Alaska Employment Law

The Alaska Legislature regulates the fees that lawyers may charge clients fighting a denial of Unemployment Insurance benefits.   No law regulates the fees that employer-side lawyers may charge.

Alaska Statute 23.20.400 (Limitation of fees) provides:

(a) An individual claiming benefits may not be charged a fee of any kind in a proceeding under this chapter by the department or its representatives, or by a court or an officer of a court. An individual claiming benefits in a proceeding before the department or its representatives or a court may be represented by counsel or other authorized agent; but the counsel or agent may not charge or receive for services more than an amount approved by the department or the court.

(b) A person who violates a provision of this section upon conviction is punishable, for each offense, by a fine of not more than $500, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both.

(Emph. added.)  See also AS 23.20.465 (Representation of claimant), which provides

A claimant in a proceeding before the department or an appeal tribunal may be represented by counsel or other authorized agent.  The counsel or agent may not charge or receive for services more than an amount approved by the department.

In an unofficial, informal opinion, the Alaska Department of Labor has suggested it would not approve an hourly fee, and would require any fee recovery to mirror Civil Rule 82.   

If the Division approved an hourly rate, the claimant could end up paying more than what they would recover in benefits, thus being impractical to pursue. The department would most likely look at these on a case by case basis and approve fees base on a percentage of recovery, similar to Civil Procedure Rule 82.

The likely result of this fee standard may be to deprive many, if not most Unemployment applicants of legal representation.  Three hours successfully representing someone who recovers $1500 in benefits will result in a Rule 82 award of $300, or $100/hr.  Given the risk of an unfavorable result (and thus no fees) and the likely low fee award when successful, few attorneys will likely risk their time assisting someone who’s been denied Unemployment.

Nonetheless, the provision may be constitutional, at least under federal law.   See Walters v. National Ass’n of Radiation Survivors, 473 U.S. 305 (1985)($10 statutory limit on fees chargeable to veterans in agency appeals satisfies federal Due Process, without record showing that presence of attorneys would sharply reduce erroneous rulings).