Alaska Minimum Wage (2027): $14.00, Rising to $15.00 July 1

(a) Except as otherwise provided for in law, an employer shall pay to each employee a minimum wage, as established herein, for hours worked in a pay period, whether the work is measured by time, piece, commission or otherwise. 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. Tip credit as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 as amended does not apply to the minimum wage established by this section: (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; the adjustment shall be calculated each September 30, for the proceeding January-December calendar year by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, using 100 percent of the rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Anchorage metropolitan area, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor; the…

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

(a) The provisions of AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 do not apply to (1) an individual employed in agriculture, which includes farming in all its branches and, among other things, includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities, 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; (2) an individual employed in the catching, trapping, cultivating, farming, netting, or taking of any kind of fish, shellfish, or other aquatic forms of animal and vegetable life; (3) an individual employed in the handpicking of shrimp; (4) an individual employed in domestic service, including a babysitter, in or about a private home; (5) an individual employed by the United States or by the state or a political subdivision of the state, except as provided in AS 23.10.065(b), including prisoners not on furlough…

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

(a) An employer who violates a provision of AS 23.10.060 or 23.10.065 is liable to an employee affected in the amount of unpaid minimum wages, or unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, and, except as provided in (d) of this section, in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. (b) An action to recover from the employer the wages and damages for which the employer is liable 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. At the request of a person paid less than the amount to which the person is entitled under AS 23.10.050 23.10.150, the commissioner may take an assignment in trust for the employee of the full amount to which the employee is entitled under this section and may bring any legal action necessary to collect the claim.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

To the extent necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities of employment, the commissioner may by regulations or orders provide for the employment at wages lower than the minimum wage prescribed in AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 of (1) an apprentice at the wages that are approved by the commissioner; (2) a learner at the wages and subject to the restrictions and for the periods of time that are fixed by the commissioner; or (3) an individual employed by a nonprofit organization for not more than 12 weeks in a calendar year at a residential summer camp who receives room and board in addition to a weekly wage that is equal to or greater than (A) 80 percent of the minimum hourly wage established under AS 23.10.065(a), multiplied by 40 hours; or (B) 50 percent of the minimum wage established under AS 23.10.065(a) multiplied by the total hours worked in the week by the individual.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

An employer who violates a provision of AS 23.10.050 23.10.150, 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.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

An action for unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime compensation, or liquidated damages under AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 is forever barred unless it is started within two years after the cause of action accrues. For the purposes of this section an action is considered to be started on the date when the complaint is filed.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

Also relied on in: Alaska Whistleblower Laws: Protections and How to Report

An employer violates AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 if the employer (1) hinders or delays the commissioner or an authorized representative of the commissioner in the performance of their duties in the enforcement of AS 23.10.050 23.10.150; (2) refuses to admit the commissioner or an authorized representative to any place of employment; (3) fails to keep or falsifies a record required under the provisions of AS 23.10.050 23.10.150; (4) refuses to make a record accessible, or to furnish a sworn statement of the record, or to give information required for the enforcement of AS 23.10.050 23.10.150, upon demand, to the commissioner or an authorized representative; (5) fails to post an abstract of AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 as required by AS 23.10.105; (6) 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.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

If not defined in this title or in regulations adopted under this title, terms used in AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 shall be defined as they are defined in 29 U.S.C. 201 219 (Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938), as amended, or the regulations adopted under those sections.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

It is the public policy of the state to (1) establish minimum wage and overtime compensation standards for workers at levels consistent with their health, efficiency, and general well-being, and (2) safeguard existing minimum wage and overtime compensation standards that are adequate to maintain the health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers against the unfair competition of wage and hour standards that do not provide adequate standards of living.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

(a) For work therapy, as defined in AS 47.37.270, a participant in a residential drug abuse or alcoholism treatment program designed to extend more than 120 days may be paid less than the minimum wage prescribed in AS 23.10.050 23.10.150 if the rate has been approved by the commissioner under this section and is in compliance with federal law. (b) The commissioner shall adopt regulations regarding the payment of wages for work therapy. In adopting the regulations, the commissioner shall consider whether the work performed by the patient (1) is solely for the benefit of the patient and is that which is ordinarily carried on by patients in a residential treatment program; (2) would ordinarily be performed by full-time employees of the program; (3) is work that may produce income to the patient, other than wages; (4) produces goods or services the proceeds of which will economically or otherwise benefit the owners, operators, or businesses of the rehabilitation program; and (5) creates an unfair competition with private enterprise because of lower wage standards.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-31 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at akleg.gov

Every employer shall pay to each of his employees who in any workweek is engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, or is employed in an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, wages at the following rates: except as otherwise provided in this section, not less than— $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after May 25, 2007; $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day; if such employee is a home worker in Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, not less than the minimum piece rate prescribed by regulation or order; or, if no such minimum piece rate is in effect, any piece rate adopted by such employer which shall yield, to the proportion or class of employees prescribed by regulation or order, not less than the applicable minimum hourly wage rate. Such minimum piece rates or employer piece rates shall be commensurate with, and shall be paid in lieu of, the minimum hourly wage rate applicable under the provisions of this section.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Ohio Debt Collection Laws: Garnishment Formula, the 6-Year Consumer Debt Rule, and Repossession, South Dakota Debt Collection Laws: The 20% Garnishment Cap and 120-Day Lien, Wage Theft in the U.S.: Your Rights Regardless of Immigration Status

Any person who willfully violates any of the provisions of section 215 of this title shall upon conviction thereof be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000, or to imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. No person shall be imprisoned under this subsection except for an offense committed after the conviction of such person for a prior offense under this subsection. Any employer who violates the provisions of section 206 or section 207 of this title shall be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages, or their unpaid overtime compensation, as the case may be, and in an additional equal amount as liquidated damages. Any employer who violates the provisions of section 215(a)(3) or 218d of this title shall be liable for such legal or equitable relief as may be appropriate to effectuate the purposes of section 215(a)(3) or 218d of this title, including without limitation employment, reinstatement, promotion, and the payment of wages lost and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-09-03 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Federal Whistleblower Laws: Protections and How to Report, Unpaid Wages: How to File a Claim and Recover What You're Owed, Employer Threatening to Call Immigration? Your Rights in the U.S.

No provision of this chapter or of any order thereunder shall excuse noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a minimum wage higher than the minimum wage established under this chapter or a maximum work week lower than the maximum workweek established under this chapter, and no provision of this chapter relating to the employment of child labor shall justify noncompliance with any Federal or State law or municipal ordinance establishing a higher standard than the standard established under this chapter. No provision of this chapter shall justify any employer in reducing a wage paid by him which is in excess of the applicable minimum wage under this chapter, or justify any employer in increasing hours of employment maintained by him which are shorter than the maximum hours applicable under this chapter.

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Minimum Wage by State (2027): All 50 States and DC, Alabama Minimum Wage (2027): Still $7.25, No State Rate, Arizona Minimum Wage (2027): $15.65 an Hour From Jan. 1

Any action commenced on or after May 14, 1947, to enforce any cause of action for unpaid minimum wages, unpaid overtime compensation, or liquidated damages, under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended [29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.], the Walsh-Healey Act, or the Bacon-Davis Act 1  See References in Text note below.  — if the cause of action accrues on or after May 14, 1947 —may be commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued, and every such action shall be forever barred unless commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued, except that a cause of action arising out of a willful violation may be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrued; if the cause of action accrued prior to May 14, 1947 —may be commenced within whichever of the following periods is the shorter: (1) two years after the cause of action accrued, or (2) the period prescribed by the applicable State statute of limitations; and, except as provided in paragraph (c), every such action shall be forever barred unless commenced within the shorter of such two periods; if the cause of action accrued prior to May 14, 1947, the action shall not be barred by paragraph (b)…

Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-07-28 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov

Also relied on in: Independent Contractor vs. Employee: The IRS, DOL and ABC Tests, Arkansas Minimum Wage (2027): Still $11.00, No Change Scheduled, Colorado Minimum Wage (2027): $15.71 an Hour From Jan. 1