Alaska Employment Law

Normal Standard working week shall not exceed more than 8 hours per workday, and 40 hours per week.

Waiting Time – Alaska law requires the employer to pay the employee for standby or waiting time. “standby or waiting time” means the time that an employee is required to be at or near the place of employment and is required to wait for work or an assignment, whether or not because of shutdown or repair, and during which the time cannot be used effectively for the employee’s purposes.

On-call time – Alaska law requires employers to pay employees for on-call time. On-call hours are considered as hours worked.

“on call” means the time that an employee is required to remain on call on the employer’s premises or another place of employment or so close to them that the time cannot be used effectively for the employee’s purposes, but does not include the time an employee is not required to remain on or near the employer’s premises or another place of employment but is merely required to leave word with the employer where the employee may be reached by cellular phone, beeper, or other means.

Standby time- When calculating an employee’s overtime hours, the employer must include all hours worked during the week, including periods of being “on call” or in standby/waiting time, which are necessary for the employer’s convenience and integral to the employee’s job duties.

“Standby or waiting time” refers to the period an employee must be available at or near the workplace, waiting for tasks or assignments, even during shutdowns or repairs, when the time cannot be effectively used for the employee’s activities.

Time Recording Requirement – An employer shall keep for at least 3 years all payroll information and records for each employee at the place of his employment.

Flexi Work Plan – An employee may choose to participate in an approved voluntary flexible work hour plan at initial employment or at any other time during employment. A request for an exemption for a voluntary flexible work-hour plan must be signed by the employer and submitted to a wage and hour administration office of the department. The request must be in writing on a form provided by the department and must include a statement that the employer and employee participating in the flexible work hour plan understand that work performed more than 10 hours in a day or above 40 hours in a week must be compensated at the rate of 1.5 times the regular rate of pay.

Once an employee has chosen to participate in an approved voluntary flexible work hour plan, that employee is bound to do so and may opt out of participation in the voluntary flexible work hour plan only from November 1 through December 31 each calendar year.

Termination of an employee, regardless of the cause of termination, voids that employee’s participation. An employee who is rehired by the employer must again choose to participate in the voluntary flexible work-hour plan to be included in the approved plan.

Work Performed While Traveling – Any work that an employee is required to perform while traveling must, of course, be counted as hours worked. An employee who drives a truck, bus, automobile, boat, or airplane, or an employee who is required to ride therein as an assistant or helper, is working while riding, except during bona fide meal periods or when he is permitted to sleep inadequate facilities furnished by the employer.

The standard workweek shall not exceed 40 hours per week or eight hours per day. Should an employer find it necessary to employ an employee in excess of these standards, overtime hours shall be compensated at the rate of 1.5 times the regular rate of pay. 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.

Employers are not legally required to provide breaks or meal periods to their employees under either the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or Alaska law. It’s common for employers to provide short breaks lasting from 5 to 20 minutes. According to the FLSA, employees must be compensated during short breaks, but employers aren’t obligated to pay for meal periods lasting 30 minutes or more, provided that employees are free to use this time as they wish and aren’t required to work during it.

Under the FLSA, an employee who takes a break that is 20 minutes or less must be paid for their break time at their normal rate. This includes meal, religious, health, and most likely restroom breaks as long as the break is under 20 minutes. An employer does not have to pay an employee for a break if:

• • • the break is longer than 20 minutes; and
    • the employee is relieved of all work during the break. 

No Penalty for Missing a Break as per law. The break period may be scheduled at the convenience of the employer but must occur after the first hour and a half of work and before the last hour of work (inapplicable to minors employed by a family member or minors employed in catching and netting of fish and other forms of animal or aquatic life).