than 20 minutes is paid. Minors 14 through 17 who work 5 or more consecutive hours and will keep working get a break of at least 30 minutes12.
How much paid sick leave does Alaska require?
At least 1 hour per 30 hours worked. Employers with fewer than 15 full-time equivalents allow up to 40 hours a year, and those with 15 or more up to 56617.
Can an Alaska employer give comp time instead of overtime?
No, for employers under the Wage and Hour Act: the Department says comp time in place of overtime pay is not lawful in Alaska14. Public employers are outside the Act15.
How long must Alaska employers keep payroll records?
At least 3 years, at the place where the employee is employed, including the hours worked each day and each workweek29.
https://www.workaxle.com/compliance-center/united-states/alaska