2019 Alaska Statutes
Title 18. Health, Safety, Housing, Human Rights, and Public Defender
Chapter 20. Hospitals and Nursing Facilities
Article 4. Overtime Limitations for Nurses.
Sec. 18.20.430. Enforcement, offenses, and penalties.
(a) The commissioner shall administer AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 and adopt regulations for implementing and enforcing AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499.
(b) A complaint alleging a violation of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 must be filed with the commissioner within 30 days after the date of the alleged violation. The commissioner shall provide a copy of the complaint to the health care facility named in the filing within three business days after receiving the complaint.
(c) If the commissioner finds that a health care facility has knowingly violated an overtime provision of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499, the following civil penalties shall apply:
(1) for a first violation of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499, the commissioner shall reprimand the health care facility;
(2) for a second violation of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 within 12 months, the commissioner shall reprimand the health care facility and assess a penalty of $500;
(3) for a third violation of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 within 12 months, the commissioner shall reprimand the health care facility and assess a penalty of not less than $2,500 but not more than $5,000;
(4) for each violation of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 after a third violation of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 within 12 months, the commissioner shall reprimand the health care facility and assess a penalty of not less than $5,000 but not more than $25,000.
(d) As an employer, a health care facility violates an overtime provision of AS 18.20.400 - 18.20.499 “knowingly” when the facility is either aware that its conduct is of a nature prohibited by the overtime provision or aware that the circumstances described in the overtime prohibition exist; however, when knowledge of the existence of a particular fact is required to establish that the violation was knowing, that knowledge exists when the facility is aware of a substantial probability of its existence, unless the facility reasonably believes it does not exist.
