How Alaska Employers Can Prepare for Looming Sick Leave Requirement

Unless a collective bargaining agreement explicitly waives the sick leave requirement—and any agreements preceding the ballot measure’s passage would not—policies will require at least some revision before July 1, O’Brien says. Early preparation will help to prevent a “frenzy” in June.

Other factors could also take time to address. Elizabeth P. Hodes, Davis Wright Tremaine’s partner-in-charge, says employers that currently give a combined time-off balance that includes sick leave with other time might need to look into creating a separate “bank.” The law provides several specific protections for sick leave. In any employer-employee disputes over leave, the company will need to carefully specify which type of leave the issue involves, Hodes says.

Employers may also need to train supervisors and other employees on how to comply with the law’s requirements not to retaliate for employee use of sick time.

Now It Gets Complicated

The ballot measure has exceptions for certain types of workers. Employees classified as exempt earn sick leave based on forty hours worked in a week, not every thirty, unless the normal work week is less than forty hours. Part-time employees earn leave at the same rate as full-time workers, so it necessarily accrues more slowly.

The law allows small businesses to provide slightly less sick leave in a year than larger companies. Companies with fourteen or fewer employees must let employees accrue and use up to forty hours in a year, or five eight-hour days. Companies with fifteen employees or more must let employees accrue up to fifty-six hours, or seven eight-hour days of sick leave.

Regardless of company size, employees must earn one hour of sick leave for every thirty hours worked, up to the minimum required.

Only a few work situations qualify for wholesale exemptions from the law. Those include workers already exempt from minimum wage and overtime, such as agriculture, domestic service, and federal and state workers. Minors under age 18 working less than thirty hours per week are exempt, as are student learners and apprentices. Employed prisoners, work therapy patients, or seasonal employees at a nonprofit residential summer camp are also exempt.

O’Brien says most of these exempt employers are already aware of the situation.

What happens if an employee doesn’t use all their sick leave within the year? According to the law, the company must carry it over. The same earning requirements apply in the next year, even if a carry-over causes the total sick-leave balance to exceed the annual cap. The company can offer a year-end “cash out” option but cannot mandate payout.

If an employee leaves a company with unused sick leave and then returns to the company within six months, the employer must reinstate the prior balance.

Hodes says the forthcoming DOLWD regulations may clarify some aspects of sick leave carryover and payout. However, she stresses that the state “can only interpret, but they can’t change” the ballot initiative.

Kristal Graham, a Davis Wright Tremaine associate, says that state regulations will also have to interpret how “small” applies to businesses whose workforce fluctuates throughout the year.

Advice for Employees

The law allows for fairly broad use of sick leave, which may differ from some existing policies. Uses include injury, illness, caring for a family member, or when necessary to receive care or legal help related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. Graham notes that the definition of “family member” could also include taking a roommate to the doctor.

How little or much an employee could claim on a given day and timesheet will depend on the work situation and policy for claiming other time off. Hodes says the increments allowed—whether half-hour, one hour, half day, or full day—should “be consistent with what your smallest increment is.”

Employees need not provide proof of illness for paid sick leave, and employers may not ask unless the absence extends beyond three consecutive workdays.

DOLWD’s Wage and Hour office is able to answer further questions from employees and employers.