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SENATE BILL NO. 189
IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA
THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - FIRST SESSION
BY SENATOR BJORKMAN
Introduced: 5/2/25
Referred: Community and Regional Affairs, Labor and Commerce
A BILL
FOR AN ACT ENTITLED
"An Act relating to minimum paid sick leave requirements; and p roviding for an 1
effective date." 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 3
* Section 1. AS 23.10.066 is amended to read: 4
Sec. 23.10.066. Minimum paid sick leave benefit. Employers in the state 5
with 50 or more employees are required to provide their employees paid sick leave as 6
follows: 7
( 1 ) [ E M P L O Y E R S W I T H 1 5 O R M O R E E M P L O Y E E S S H A L L 8
ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO ACCRUE] a minimum of one hour of paid sick l eave 9
shall accrue for every 30 hours worked, but employees are not entitled to a ccrue or 10
use more than 56 hours of paid sick leave a [PER] year, unless their employer sets a 11
higher limit; 12
(2) [EMPLOYERS WITH FEWER THAN 15 EMPLOYEES SHALL 13
ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO ACCRUE A MINIMUM OF ONE HOUR OF PAID 14
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SICK LEAVE FOR EVERY 30 HOURS WORKED, BUT EMPLOYEES ARE NOT 1
ENTITLED TO ACCRUE OR USE MORE THAN 40 HOURS OF PAID SICK 2
LEAVE PER YEAR, UNLESS THEIR EMPLOYER SETS A HIGHER LIMIT; 3
(3)] employees who are exempt from overtime requirements under 29 4
U.S.C. 213(a)(1) shall be assumed to work 40 hours in each work week for purposes 5
of paid sick leave accrual unless their normal work week is les s than 40 hours, in 6
which case paid sick leave accrues based on [UPON] that normal work week; 7
(3) [(4)] paid sick leave shall carry over to the following year, but an 8
employer is not required to allow an employee to use more than the applicable 9
amounts of paid sick leave described in (1) [AND (2)] of this section a [PER] year; 10
(4) [(5)] paid sick leave as provided in this section shall begin to 11
accrue at the commencement of employment or July 1, 2025, which ever is later; an 12
employee shall be entitled to use paid sick leave as it is accrued; 13
(5) [(6)] any employer with a paid leave or paid time off policy [ ,] who 14
makes available an amount of paid leave that is sufficient to meet the requirements of 15
this section and that may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions 16
as paid sick leave under this sec tion [,] is not required to pr ovide additional paid sick 17
leave; 18
(6) [(7)] an employee who is transferred to a separate entity or 19
location, but remains employed by the same employer, is entitle d to all paid sick leave 20
accrued at the former [PRIOR] entity or location; when there is a separation from 21
employment, but the employee is rehired within six months after [OF] separation by 22
the same employer, previously accrued and unused paid sick leav e shall be 23
immediately reinstated; when a different employer succeeds or t akes the place of an 24
existing employer, all employees of the original employer who r emain employed by 25
the successor employer are entitled to all accrued and unused paid sick leave. 26
* Sec. 2. AS 23.10.067 is amended to read: 27
Sec. 23.10.067. Use [UTILIZATION] of paid sick leave benefit. The paid 28
sick leave benefit required under AS 23.10.066 may be used [UTILIZED] as follows: 29
(1) employees shall be permitted to use paid sick leave for [:] 30
(A) an employee's mental or physical illness, injury, or healt h 31
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condition; the employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment; or the 1
employee's need for preventative medical care; 2
(B) care or assistance to the employee's family member relating 3
to the needs described in (A) of this paragraph; in this subparagraph, "family 4
member" means an immediate family member as defined in AS 39.52.960 5
[PURSUANT TO AS 39.52.960(11)]; a domestic partner; a foster ch ild, legal 6
ward, or person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis; a foster parent, 7
adoptive parent, legal guardian, or [A] person who stood in loc o parentis when 8
the employee was a minor child; or any other individual related by blood or 9
whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship; or 10
(C) absences necessary due to domestic violence, sexual 11
assault, or stalking, if [PROVIDED] the leave is to allow the employee to 12
obtain, for the employee or a family member , [:] medical or psychological 13
attention; services from a victim's aid organization; relocatio n or steps to 14
secure an existing home; or legal services, including participa tion in any 15
investigation or civil or criminal proceeding; 16
( 2 ) w h e n t h e n e e d f o r p a i d s i c k l e a v e i s f o r e s e e a b l e , an [THE] 17
employee who is not incapacitated shall make a good faith effort to provide notice to 18
the employer in advance of the use of paid sick leave and before the beginning of the 19
employee's workday for which the sick leave is used and make a reasonable effort 20
to schedule use of paid sick leave in a manner that does not un duly disrupt the 21
employer's operations; 22
(3) for paid sick leave of more than three consecutive workday s, an 23
employer may require reasonable documentation as follows, showing that the paid 24
sick leave has been used for a purpose covered by (1) of this section: 25
(A) [;] documentation signed by a health care professional 26
indicating that paid sick leave is or was necessary shall be co nsidered 27
reasonable documentation for the purposes of ( 1 ) ( A ) o r ( B ) o f t h i s s e c t i o n 28
[PURPOSES], but an employer may not require that the documentation explain 29
the nature or details of the illness or underlying health needs; 30
(B) [(A)] in cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, or 31
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stalking [,] under (1)(C) of this section, one of the following t y p e s o f 1
documentation selected by the employee shall be considered reas onable 2
documentation: a police report; a written statement from a witn ess advocate 3
affirming services from a victim's aid organization; a court do cument 4
indicating relevant legal action; or a written, non-notarized s tatement from the 5
employee affirming that paid sick leave was taken for a qualify ing purpose of 6
(1)(C) of this section; 7
(C) [(B)] unless otherwise required by law, an employer may 8
not require disclosure of the details of an employee's or an em ployee's family 9
member's health or safety infor mation as a condition of providi ng paid sick 10
leave under AS 23.10.066 and must treat any health or safety in formation 11
regarding an employee or employee's family member as confidenti al medical 12
records; 13
(4) paid sick leave under AS 23.10.066 may be used in the smal ler of 14
hourly increments or the smallest increment that the employer's payroll system uses to 15
account for absences or use of other time; 16
(5) an employer may not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise 17
of, [:] or the attempt to exercise, the right to paid sick leave u nder AS 23.10.066; an 18
employer may not [:] 19
(A) engage in retaliation or discrimination [,] or take any ot her 20
adverse action, against an employee who uses [UTILIZES], or attempts to use 21
[UTILIZE], their paid sick leave; 22
(B) require, as a condition of an employee's taking paid sick 23
leave under this section and AS 23.10.066, that the employee search for or find 24
a replacement worker to cover the hours during which the employ ee is using 25
paid sick leave; or 26
(C) use an absence control policy that counts paid sick leave 27
taken under AS 23.10.066 and this section as an absence that ma y lead to or 28
result in retaliation or any other adverse action. 29
* Sec. 3. AS 23.10.068(c) is amended to read: 30
(c) Employers shall give employees who are entitled to paid sick leave 31
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written notice of the following at the commencement of employment or within 30 days 1
after [OF] this section's effective date, whichever is later: that b eginning July 1, 2025, 2
employees are entitled to paid si ck leave and the amount of pai d sick leave, the terms 3
of its use guaranteed under AS 23.10.066 and 23.10.067, and tha t retaliation against 4
employees who request or use paid sick leave is prohibited. 5
* Sec. 4. AS 23.10.069 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 6
(d) Employment of seasonal workers is exempt from the requirem ents of 7
AS 23.10.066 - 23.10.068. In this subsection, "seasonal worker" means an employee 8
who is hired for a specific peri od related to peak business nee d, not to exceed six 9
months in each calendar year. 10
* Sec. 5. This Act takes effect July 1, 2025. 11