Overtime Pay Law Summaries
Alaska, Overtime Pay Law Summaries
Alaska's overtime pay law is codified in the Alaska Statutes at Title 23, Chapter 10, Article 3. The full text of the law is available at Wages-Hours ¶2-41,001 .
DEFINITIONS
Terms used in Alaska's overtime pay law, if not defined in the law, are defined as they are in 29 USC 201-219 (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA)), as amended, (see COMPENSATION ¶5005 or in the FLSA regulations (Sec. 23.10.145, as amended by Ch. 90 (H. 182), L. 2005).
COVERAGE
Alaska's overtime pay law covers most private employees, but excludes state and federal government employees and individuals employed in several specified industries as outlined below (Sec. 23.10.055, as amended by Ch. 90 (H. 182), L. 2005).
EXCEPTIONS
The provisions of Alaska's overtime pay law do not apply to (Sec. 23.10.055, as amended by Ch. 90 (H. 182), L. 2005):
an individual employed in agriculture, including all aspects of farming, the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, and any practices, including forestry and lumbering operations, performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with the farming operations, including preparation for market, or delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market;
an individual employed in the catching, trapping, cultivating or farming, netting, or taking of any kind of fish, shellfish, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life;
an individual employed in the hand picking of shrimp;
an individual employed in domestic service, including baby-sitters, in a private home;
an individual employed in state, local or federal government, except public school bus drivers, but including prisoners not on furlough detained or confined in prison facilities;
an individual engaged in the nonprofit activities of a nonprofit religious, charitable, cemetery, or educational organization or other nonprofit organization where the employer-employee relationship does not, in fact, exist, and where services rendered to the organization are on a voluntary basis and are related only to the organization's nonprofit activities;
an employee engaged in the delivery of newspapers to the consumer;
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;
an individual employed (a) in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity; (b) in the capacity of an outside salesperson or a salesperson who is employed on a straight commission basis; or (c) as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker;
an individual employed in the search for placer or hard rock minerals;
an individual under 18 years of age employed on a part-time basis not more than 30 hours in a week;
employment by a nonprofit educational or child care facility to serve as a parent of children who are residents of the facility, if the employment requires residence at the facility and is compensated on a cash basis, exclusive of room and board, at an annual rate of not less than $10,000 for an unmarried person or $15,000 for a married couple;
an individual who drives a taxicab, is compensated exclusively by customers, whose written contractual arrangements with owners of taxicab vehicles, taxicab permits, or radio dispatch services are based upon flat contractual rates and not based on a percentage share of the individuals' receipts from customers, and whose written contract places no restrictions on hours worked by the individual or on areas in which the individual may work except to comply with local ordinances;
licensed persons employed by a registered guide or master guide, for the first 60 workdays of employment during a calendar year;
individuals engaged in activities for a nonprofit religious, charitable, civic, cemetery, recreational or educational organization where the employer-employee relationship does not, in fact, exist, and where services are rendered to the organization under a work activity requirement of the Alaska temporary assistance program (Note: The effective date of this provision is dependent upon the repeal of the federal aid to families with dependent children program);
individuals who (a) provide emergency medical services only on a voluntary basis; (b) individuals who serve with a full-time fire department only on a voluntary basis; or (c) individuals who provide ski patrol services on a voluntary basis.
students participating in a University of Alaska practicum.
In addition, the following individuals are not entitled to overtime pay (Sec. 23.10.060, as amended by Ch. 11 (S. 54), L. 2003):
employees employed by employers who have less than four employees in the regular course of business.
employees employed in handling, packing, storing, pasteurizing, drying, preparing in their raw or natural state, or canning agricultural or horticultural commodities for market, or in making cheese or butter or other dairy products.
employees of employers engaged in small mining operations with not more than 12 employees, if the employees are employed no more than 12 hours a day or 56 hours a week during a period or periods of not more than 14 workweeks in the aggregate in a calendar year during the mining season.
agriculture employees.
employees of weekly, semiweekly, or daily newspapers that have a circulation of less than 1,000.
switchboard operators employed in public telephone exchanges that have fewer than 750 stations.
employees in otherwise exempt employment or proprietors in retail or service establishments that handle telegraphic, telephone, or radio messages for the public under an agency or contract arrangement with a telegraph or communications company, where the telegraph message or communications revenue of the agency does not exceed $500 a month.
seamen.
employees employed in planting or tending trees, cruising, or surveying, or bucking, or felling timber, or in preparing or transporting logs or other forestry products to the mill, processing plant, railroad, or other transportation terminal, if the number of employees in the forestry or lumbering operations does not exceed 12.
individuals employed as outside buyers of poultry, eggs, cream, or milk in their raw or natural state.
casual employees.
hospital employees who provide medical services.
work performed by employees under a flexible work hour plan, if the plan is part of a collective bargaining agreement.
work performed by employees under a voluntary, flexible work-hour plan, if the employees and the employer have signed a written agreement that has been filed with the department; the department 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 must be paid for the overtime.
individuals employed as line-haul truck drivers for trips that exceed 100 road miles one way, if the compensation system under which the truck drivers are paid includes overtime pay for work in excess of 40 hours a week or for more than eight hours a day and the compensation system requires a rate of pay comparable to the rate of pay required by the overtime pay provision.
community health aides employed by local or regional health organizations.
motor vehicle mechanics who service automobiles, light trucks and motor homes, if the mechanic is (a) employed on a flat-rate basis by a nonmanufacturing employer that sells or services motor vehicles; (b) has a written agreement with the employer that specifies the flat rate and the manual(s) on which the rate is based; (c) is compensated for all hours worked for the employer up to and including eight hours a day and 40 hours a week at an hourly rate that is not less than the greater of 75 percent of the agreed upon flat rate or twice the state minimum wage; and (d) the mechanic is compensated at the rate of one and one-half times the rate in (c) for all hours worked in any capacity for the employer over eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. The minimum amount due a mechanic must be figured on a weekly basis.
work performed by an employee under a voluntary written agreement addressing the trading of work shifts among employees if (a) the employee is employed by an air carrier subject to subchapter II of the federal Railway Labor Act, including employment as a customer service representative; (b) the trading agreement is not a flexible work hour plan entered into under item (13) or (14) above; (c) the trading agreement is filed with the employee's employer; and (d) the trading agreement states that the employee is not entitled to receive overtime for any hours worked by the employee when the employee voluntarily works those hours under a shift trading practice under which the employee has the opportunity, in the same or other work weeks, to reduce hours worked by voluntarily offering a shift for trade or reassignment.
work performed by a flight crew member employed by an air carrier subject to 45 USC 181 - 188 (subchapter II of the Railway Labor Act); in this paragraph, “flight crew” means the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and flight attendants.
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
An employer who employs employees engaged in commerce or other business, or in the production of goods or materials in Alaska, may not employ an employee for a workweek longer than 40 hours or for more than eight hours a day. If an employer finds it necessary to employ an employee for hours in excess of the limits set forth above, overtime compensation for the overtime at the rate of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay must 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 will 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. The overtime pay provision is considered included in all contracts of employment (Sec. 23.10.060, as amended by Ch. 90 (H. 182), L. 2005).
Collective bargaining.- The overtime pay law does not limit the right of employees to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing to establish hours of work shorter than the applicable maximum (Sec. 23.10.125).
NOTICE
All employers covered by the overtime pay law must keep a summary or abstract of the law, approved by the commissioner, posted in a conspicuous location at the workplace. An employer will be furnished copies of a summary by the state on request without charge (Sec. 23.10.105).
ENFORCEMENT
The Director of the Division of Labor Standards and Safety, responsible to the Commissioner of the Labor Department, administers the overtime pay law (Sec. 23.10.075).
Court actions.- If it appears to the commissioner that an employer is engaged in an act or practice that violates or will violate a provision of the overtime pay law or of a regulation, the commissioner may bring an action in a competent court to enjoin the act or practice, and to enforce compliance with the overtime pay law or with the regulations. Upon a proper showing, a permanent or temporary injunction or restraining order will be granted without bond (Sec. 23.10.115).
Employee's remedies.- An employer who violates the overtime pay provisions is liable to an employee affected in the amount of unpaid overtime compensation and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, unless the employer shows by clear and convincing evidence that its action was in good faith and that it had reasonable grounds for believing that its action was not a violation of the overtime pay law. In addition to a judgment, an employee may recover the costs and, if the employer did not act in good faith, reasonable attorney fees. If an employer who had previously made an offer of judgment prevails, the employer may be awarded attorney fees (Sec. 23.10.110, as amended by Ch. 37, L. 1995).
An action for unpaid overtime compensation must be brought within two years after the cause of action accrues (Sec. 23.10.130).
WHO TO CONTACT
Contact the Director of the Labor Standards and Safety Division of the Labor Department at 1111 W. Eighth St., P.O. Box 21149, Juneau, AK 99802-1149. Telephone: (907) 465-6003. Fax: (907) 465-2784.
RECORDKEEPING
An employer must keep records at the workplace for at least three years that show 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. These records may be copied by the commissioner or an authorized representative at any reasonable time. On demand, an employer must furnish to the commissioner or a representative a sworn statement of the employer's records, and the commissioner may require that the sworn statement be made on forms the commissioner has prescribed or approved (Sec. 23.10.100).
POSTING
All employers covered by the overtime pay law must keep a summary or abstract of the law, approved by the commissioner, posted in a conspicuous location at the place where a person subject to them is employed. An employer will be furnished copies of a summary by the state on request without charge (Sec. 23.10.105).
PENALTIES
Wage violations.- An employer who violates a provision of the overtime pay law, or any regulation or order of the commissioner issued under it, upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $2,000, or by imprisonment for not less than 10 nor more than 90 days, or by both. Each day a violation occurs constitutes a separate offense (Sec. 23.10.140).
Records violations.- An employer violates the overtime pay law if it fails to keep or falsifies required records; refuses to make records accessible; refuses to furnish a sworn statement of the records; refuses to give information to the commissioner, on demand, required for the enforcement of the overtime pay law; or fails to post an abstract of the overtime pay (Sec. 23.10.135).
An employer who violates a provision of the overtime pay law, or of any regulation or order of the commissioner issued under it, upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $2,000, or by imprisonment for not less than 10 nor more than 90 days, or by both. Each day a violation occurs constitutes a separate offense (Sec. 23.10.140).
Enforcement violations.- An employer violates the overtime pay law if it hinders or delays the commissioner or an authorized representative in the performance of their duties in the enforcement of the overtime pay provisions or refuses to admit the commissioner or an authorized representative to any place of employment (Sec. 23.10.135).
An employer who violates a provision of the overtime pay law, or of any regulation or order of the commissioner issued under it, upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $2,000, or by imprisonment for not less than 10 nor more than 90 days, or by both. Each day a violation occurs constitutes a separate offense (Sec. 23.10.140).
Discrimination.- An employer violates the overtime pay law if it discharges or in any other manner discriminates against an employee because the employee has filed a complaint, or has instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to the overtime pay law, or has testified or is about to testify in such a proceeding (Sec. 23.10.135).
An employer who violates a provision of the overtime pay law, or of any regulation or order of the commissioner issued under it, upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $2,000, or by imprisonment for not less than 10 nor more than 90 days, or by both. Each day a violation occurs constitutes a separate offense (Sec. 23.10.140).
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