In Alaska, overtime does not start at forty hours. It starts at eight hours in a day. Work a twelve-hour shift and four of those hours are overtime, even in a week you never reach forty. Two things decide whether that rule reaches you: how many people your employer has, and which of two exemption lists your job lands on.
AS 23.10.060(a) states that an employer "may not employ an employee for a workweek longer than 40 hours or for more than eight hours a day." Subsection (b) then sets the premium at "one and one-half times the regular rate of pay" and says "[a]n employee is entitled to overtime compensation for hours worked in excess of eight hours a day."1
The same subsection stops the two rules from being counted twice. 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."1 On any given hour you get the daily premium or the weekly one, not both.
Four ten-hour days is the clearest example. Each day produces two overtime hours, so eight hours are paid at time and a half. Those eight come out of the weekly count, leaving thirty-two, so nothing is owed under the forty-hour rule. You are still owed eight hours of overtime in a forty-hour week — which is more than federal law gives you, and less than double-counting would suggest.
And when an employer waves a contract at you, subsection (c): "This section is considered included in all contracts of employment."1 You cannot sign it away.
$14.00 per hour. The schedule is in the statute itself, not just in agency guidance: "(1) beginning July 1, 2025, the minimum wage shall be $13.00 per hour; (2) effective July 1, 2026, the minimum wage shall be $14.00 per hour; (3) effective July 1, 2027, the minimum wage shall be $15.00 per hour; and (4) thereafter the minimum wage shall be adjusted annually for inflation."2 The inflation adjustment is "calculated each September 30" using "the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Anchorage metropolitan area," rounded "up to the nearest 10 cents."2
Three things in the same statute that rarely get quoted. Tips are not a credit: "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."2 There is a permanent floor: "If at any point the minimum wage determined under (a) of this section is less than two dollars over the federal minimum wage, the Alaska minimum wage shall be set at two dollars over the federal minimum wage."2 And a public school bus driver is owed "not less than two times the minimum wage established under (a) of this section" — $28.00 an hour now — because "[a]n employer may not apply fringe benefits as a credit toward payment of the minimum wage established under this subsection."2
The same 2024 ballot measure added paid sick leave at AS 23.10.066: one hour for every thirty worked, capped at 56 hours a year for employers with fifteen or more employees and 40 hours for smaller ones. Salaried exempt workers are covered — they "shall be assumed to work 40 hours in each work week for purposes of paid sick leave accrual."13
One caution if you are checking this yourself: the Department's own minimum-wage web page has not been updated and still recites $13.00.16 The statute controls.
AS 23.10.055(b) requires that an individual employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity "shall be compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate of not less than two times the state minimum wage for the first 40 hours of employment each week, exclusive of board or lodging that is furnished by the individual's employer."4
Twice $14.00, times forty hours, is $1,120 per week — $58,240 a year, against a federal floor of $684 a week.15 It rises to $1,200 on July 1, 2027. If you are salaried below $1,120 a week and your employer calls you exempt, the arithmetic alone says otherwise.
Read that last clause twice if you work a remote job. Camp housing and the mess hall cannot be counted toward the $1,120. A room and three meals do not make up the difference.
The duties half of the test is federal. AS 23.10.055(c)(1) says "bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity" "has the meaning and shall be interpreted in accordance with 29 U.S.C. 201 – 219 (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938), as amended, or the regulations adopted under those sections," and AS 23.10.145 defines every other undefined term the same way.4 So the question is federal duties plus an Alaska pay floor roughly $436 a week above the federal one.
One gap worth knowing. AS 23.10.055(a)(9) exempts three groups: employees in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity; an "outside salesman or a salesman who is employed on a straight commission basis"; and anyone employed "as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker."3 The $1,120 requirement in subsection (b) is written to reach only the first. On the face of the statute, an Alaska computer professional or commission salesman can be exempt without meeting it.
Day-rate pay has its own problem. The Supreme Court held in Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt that a worker paid a daily rate is not paid on a salary basis unless the conditions in 29 C.F.R. § 541.604(b) are met — conditions most day-rate schemes never satisfy.14 A high day rate is not a defense. Salary versus hourly
Alaska has two, and they do different damage. AS 23.10.055(a) says "[t]he provisions of AS 23.10.050 – 23.10.150 do not apply to" the employment it lists — the whole Wage and Hour Act, minimum wage and overtime together.3 AS 23.10.060(d) says only "[t]his section does not apply to," and it has nineteen numbered paragraphs.5 Employers cite the second. The first is the one that ends cases.
Out of the entire Act under AS 23.10.055(a): agriculture; "the catching, trapping, cultivating, farming, netting, or taking of any kind of fish, shellfish, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life"; "the handpicking of shrimp"; domestic service in a private home; anyone "employed by the United States or by the state or a political subdivision of the state"; nonprofit volunteers; newspaper delivery; a watchman or caretaker of a plant "not in productive use for a period of four months or more"; executive, administrative, and professional employees, outside and commission salesmen, and computer professionals; "the search for placer or hard rock minerals"; workers under eighteen on a part-time basis of not more than thirty hours a week; certain flat-rate contract taxicab drivers; a licensed guide's assistant "for the first 60 workdays"; and motor vehicle dealer employees whose primary duty is to "receive, analyze, or reference requests for service," arrange financing, or "solicit, sell, lease, or exchange motor vehicles."3
Out of the overtime section only, under AS 23.10.060(d): employers with fewer than four employees; handling, packing, storing, drying, or canning agricultural commodities; small mining operations of twelve or fewer; agriculture; weekly or daily newspapers with circulation under 1,000; telephone exchanges with fewer than 750 stations; seamen; forestry and lumbering operations of twelve or fewer; outside buyers of poultry, eggs, cream, or milk; casual employees; "an employee of a hospital whose employment includes the provision of medical services"; collective-bargaining and certified voluntary flexible work hour plans; line-haul truck drivers on trips over 100 road miles; community health aides; flat-rate mechanics; and air carrier shift-trading arrangements and flight crew.5
Workers assume state law is the generous one. On these points it is not, and the assumption is what costs people claims.
None of these lists is self-executing. Exemptions are read narrowly and the employer carries the burden. A voluntary flexible work hour plan has to be in writing, filed with the department, and certified by it. The hospital exemption reaches employees whose employment "includes the provision of medical services," not everyone who works in a hospital.5
AS 23.10.110(a) makes an employer who violates AS 23.10.060 liable for the unpaid overtime "and, except as provided in (d) of this section, in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages."6 Double the back wages by default.
The escape hatch is narrow. Under subsection (d), the court may reduce or decline liquidated damages only "if the defendant shows by clear and convincing evidence that the act or omission giving rise to the action was made in good faith and that the employer had reasonable grounds for believing that the act or omission was not in violation of AS 23.10.060."6 And the Legislature already answered the usual version of that defense: "Failure to inquire into Alaska law is not consistent with a claim of good faith under this section."8 A national employer that ran one federal policy across every state and never looked at the eight-hour rule is arguing against the text.
A release may not have closed the door. Under AS 23.10.110(j), in a settlement "not supervised by the department or the court," you keep liquidated damages unless you signed a written agreement expressly waiving them — and "[a] private written settlement agreement under this subsection is not valid unless submitted to the department for review." The department has thirty days to approve or deny, and "[a] waiver of liquidated damages may not be a condition of employment."9 If you signed something on the way out, bring it.
You do not have to go through the state agency first. AS 23.10.110(b) permits an action "in a competent court."7
Win, and the employer pays your lawyer. AS 23.10.110(c) directs the court to "allow costs of the action and, except as provided in (e) – (h) of this section, reasonable attorney fees to be paid by the defendant," and subsection (e) says that if you prevail "the court shall award reasonable attorney fees to the plaintiff."8 That is how these cases get brought at all.
Two things cut the other way, and you should hear them before you file. First, the good-faith showing in subsection (e) reaches fees, not just the multiplier: if the employer makes it, the court "may award attorney fees to the plaintiff in accordance with court rules" — partial fees — or may award none to either side.8 Second, subsection (f): if the employer wins and "had previously made an offer of judgment to the plaintiff, the court shall award attorney fees to the defendant unless the plaintiff proves to the satisfaction of the court that the action was both brought and prosecuted in good faith and that the plaintiff had reasonable grounds for believing that the act or omission was in violation of AS 23.10.060."8 A losing Alaska overtime plaintiff who turned down an offer of judgment can owe the employer's fees, and carries the burden of proving otherwise.
That is not a reason to let a real claim go. It is the reason the first conversation should be with a lawyer who has priced this risk before, and the reason an offer of judgment in an Alaska case is a decision, not a formality.
Under AS 23.05.140(b), if the employer ends the job, "payment is due within three working days after the termination." If you quit, it is due "at the next regular pay day that is at least three days after the employer received notice." Miss that, and subsection (d) says the employer "may be required to pay the employee a penalty in the amount of the employee's regular wage, salary, or other compensation from the time of demand to the time of payment, or for 90 working days, whichever is the lesser amount."11
One limit, and it matters. This is not a second recovery stacked on top of your overtime case. AS 23.05.140(f): "In an action brought for unpaid overtime under AS 23.10.060 that results in an award of liquidated damages under AS 23.10.110, the provisions of (d) of this section do not apply unless the action was brought by the department under (e) of this section."11 Win liquidated damages in your own overtime suit, and the ninety-day penalty is off the table.
Make the written demand anyway, and date it. Note the words "from the time of demand" — the clock does not start until you ask. It costs nothing and it fixes the record.
AS 23.10.130 is unforgiving in its wording: an action for unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime compensation, or liquidated damages "is forever barred unless it is started within two years after the cause of action accrues," and "an action is considered to be started on the date when the complaint is filed."10
Federal law gives two years, or three "arising out of a willful violation."15 Alaska has no such extension. Two years is short in a daily-overtime state, because every week that passes is a week of eight-hour-rule violations falling off the back end. Wage claim deadlines
This is the part workers get wrong, usually because someone told them a class action sweeps everyone in automatically. Alaska's statute does not read that way. AS 23.10.110(b): an action "may be maintained in a competent court by an employee personally and for other employees similarly situated, or an employee may individually designate in writing an agent or representative to maintain an action for the employee. The consent shall be filed in the court in which the action is brought."7
Compare the federal wage statute, 29 U.S.C. § 216(b): an action may be maintained "by any one or more employees for and in behalf of himself or themselves and other employees similarly situated," and "[n]o employee shall be a party plaintiff to any such action unless he gives his consent in writing to become such a party and such consent is filed in the court in which such action is brought."15 Similarly situated employees, a written designation, a consent on file: Alaska's sentence is built on the same architecture.
The practical answer is the same under either statute. Do not assume a filed case is already protecting you. If you think you are owed Alaska overtime, the step that puts you in is yours to take, and the two-year clock in AS 23.10.130 keeps running until you take it.
One thing that does not matter: where the case is filed. A single lawsuit routinely pleads several states' wage laws at once, and the courthouse does not decide which states those are. Working in Alaska does not require an Alaska filing, and an Alaska claim does not require an Alaska courtroom. How class and collective actions work
Your employer can generally require overtime. It cannot punish you for raising it. An employer violates the Act under AS 23.10.135(6) 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 AS 23.10.050 - 23.10.150, or has testified or is about to testify in such a proceeding."12
AS 23.10.140 adds that "[e]ach day a violation occurs constitutes a separate offense" — but read what it attaches to. That section is criminal: an employer "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."12 It is a penalty the state enforces, not a daily payment to you.
Alaska runs on long shifts in remote places — exactly the pattern the eight-hour rule was written for, and exactly the pattern day rates and flat salaries are built to hide. North Slope crews, remote-site workers, salaried field supervisors doing the crew's work, and healthcare staff on twelve-hour rotations are shorted most often: gear and travel time, meals worked through, bonuses left out of the regular rate, trimmed hours. Off-the-clock work
Seafood is its own problem, and anyone who tells you it is simple has not read the statute. Catching and taking fish and shellfish sits outside the Act entirely under AS 23.10.055(a)(2), while AS 23.10.060(d)(2) reaches employees "employed in handling, packing, storing, pasteurizing, drying, preparing in their raw or natural state, or canning agricultural or horticultural commodities for market."35 Whether shore-based processing work falls into either one is the first question in a processor case, not an afterthought.
Yes, if your employer has four or more employees in the regular course of business and no exemption applies. Hours already paid as daily overtime are then taken out of the forty-hour weekly count, so you get the daily premium or the weekly one on a given hour, not both.1
Often, yes. Being salaried is not the test. Under AS 23.10.055(b) an exempt executive, administrative, or professional employee must be paid at least two times the state minimum wage for a forty-hour week — $1,120 a week — "exclusive of board or lodging that is furnished by the individual's employer," and must also meet the federal duties test. Below $1,120, or doing work that does not match the duties, and the exemption fails.4
Not by Alaska's overtime statute — AS 23.10.060(d)(1) excludes employees of an employer with fewer than four employees in the regular course of business. The federal FLSA may still cover you, and its forty-hour rule has no comparable small-employer exemption.515
Do not count on it. AS 23.10.110(b) contemplates an action brought for "other employees similarly situated" or through a written designation, and then requires that "[t]he consent shall be filed in the court in which the action is brought." Joining is a step you take.7
Make a written demand and keep the date. Under AS 23.05.140(d) the penalty runs at your regular wage from the time of demand to the time of payment, capped at ninety working days. But if you bring your own overtime suit and win liquidated damages, AS 23.05.140(f) switches that penalty off unless the Department brought the action.11
No. Wage cases regularly plead several states' laws in one complaint, and the court a case is filed in does not define which states' claims it carries. What matters is that the lawyer handles Alaska's eight-hour rule, its two exemption lists, and its fee rules.
Siegel Law Group concentrates in overtime and misclassification litigation for workers and brings these cases in federal courts across the country. You do not need a lawyer physically in Alaska to pursue an Alaska claim. We represent employees only — never employers.
Consultations are free and confidential. Call (214) 790-4454 or request a case review. Siegel Law Group PLLC, 11341 W US Hwy 290, Bldg 2, Austin, TX 78737.
Agencies: Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Wage and Hour Administration (labor.alaska.gov/lss); U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (dol.gov/agencies/whd). Statutory text quoted from Alaska Statutes 2025 as published by the Alaska State Legislature. Rates and thresholds stated as of October 5, 2026. Alaska's minimum wage and the exempt salary floor tied to it rise again on July 1, 2027, then adjust annually for inflation.
This page is general information about Alaska law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. This website contains attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
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Attorney advertising. Jack L. Siegel of Siegel Law Group PLLC, Austin, Texas, is responsible for this content.
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