Meal and Rest Breaks: Alaska

This Meal and Rest Breaks policy applies to employees in Alaska under Alaska Statute 23.10.35; it sets clear expectations for break time for employees under age 18, including when an unpaid 30-minute break must be provided during longer shifts and what to do if a break is missed or discouraged.

The History Behind Meal and Rest Breaks Policies in Alaska

Meal and rest breaks in Alaska are a Wages & Hours issue, and the story is mostly about what Alaska chose to regulate and what it chose to leave alone. For adult employees, Alaska never adopted a general statewide meal-or-rest-break law, so employers largely followed federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) norms instead. The FLSA does not require meal or rest breaks, but it does control how short breaks are paid when employers choose to offer them, which pushed many multi-state employers toward consistent, written break practices.

Alaska did create specifications for minors. The Alaska Wage and Hour Act requires an unpaid 30-minute break for employees under 18 who are scheduled to work 6 consecutive hours, with timing rules that keep the break away from the very start and very end of the shift. Alaska also requires a 30-minute break before a minor continues working after 5 consecutive hours. Those specifics align with a common policy choice in state labor law to treat youth work as a higher-risk category and to make the rule easy to audit from schedules and time records.

Which Law is the Meal and Rest Breaks Policy Meant to Comply With?

If you create and distribute a Meal and Rest Breaks Policy for your Alaska-based employees, it is in an effort to comply with Alaska's Alaska Statutes, Title 23, Chapter 10, Article 3 (AS 23.10.350).

How to Write an Alaska-Specific Meal and Rest Breaks Policy

• Start with "why" and introduce the concept of meal and rest breaks for employees under 18 in Alaska.
• State the core rule that minors are entitled to an unpaid meal break during longer work periods.
• Explain how employees should raise questions about schedules and report situations where breaks are prevented or discouraged.

When to Include this Policy in Your Employee Handbook

The law does not require you to publish a policy or issue a specific notice. That said, you still have to comply with the requirements that apply to you as an employer. 

Most employers can skip a policy on this and be fine, as long as they comply behind the scenes when it applies. Consider adding it only if you have employees who are likely to run into this situation, your industry makes it more relevant, or your existing policies leave a gap. Otherwise, this is better handled as a targeted procedure or an one-off communication when the scenario actually comes up. 

Other Considerations

The law applies to Alaska employers who have at least 1 employee in the US.

Exceptions

None