Alaska voters approved Ballot Measure 1 (according to unofficial election results), which provides paid sick leave for all Alaska employees. (The measure also increases the minimum wage over the next few years and imposes restrictions on employer-sponsored meetings on religious or political topics.) This new paid sick leave requirement takes effect July 1, 2025.

Who is eligible for paid sick leave?

The new law applies to all employers and employees in Alaska. There are limited exceptions for trainees, employees in occupational therapy programs, prison inmates, and employees subject to the federal Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, among other narrow exceptions.

Delimitation and carryover

Up to a cap, all employees are entitled to at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers with 15 or more employees may limit the accrual and use of paid sick leave to 56 hours per year; Employers with fewer than 15 employees may limit the accrual and use of paid sick leave to 40 hours per year. Employers can set higher accrual rates, accrual limits and usage restrictions. For credit purposes, exempt employees are assumed to work 40 hours per workweek unless their normal weekly working hours are less than 40 hours.

Employees will receive paid sick leave beginning July 1, 2025, or upon commencement of employment, whichever is later.

Paid sick leave carries over to the following year but does not affect the amount of leave an employee can take in a given year.

Use of paid sick leave

Employees may use paid sick leave once it is accrued. It can be used for the following:

• An employee’s mental or physical illness, including diagnosis, care, treatment and preventative medical care.
• Caring for or supporting a family member of an employee for the same reasons. “Family” means an immediate family member as defined in Section 39.42.960(11) of the Alaska Statutes, a domestic partner, a foster child, a legal ward, a person to whom an employee is in loco parentis, a foster parent, an adoptive parent, a legal guardian , a person who was represented as a parent when the employee was a minor child, or another person related to the employee by blood or whose close connection to the employee is equivalent to a family relationship.
• Absences due to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, to provide the employee or their family member with an opportunity to seek medical or psychological assistance, access services from a victim’s support organization, receive relocation assistance or take steps to secure themselves to carry out an existing dwelling or to seek legal advice or to take part in an investigation or civil or criminal proceedings.

Employees are required to notify the employer when their need for paid sick leave is foreseeable, and they must plan their foreseeable leave so as not to unduly disrupt the employer’s operations.

When using paid sick leave for more than three consecutive workdays, an employer may require reasonable evidence that the paid sick leave was used for a covered reason.

Paid sick leave may be taken in smaller hourly rates or in the smallest amount that the employer’s payroll system uses to account for other absences or uses of time.

Employers are not required to pay employees for accrued, unused paid sick leave upon termination.

Employers may not retaliate against employees for using paid sick leave; they may not impede employees’ use of paid sick leave; they may not require employees to find substitutes to cover the time they are using paid sick leave; or apply an absence control policy that deems paid sick leave in a manner that could result in adverse action.

Requirements and guidelines for employers

Employers are required to inform their employees in writing of their right to paid sick leave, the amount of paid sick leave to which they are entitled, and the prohibition of retaliation. This notification must be made at the start of the employment relationship or within 30 days after the new law comes into force on July 1, 2025.

Employers may adopt policies that provide for more generous accrual rates, accrual caps, usage caps, and other conditions, provided such policies are consistent with the statute.

As we have seen in other states with similar requirements, some Alaska employers may consider adopting separate paid sick leave and vacation policies and carefully review existing paid vacation policies. Employers should seek advice to ensure they understand the requirements of the new law and are prepared to comply with them by next summer.

Brian Keeley is an attorney at Jackson Lewis in Seattle. © 2024 Jackson Lewis. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.