Key Highlights of the New Alaska Payroll Laws for 2025
We wanted to bring to your attention recently passed legislation and the details we know as of now regarding the new payroll laws that will take effect in Alaska. We believe this law may change and have more guidance before it goes into effect on July 1, 2025, but we wanted to bring it to your attention now.
Key Highlights of the New Alaska Payroll Laws for 2025:
Minimum Wage Increase:
The state minimum wage will be increased to $13.00 per hour. This change will take effect on July 1st, 2025. Future increases in minimum wage in Alaska will go up to $14.00 per hour on July 1, 2026, and $15.00 per hour on July 1, 2027. The law also states that Alaska’s minimum Wage shall at all times be greater than $2 above the federal Minimum wage. Please ensure your payroll systems are updated accordingly.
Paid Family Leave:
Employers are required to provide this benefit starting from July 1, 2025. You will want to look at your PTO, sick and leave policies and adjust accordingly.
Employers with 15 or more employees: Employees accrue a minimum of 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, but employees are not entitled to accrue or use more than 56 hours of paid sick leave per year.
Employers with fewer than 15 employees: Employees accrue a minimum of one hour paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, but employees are not entitled to accrue or use more than 40 hours of paid sick leave per year.
Paid sick leave will carry over from year to year, but an employer is not required to allow an employee to use more than the maximum accrual amount per year.
Overtime Regulation Adjustments:
There will be changes to the overtime eligibility criteria on, but the DOL is continually changing this.
We recommend you review any salaried employees and does it make sense to change them to hourly before any law change goes into effect.
Employee Classification:
New criteria for classifying employees as exempt or non-exempt have been introduced. It is essential to review your employee classifications to ensure compliance.
We recommend reviewing your current payroll practices and systems to ensure compliance with these new laws.
Please do not hesitate to reach our office at 907-272-1421 or info@rulien.com if you have any questions or require assistance.
We are here to support you as these changes take effect and will continue to keep you updated as we get closer to the effective date.