Alaska Statutes
Article 9. General Provisions.
Sec. 23.20.525. “Employment” defined.

(a) In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, “employment” means
(1) service performed by an individual for wages or by an officer of a corporation, including service in interstate commerce;
(2) service performed by an individual who, under (8) of this subsection, has the status of an employee;
(3) service performed by an individual other than an individual who is an employee under (1) or (2) of this subsection who performs services for remuneration for any person
(A) as an agent-driver or commission-driver engaged in distributing meat products, vegetable products, fruit products, bakery products, beverages, or laundry or dry-cleaning services, for the individual's principal; or
(B) as a traveling or city salesman, other than as an agent-driver or commission-driver, engaged upon a full-time basis in the solicitation on behalf of, and the transmission to, the individual's principal of orders from wholesalers, retailers, contractors, or operators of hotels, restaurants, or other similar establishments for merchandise for resale or supplies for use in their business operations; however, for all purposes of this paragraph, the term “employment” includes services described in this subparagraph and (A) of this paragraph only if
(i) the contract of service contemplates that substantially all of the services are to be performed personally by the individual;
(ii) the individual does not have a substantial investment in facilities used in connection with the performance of the services, other than in facilities for transportation; and
(iii) the services are not in the nature of a single transaction that is not part of a continuing relationship with the person for whom the services are performed;
(4) service performed by an individual in a calendar quarter in the employ of an organization exempt from income tax under 26 U.S.C. 501(a) (Internal Revenue Code), other than an organization described in 26 U.S.C. 401(a), or under 26 U.S.C. 521, if the remuneration for the service is $250 or more; notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph, services performed by an individual in the employ of a religious, charitable, educational, or other organization described in 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) (Internal Revenue Code) that is exempt from income tax under 26 U.S.C. 501(a), constitutes employment for the purposes of this chapter even though remuneration for the services is less than $250 in a calendar quarter, but only if the organization had four or more individuals in employment for some portion of a day in each of 20 different weeks, whether or not the weeks were consecutive, within either the current or preceding calendar year, regardless of whether the individuals were employed at the same moment of time;
(5) service of an individual who is a citizen of the United States, performed outside the United States, except in Canada, in the employ of an American employer, or of this state or of any of its instrumentalities or any of its political subdivisions, other than service that is considered “employment” under the provisions of (9) or (10) of this subsection or the parallel provisions of the law of another state, if
(A) the employer's principal place of business in the United States is located in this state; or
(B) the employer has no place of business in the United States, but
(i) the employer is an individual who is a resident of this state; or
(ii) the employer is a corporation that is organized under the laws of this state; or
(iii) the employer is a partnership or a trust and the number of the partners or trustees who are residents of this state is greater than the number who are residents of any one other state; or
(C) none of the criteria in (A) and (B) of this paragraph is met but the employer has elected coverage in this state or, the employer having failed to elect coverage in any state, the individual has filed a claim for benefits, based on service described in this paragraph, under the law of this state;
(6) notwithstanding the provisions of (9) of this subsection, all service performed by an officer or member of the crew of an American vessel or in connection with the vessel, if the operating office, from which the operations of vessels operating on navigable waters inside, or inside and outside the United States are ordinarily and regularly supervised, managed, directed, and controlled, is inside this state;
(7) notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, service with respect to which tax is required to be paid under any federal law imposing a tax against which credit may be taken for contributions required to be paid into a state unemployment fund or which as a condition for full tax credit against the tax imposed by the Federal Unemployment Tax Act is required to be covered under this chapter;
(8) service performed by an individual whether or not the common-law relationship of master and servant exists, unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the department that
(A) the individual has been and will continue to be free from control and direction in connection with the performance of the service, both under the individual's contract for the performance of service and in fact;
(B) the service is performed either outside the usual course of the business for which the service is performed or is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which the service is performed; and
(C) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession, or business of the same nature as that involved in the service performed;
(9) an individual's entire service performed inside or both inside and outside this state if the service is localized in this state; service is considered to be localized inside a state or territory if
(A) the service is performed entirely inside the state or territory; or
(B) the service is performed both inside and outside the state or territory but the service performed outside the state or territory is incidental to the individual's service inside the state or territory; for example, where it is temporary or transitory in nature or consists of isolated transactions;
(10) an individual's entire service performed inside or both inside and outside this state if the service is not localized in a state or territory but some of the service is performed in this state and
(A) the individual's base of operations is in this state;
(B) if there is no base of operations, then the place from which the service is directed or controlled is in this state; or
(C) the individual's base of operations or place from which the service is directed or controlled is not in a state or territory in which some part of the service is performed, but the individual's residence is in this state;
(11) service covered by an election under AS 23.20.325, and service covered by an election approved by the commissioner in accordance with an arrangement under AS 23.20.090(a) during the effective period of the election;
(12) service in the employ of this state or any of its instrumentalities or any political subdivision of this state or any of its instrumentalities or any instrumentality of any of the foregoing and one or more other states or political subdivisions, or in the employ of a federally recognized tribe, if that service is excluded from “employment” under 26 U.S.C. 3306(c)(7) (Federal Unemployment Tax Act, Internal Revenue Code) and is not excluded from “employment” under AS 23.20.526(d);
(13) domestic services for an employer who paid wages of $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter in the current or preceding calendar year for those services;
(14) service by an individual in agricultural labor when that service is performed for a person who
(A) during any calendar quarter in either the current or the preceding year, paid remuneration in cash of $20,000 or more to individuals employed in agricultural labor; or
(B) employed in agricultural labor 10 or more individuals for some portion of the day in each of at least 20 different calendar weeks in either the current or the preceding calendar year, whether or not the weeks were consecutive, and regardless of whether the individuals were employed at the same moment of time;
(C) for the purposes of this paragraph, any individual who is a member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person shall be treated as an employee of that crew leader
(i) if that crew leader holds a valid certificate of registration under the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act of 1963, or substantially all the members of that crew operate or maintain tractors, mechanized harvesting or cropdusting equipment, or any other mechanized equipment, which is provided by that crew leader; and
(ii) if that individual is not an employee of that other person within the meaning of (8) of this subsection;
(D) for the purposes of this paragraph, in the case of an individual who is furnished by a crew leader to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person and who is not treated as an employee of that crew leader under (C) of this paragraph,
(i) that other person and not the crew leader shall be treated as the employer of that individual; and
(ii) that other person shall be treated as having paid cash remuneration to that individual in an amount equal to the amount of cash remuneration paid to that individual by the crew leader, either on behalf of the crew leader or on behalf of that other person, for the service in agricultural labor performed for that other person;
(E) for the purposes of this paragraph, the term “crew leader” means an individual who
(i) furnishes individuals to perform service in agricultural labor for any other person;
(ii) pays, either on behalf of the crew leader or on behalf of that other person, the individuals furnished by the crew leader for the service in agricultural labor performed by the individuals; and
(iii) has not entered into a written agreement with that farm operator under which the agricultural worker is designated as an employee of that farm operator.
(b) In (a)(5) of this section, “American employer” means a person who is
(1) an individual who is a resident of the United States;
(2) a partnership if two-thirds or more of the partners are residents of the United States;
(3) a trust, if all of the trustees are residents of the United States; or
(4) a corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of any state.