Alaska Employment Law

The Alaska Supreme Court, in Pyramid Printing v. ASCHR, 153 P.3d 994 (Alaska 2007), held

• a constructively discharged employee need not accept a reinstatement offer if the employee reasonably believes that the intolerable conditions (here, sexual harassment) have not changed;
• the Human Rights Act grants the Commission authority to award vacation pay as “other appropriate relief”;
• the Act also grants the Commission authority to order corporate owners, managers, and employees to attend sexual harassment training;
• the Commission’s authority to award prejudgment interest is not directly controlled by AS 09.30.070(a)(which applies only to “judgments” and “decress” and thus does not apply to administrative proceedings), but by 6 AAC 30.480(b) which (since 2004) incorporates the same statute; and
• vacation pay is an alternate form of wages, earned at the time of accrual, even if paid at a later time.

Justice Carpeneti wrote the opinion for the unanimous court. The result affirmed and reversed various rulings from Superior Court Judge Dan Hensley. AAG William Milks represented the Commission; Sean Halloran of Hartig Rhodes represented the employer.

The Court’s characterization of vacation pay suggests that employers may not contractually limit such pay via caps on accrual, forfeiture of pay not used within certain time frames, or rules against cashout at termination.