SB 189: "An Act relating to minimum paid sick leave requirements; and providing for an effective date."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 189 01 "An Act relating to minimum paid sick leave requirements; and providing for an 02 effective date." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 23.10.066 is amended to read: 05 Sec. 23.10.066. Minimum paid sick leave benefit. Employers in the state 06 with 50 or more employees are required to provide their employees paid sick leave as 07 follows: 08 (1) [EMPLOYERS WITH 15 OR MORE EMPLOYEES SHALL 09 ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO ACCRUE] a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave 10 shall accrue for every 30 hours worked, but employees are not entitled to accrue or 11 use more than 56 hours of paid sick leave a [PER] year, unless their employer sets a 12 higher limit; 13 (2) [EMPLOYERS WITH FEWER THAN 15 EMPLOYEES SHALL 14 ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO ACCRUE A MINIMUM OF ONE HOUR OF PAID
01 SICK LEAVE FOR EVERY 30 HOURS WORKED, BUT EMPLOYEES ARE NOT 02 ENTITLED TO ACCRUE OR USE MORE THAN 40 HOURS OF PAID SICK 03 LEAVE PER YEAR, UNLESS THEIR EMPLOYER SETS A HIGHER LIMIT; 04 (3)] employees who are exempt from overtime requirements under 29 05 U.S.C. 213(a)(1) shall be assumed to work 40 hours in each work week for purposes 06 of paid sick leave accrual unless their normal work week is less than 40 hours, in 07 which case paid sick leave accrues based on [UPON] that normal work week; 08 (3) [(4)] paid sick leave shall carry over to the following year, but an 09 employer is not required to allow an employee to use more than the applicable 10 amounts of paid sick leave described in (1) [AND (2)] of this section a [PER] year; 11 (4) [(5)] paid sick leave as provided in this section shall begin to 12 accrue at the commencement of employment or July 1, 2025, whichever is later; an 13 employee shall be entitled to use paid sick leave as it is accrued; 14 (5) [(6)] any employer with a paid leave or paid time off policy [,] who 15 makes available an amount of paid leave that is sufficient to meet the requirements of 16 this section and that may be used for the same purposes and under the same conditions 17 as paid sick leave under this section [,] is not required to provide additional paid sick 18 leave; 19 (6) [(7)] an employee who is transferred to a separate entity or 20 location, but remains employed by the same employer, is entitled to all paid sick leave 21 accrued at the former [PRIOR] entity or location; when there is a separation from 22 employment, but the employee is rehired within six months after [OF] separation by 23 the same employer, previously accrued and unused paid sick leave shall be 24 immediately reinstated; when a different employer succeeds or takes the place of an 25 existing employer, all employees of the original employer who remain employed by 26 the successor employer are entitled to all accrued and unused paid sick leave. 27 * Sec. 2. AS 23.10.067 is amended to read: 28 Sec. 23.10.067. Use [UTILIZATION] of paid sick leave benefit. The paid 29 sick leave benefit required under AS 23.10.066 may be used [UTILIZED] as follows: 30 (1) employees shall be permitted to use paid sick leave for [:] 31 (A) an employee's mental or physical illness, injury, or health
01 condition; the employee's need for medical diagnosis, care, or treatment; or the 02 employee's need for preventative medical care; 03 (B) care or assistance to the employee's family member relating 04 to the needs described in (A) of this paragraph; in this subparagraph, "family 05 member" means an immediate family member as defined in AS 39.52.960 06 [PURSUANT TO AS 39.52.960(11)]; a domestic partner; a foster child, legal 07 ward, or person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis; a foster parent, 08 adoptive parent, legal guardian, or [A] person who stood in loco parentis when 09 the employee was a minor child; or any other individual related by blood or 10 whose close association is the equivalent of a family relationship; or 11 (C) absences necessary due to domestic violence, sexual 12 assault, or stalking, if [PROVIDED] the leave is to allow the employee to 13 obtain, for the employee or a family member, [:] medical or psychological 14 attention; services from a victim's aid organization; relocation or steps to 15 secure an existing home; or legal services, including participation in any 16 investigation or civil or criminal proceeding; 17 (2) when the need for paid sick leave is foreseeable, an [THE] 18 employee who is not incapacitated shall make a good faith effort to provide notice to 19 the employer in advance of the use of paid sick leave and before the beginning of the 20 employee's workday for which the sick leave is used and make a reasonable effort 21 to schedule use of paid sick leave in a manner that does not unduly disrupt the 22 employer's operations; 23 (3) for paid sick leave of more than three consecutive workdays, an 24 employer may require reasonable documentation as follows, showing that the paid 25 sick leave has been used for a purpose covered by (1) of this section: 26 (A) [;] documentation signed by a health care professional 27 indicating that paid sick leave is or was necessary shall be considered 28 reasonable documentation for the purposes of (1)(A) or (B) of this section 29 [PURPOSES], but an employer may not require that the documentation explain 30 the nature or details of the illness or underlying health needs; 31 (B) [(A)] in cases of domestic violence, sexual assault, or
01 stalking [,] under (1)(C) of this section, one of the following types of 02 documentation selected by the employee shall be considered reasonable 03 documentation: a police report; a written statement from a witness advocate 04 affirming services from a victim's aid organization; a court document 05 indicating relevant legal action; or a written, non-notarized statement from the 06 employee affirming that paid sick leave was taken for a qualifying purpose of 07 (1)(C) of this section; 08 (C) [(B)] unless otherwise required by law, an employer may 09 not require disclosure of the details of an employee's or an employee's family 10 member's health or safety information as a condition of providing paid sick 11 leave under AS 23.10.066 and must treat any health or safety information 12 regarding an employee or employee's family member as confidential medical 13 records; 14 (4) paid sick leave under AS 23.10.066 may be used in the smaller of 15 hourly increments or the smallest increment that the employer's payroll system uses to 16 account for absences or use of other time; 17 (5) an employer may not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise 18 of, [:] or the attempt to exercise, the right to paid sick leave under AS 23.10.066; an 19 employer may not [:] 20 (A) engage in retaliation or discrimination [,] or take any other 21 adverse action, against an employee who uses [UTILIZES], or attempts to use 22 [UTILIZE], their paid sick leave; 23 (B) require, as a condition of an employee's taking paid sick 24 leave under this section and AS 23.10.066, that the employee search for or find 25 a replacement worker to cover the hours during which the employee is using 26 paid sick leave; or 27 (C) use an absence control policy that counts paid sick leave 28 taken under AS 23.10.066 and this section as an absence that may lead to or 29 result in retaliation or any other adverse action. 30 * Sec. 3. AS 23.10.068(c) is amended to read: 31 (c) Employers shall give employees who are entitled to paid sick leave
01 written notice of the following at the commencement of employment or within 30 days 02 after [OF] this section's effective date, whichever is later: that beginning July 1, 2025, 03 employees are entitled to paid sick leave and the amount of paid sick leave, the terms 04 of its use guaranteed under AS 23.10.066 and 23.10.067, and that retaliation against 05 employees who request or use paid sick leave is prohibited. 06 * Sec. 4. AS 23.10.069 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 07 (d) Employment of seasonal workers is exempt from the requirements of 08 AS 23.10.066 - 23.10.068. In this subsection, "seasonal worker" means an employee 09 who is hired for a specific period related to peak business need, not to exceed six 10 months in each calendar year. 11 * Sec. 5. This Act takes effect July 1, 2025.