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Summary of differences between federal and state regulations
In addition to the federal FMLA, Alaska private employers must be aware of the state's provisions for paid sick leave and for crime victims. Public employers must be aware of the Alaska Family Leave Act (AFLA).
Paid sick leave (effective July 1, 2025)
All Alaska employers must provide paid sick leave.
Employee eligibility
No eligibility criteria. Some employees, however, are exempt, such as apprentices, learners, those working at a nonprofit organization for not more than 12 weeks in a calendar year at a residential summer camp who receive room and board in addition to a weekly wage, those who earn wages for work therapy, incarcerated individuals, and those subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act.
Leave entitlement
Employees accrue at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. They begin to accrue paid sick leave upon hire or July 1, 2025, whichever is later, and may take the leave as it is accrued.
- Employers with 15 or more employees may limit employees’ accrual or use of leave to 56 hours per year.
- Employers with fewer than 15 employees may limit employees’ accrual or use of leave to 40 hours per year.
Sick leave carries over to the following year, but employers are not required to allow employees to use more than the applicable amounts of paid sick leave.
Employers need not provide additional paid sick leave if they already have a paid leave or paid time off policy, that makes meets the law.
Qualifying reasons
Employees may take the leave for the following reasons:
- An employee’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; the employee’s need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment; or the employee’s need for preventative medical care;
- Care or assistance for a family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition; the family member’s need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment; or the family member’s need for preventative medical care; or
- Absences necessary due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, provided the leave is to allow the employee to obtain for the employee or a family member:
- Medical or psychological attention; services from a victim’s aid organization; o Relocation or steps to secure an existing home; or
- Legal services, including participation in any investigation or civil or criminal proceeding.
Family members include:
- A spouse; a domestic partner; another person cohabiting with the person in a conjugal relationship that is not a legal marriage;
- A child, including a stepchild, an adopted child a foster child, a legal ward, or a person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis;
- A parent, including a foster parent, adoptive parent, legal guardian, or a person who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child;
- A sibling; grandparent; aunt; or uncle; a parent or sibling of the person's spouse; or
- Any other individual related by blood or whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship.
Job restoration
Leave may not lead to or result in retaliation or any other adverse action.
Concurrency
The law does not specifically address concurrency, so it is not specifically prohibited.
Notices/forms
When the need for leave is foreseeable, employees must make a good-faith effort to provide notice in advance and make a reasonable effort to schedule the leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.
For leave of more than three consecutive workdays, employers may require reasonable documentation that the paid sick leave has been used for a qualifying reason. Documentation signed by a health care professional indicating that paid sick leave is or was needed is considered reasonable. Employers may not require that the documentation explain the nature or details of the illness or underlying health needs.
For safe leave, the following documentation is reasonable:
- A police report;
- A written statement from a witness advocate affirming services from a victim’s aid organization;
- A court document indicating relevant legal action; or
- A written, non-notarized statement from the employee affirming that paid sick leave was taken for a qualifying reason.
Employers must give employees written notice of the provisions of the law upon hire or within 30 days of the law’s effective date (July 1, 2025), whichever is later.
Alaska Family Leave Act (public agencies)
Covered employers
Alaska’s Familyl Leave Act (AFLA)ave applies to public agencies within the state that have 21 or more employees, and union employers whose collective bargaining agreements do not provide equal or greater benefits than the state provisions.
Employee eligibility
To be eligible for leave benefits, an employee must have worked at least 35 hours a week for at least six consecutive months, or 17.5 hours a week for at least 12 months immediately preceding the leave.
Leave entitlement
During a 12-month period, a covered employer must grant an eligible employee 18 weeks leave for a pregnancy, birth, or adoption.
During a 24-month period, a covered employer must grant an eligible employee 18 weeks of leave to care for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition, or for the employee’s own serious health condition.
These are two separate entitlements, 18 weeks for each. The parental bonding leave (18 weeks in a 12 month period) is counted as a block of time, not in hours. For the medical AFLA, it is counted in hours (18 weeks total) and is a 24 month entitlement. Employees could potentially use both entitlements, 36 weeks, in a one year period of time.
The federal FMLA allows for intermittent leave, but under Alaska’s family leave provisions an employer can require that an employee use their family leave in a single block of time.
Reasons for leave
An eligible employee may take leave for a pregnancy, birth or adoption of a child, and a serious health condition of the employee, parent, child, or spouse.
Maintenance of health benefits
As under FMLA, the employer must maintain coverage under any group health plan while the employee is on leave. The employer may also require that the employee pay all or part of the premium costs during leave.
Job restoration
Unless the employer’s business circumstances have changed and it is impossible or unreasonable, an employee must be restored to his or her job or to a substantially similar position with substantially similar benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment when they return from leave.
Notice
Employees who want to use family leave must provide advance notice to their employer if the leave is foreseeable (i.e., birth or adoption of a child), and in a manner that is reasonable and practicable.
Crime victim leave
Employers may not penalize or threaten to penalize a victim of an offense because the victim:
- Is subpoenaed or requested by the prosecuting attorney to attend a court proceeding for the purpose of giving testimony; or
- Reports the offense to a law enforcement agency or participates in the investigation of the offense by a law enforcement agency.
“Penalize” means to take action affecting the employment status, wages, and benefits payable to the victim, including:
- Demotion or suspension,
- Dismissal from employment, and
- Loss of pay or benefits, except pay and benefits that are directly attributable to the victim's absence from employment to:
- Attend the court proceeding,
- Report the offense to a law enforcement agency,
- Participate in a law enforcement agency investigation of the offense.
State contacts
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Division of Labor Standards and Safety
www.labor.state.ak.us/lss/whact.htm
State statutes/regulations
Paid sick leave
Alaska Statutes 23.10.066 through 23.10.069
https://www.elections.alaska.gov/petitions/23AMLS/23AMLS-Bill.pdf
Petition Status – Division of Elections (alaska.gov)
State employee leave:
Alaska Statutes 39.20.500 through .550
http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/statutes.asp#39.20.500
Crime victim:
Alaska Statutes, §12.61.017, Interference by victim's employer
Federal
ContactsUS Dept. of Labor, Wage & Hour Division
Regulations 29 CFR Part 825, “The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993”