Alaska minimum wage rises to $10.19

Alaska’s minimum wage rose by 30 cents to $10.19 an hour effective Jan. 1, thanks to a 2014 ballot initiative in which voters approved adjusting the minimum wage annually for inflation.

State statues require that the Alaska minimum wage be adjusted using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, formerly the Anchorage CPI, for the preceding calendar year.

Alaska’s minimum wage, which by law must be at least $1 an hour over the federal minimum wage, applies to all hours worked in a pay period, regardless of how the employee is paid. The least an employer can pay an employee is equal to all actual hours worked in a pay period multiplied by the Alaska minimum wage, unless the employer can show a specific exemption.

Tips do not count toward that minimum wage.

More information about Alaska’s wage laws online at labor.alaska.gov/lss/whhome.htm.

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