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Alaska Statutes.

Title 23. Labor and Workers' Compensation

Chapter 20. Alaska Employment Security Act

Section 530. Wages Defined.

AS 23.20.530. Wages Defined.

(a) In this chapter, "wages" means all remuneration for service from whatever source, including, but not limited to, insured work, noninsured work, or self-employment; commissions, bonuses, back pay, and the cash value of all remuneration in a medium other than cash shall be treated as wages; gratuities customarily received by an individual in the course of service from persons other than the individual's employing unit may be treated as wages received from the employing unit only to the extent the individual reports the gratuities to the employing unit. The reasonable cash value of remuneration in a medium other than cash, and the reasonable amount of gratuities, shall be estimated and determined in accordance with regulations adopted by the department; notwithstanding AS 23.20.350 (a), back pay awards shall be allocated to the weeks or quarters with respect to which the pay was earned. If the remuneration of an individual is not based upon a fixed period of time or if the individual's wages are paid in irregular intervals or in a manner that does not extend regularly over the period of employment, the wages shall be allocated to weeks or quarters in accordance with regulations adopted by the department. The regulations must, so far as possible, produce results reasonably similar to those that would prevail if the individual's wages were paid at regular intervals. When an employer has filed for bankruptcy, unpaid wages earned for services performed for the employer are considered wages for the quarter in which they were earned.

(b) In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, "wages" does not include

(1) the amount of any payment, including an amount paid by an employing unit for insurance or annuities or into a fund to provide for the payment, to or on behalf of an individual or the individual's dependent under a plan or system established by an employing unit which makes provisions generally for individuals performing service for it, or for such individuals generally and their dependents, or for a class or classes of the individuals and their dependents, on account of (A) retirement, (B) sickness or accident disability, (C) medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability, or (D) death;

(2) the amount of a payment made by an employing unit to an individual performing service for it, including an amount paid by an employing unit for insurance or annuities or into a fund to provide for the payment, on account of retirement;

(3) the amount of a payment on account of sickness or accident disability, or medical or hospitalization expenses in connection with sickness or accident disability made after December 31, 1954, by an employing unit to or on behalf of an individual performing service for it after the expiration of six calendar months following the last calendar month in which the individual performed services for the employing unit;

(4) the amount of a payment made by an employing unit to or on behalf of an individual performing services for it or the individual's beneficiary (A) from or to a trust described in 26 U.S.C. 401(a) (Internal Revenue Code) which is exempt from tax under 26 U.S.C. 501(a) at the time of the payment, unless the payment is made to an individual performing services for the trust as remuneration for those services and not as a beneficiary of the trust, or (B) under or to an annuity plan which at the time of the payment meets the requirements of 26 U.S.C. 401(a)(3)-(6);

(5) the amount of a payment made by an employing unit (without deduction from the remuneration of the individual in its employ) of the tax imposed upon an individual in its employ under 26 U.S.C. 3101 (Internal Revenue Code) with respect to service performed after January 1, 1941;

(6) remuneration paid in a medium other than cash to an individual for service not in the course of the employing unit's trade or business;

(7) the amount of a payment, other than vacation or sick pay, made after December 31, 1954, to an individual after the month in which the individual attains the age of 65, if the individual did not perform services for the employing unit in the period for which the payment is made;

(8) dismissal payments after January 1, 1941, which the employing unit is not legally required to make;

(9) the amount of any payment, including any amount paid by an employer into a fund to provide for any such payment, made to or on behalf of an employee under a plan or system established by an employer which makes provision for the employer's employees generally, or for a class or group of the employer's employees, for the purpose of supplementing unemployment benefits;

(10) the amount of a payment made to or on behalf of an employee for subsistence while the employee is employed away from home, but this exemption applies only to that portion of a subsistence payment which does not exceed the actual expenses of the employee while so employed;

(11) compensation received for inactive service performed by a member of the Alaska National Guard or Naval Militia;

(12) the amount of a payment made to or on behalf of an employee or the employee's beneficiary under a cafeteria plan as defined in 26 U.S.C. 125, if the payment would not be treated as wages under this section without regard to the cafeteria plan;

(13) the amount of payment made, or benefit furnished, by the employer under a plan to provide educational assistance to or for the benefit of an employee if, at the time of the payment or the furnishing, it is reasonable to believe that the employee will be able to exclude the payment or benefit from income under 26 U.S.C. 127(b).