Alaska
Workers' Comp Exemption
An Alaska business with one or more employees generally needs workers' compensation coverage. A sole proprietor or partner is personally exempt; an LLC member or for-profit executive officer needs at least 10% ownership to be automatically outside employee status. Since August 1, 2019, Alaska no longer uses the old executive-officer waiver program; an otherwise-exempt qualifying owner can instead be specifically included in the policy.
Entity types analyzed
- Sole proprietor
- LLC member
- Partner
- Corporate officer
Alaska is unusually clean once the ownership rule is separated from the employer's insurance duty. The state requires coverage when a business has one or more employees, while sole proprietors, partners, qualifying 10% LLC members, and qualifying corporate officers can sit outside personal mandatory coverage. The old executive-officer waiver application is no longer the mechanism.
An Alaska business with one or more employees generally needs workers' compensation coverage. A sole proprietor or partner is personally exempt; an LLC member or for-profit executive officer needs at least 10% ownership to be automatically outside employee status. Since August 1, 2019, Alaska no longer uses the old executive-officer waiver program; an otherwise-exempt qualifying owner can instead be specifically included in the policy.
Owner treatment at a glance
Sole proprietorA sole proprietor is automatically exempt from mandatory personal workers' compensation coverage, but the proprietorship must insure any employees. The owner can explore voluntary personal coverage through the policy rather than filing the repealed executive-officer waiver.
LLC memberAn LLC member with at least 10% ownership is not treated as an employee for mandatory personal coverage. A member below 10% is an employee who must be insured. A qualifying 10% owner may be specifically included in the policy for the policy period.
PartnerPartners are automatically exempt from mandatory personal workers' compensation coverage, while the partnership must insure any employees.
Corporate officerA for-profit corporate executive officer with at least 10% ownership is automatically exempt from mandatory personal coverage. Executive officers of municipal, religious, and legally registered nonprofit corporations are also outside employee status unless specifically covered. A for-profit officer below 10% ownership must be insured as an employee.
The company-level rule starts with the first employee, not with the owner's exemption
Alaska DOLWD states the employer rule directly: each employer having one or more employees in Alaska must obtain workers' compensation insurance unless the employer has been approved to self-insure. That is the starting point before asking whether an owner is personally inside the policy.
The owner categories listed by the Division do not turn the business itself into an exempt entity. A sole proprietor who hires a worker, an LLC with a qualifying excluded member, or a corporation with an excluded officer still has to insure employees who remain within the Act.
That distinction matters for tiny firms because a valid owner exclusion can coexist with a mandatory policy. The practical file should therefore answer two separate questions: which owners are personally outside coverage, and which other people are employees who make the employer responsible for a policy.
The 10% ownership line decides the LLC-member and for-profit officer result
Alaska's current employer guidance places LLC members and for-profit corporate executive officers on an ownership test. A member or executive officer with at least a 10% interest is not an employee for mandatory personal workers' compensation purposes.
The 2019 Division bulletin makes the other side equally important: a corporate executive officer or LLC member with less than 10% ownership is an employee, so the entity must insure that person. A title such as manager, president, or member does not replace the ownership percentage.
For compliance records, ownership evidence is therefore more useful than an old waiver form. The Division's bulletin says enforcement relies on current entity registrations that visibly establish ownership, which is another reason to recheck the rule after stock or membership percentages change.
Sole proprietors and partners do not need a personal exemption certificate
The Division lists the sole proprietor of a sole proprietorship and partners in a partnership as business owners exempt from having to insure themselves. The exclusion follows owner status rather than a certificate application.
That does not extend to workers hired by the business. Alaska specifically says the listed entities must continue coverage for employees, including family members and friends who are employees.
An owner-only sole proprietorship can therefore look very different from the same operation after its first hire. The moment the business adds a worker, the employer-level one-employee rule should be revisited even though the owner's own status has not changed.
Do not search for Alaska's former executive-officer waiver—the program was repealed in 2019
Alaska's 2019 joint agency bulletin is important because older materials can lead an owner to look for an executive-officer waiver that the Workers' Compensation Division no longer accepts. The bulletin says the waiver program was repealed effective August 1, 2019.
The Division recognized previously issued waivers only through the existing policy period or earlier cancellation. Current owner treatment therefore comes from the statutory ownership test, not from renewing that legacy document.
This is a useful document-control issue for older businesses. A scanned historic waiver in the company files may explain past policy treatment, but it should not be treated as the current legal basis for excluding an owner in 2026.
A qualifying 10% owner can be brought back into the policy for the policy period
Automatic exclusion does not mean a qualifying Alaska owner can never have workers' compensation benefits. The 2019 bulletin says a business may specifically include an otherwise-exempt corporate officer or LLC member in its workers' compensation insurance contract.
The inclusion lasts for the policy period. That makes policy documentation—not a state exemption certificate—the evidence to review when a qualifying owner wants personal workers' compensation coverage.
At renewal, confirm the desired treatment rather than assuming the previous policy decision carries forward unchanged. The same review is warranted if ownership drops below 10%, because that fact can move the person from optional owner treatment into mandatory employee coverage.
Alaska does not offer a blanket exemption just because the business is in a particular industry
The Division says there are no exemptions based simply on types of businesses. Instead, the Act contains limited exceptions tied to particular kinds of work or workers, such as specified commercial fishers, certain taxicab arrangements, and other narrow categories.
For a construction company, retailer, professional shop, or other ordinary small business, that means the analysis should not start with a search for an industry-wide owner certificate. Start with the one-employee rule, identify each owner's entity and ownership status, then test any worker-specific exception separately.
Out-of-state businesses also deserve a fresh Alaska review. DOLWD states that Alaska has no reciprocity agreement that simply substitutes another state's policy for Alaska exposure, so a company sending employees into the state should verify Alaska coverage rather than relying on its home-state assumptions.
Alaska owner checklist
- Confirm whether anyone other than the owner works for the business in Alaska.
- Document the current ownership percentage for each LLC member or corporate executive officer.
- Do not rely on an old Alaska executive-officer waiver as the current exclusion mechanism.
- If a qualifying owner wants personal coverage, confirm specific inclusion in the current policy.
- Re-run the analysis when ownership changes or the business hires its first employee.
- For employees temporarily sent into Alaska, verify Alaska coverage rather than assuming another state's policy is enough.
Filing reference
Coverage ruleAn Alaska employer with one or more employees must obtain workers' compensation insurance unless approved as a self-insurer. The owner exclusions are personal exclusions and do not excuse coverage for non-exempt employees.
Construction ruleAlaska does not publish a separate construction head-count threshold in the cited employer guidance. The one-or-more-employee rule applies across industries, and the Division says there are no blanket exemptions based simply on the type of business.
Form / electionNo current Alaska owner-waiver application; the former executive-officer waiver program was repealed effective August 1, 2019. A qualifying otherwise-exempt officer or LLC member can be specifically included in the workers' compensation policy.
RenewalThe statutory owner exclusion does not use an annual exemption certificate. If an otherwise-exempt corporate officer or LLC member is voluntarily included, the Division's 2019 bulletin states that the election applies for the policy period; recheck the treatment when ownership or the policy changes.
Effective periodOwner status follows the statutory ownership/entity rule while the qualifying facts remain true. Voluntary inclusion of an otherwise-exempt officer or LLC member lasts for the applicable policy period.
Responsible agency
Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Workers' Compensation
Official source library
These are the state-agency, statutory, or state-board materials used for this guide. The page was last source-checked on 2026-08-26.