Alaska Employment Law

 The Alaska Wage and Hour Act requires employers to retain, for a period of three years,

(1) A record of the name, address, and occupation of each employee;

(2) A record of the rate of pay and the amount paid each pay period to each employee;

(3) A record of the hours worked each day and each workweek by each employee; and

(4) A record of other payroll information that the commissioner may require. 

A.S. 23.10.100(a)(emphasis added).  There is no regulation identifying the form of the records. 

In my experience, exempt employees often are reluctant to record hours worked, believing that is a ministerial duty applicable only to non-exempt (typically hourly) employees.  However, the record-keeping requirements are applicable to exempt and non-exempt employees alike. 

Employers who fail to record the hours worked by exempt employees do so at significant risk.  If an employee improperly is classified as “exempt” and later files a claim for unpaid overtime, the employer will lack the ability to determine the amount of overtime worked, if any.  Further, because of the employer’s failure to retain the records, the employee may prove a claim for unpaid overtime under a much easier standard of proof.  Barios v. Brooks Range Supply, Inc., 26 P.3d 1082 (Alaska 2001). 

Aimee Oravec is a private attorney in Anchorage whose practice includes employment law.