Two things set Alaska apart. Your weekly check is 80% of your spendable weekly wage, meaning gross pay minus payroll taxes. And when the insurer refuses benefits, it sends a Controversion Notice. That form is the denial and your two-year deadline to file a written claim runs from it.
You also choose your own treating doctor in Alaska and you may change doctors once.
How Alaska figures your weekly check
Start with your gross weekly pay and subtract payroll taxes. What is left is your spendable weekly wage and you receive 80% of it. For injuries in 2026, the check is capped at $1,627 a week, with a minimum of $358.
The first 3 days are unpaid unless you are disabled more than 28 days. Temporary total checks, paid while you cannot work at all, continue until you are medically stable or can return to work. Medically stable means your doctor does not expect much more improvement.
Our pay estimator can give you a ballpark number from your own wages.
| Weekly check | 80% of your spendable weekly wage (your gross pay minus payroll taxes) |
|---|---|
| Weekly cap, injuries in 2026 | $1,627 |
| Weekly minimum, injuries in 2026 | $358 |
| Waiting period | first 3 days unpaid unless you are disabled more than 28 days |
| How long temporary total checks last | until you are medically stable or can return to work |
Alaska time limits, from injury to appeal
- Written notice to your employer: within 15 days, for injuries from January 1, 2025.
- Written claim: within two years of the Controversion Notice. If your disability checks stopped and no notice came, count two years from the last check.
- Hearing request: if the insurer controverts after your claim is filed, you have two years from that later notice to ask for a hearing.
- Appeal of a Board order to the Appeals Commission: within 30 days.
Notice that two separate two-year clocks can apply. The first protects your right to file a claim at all. The second starts with any Controversion Notice sent after you file and it protects your right to a hearing. Mark both dates on a calendar.
When the insurer controverts your Alaska claim
A Controversion Notice is the insurer's position, not a final answer. The Board decides the dispute once you file your claim and ask for a hearing. Save the notice and the envelope and write down the day it arrived. If you file the claim and the insurer still refuses, a second notice may follow and that one starts the hearing clock.
Not sure what your paperwork says? Paste the text into our letter explainer. If your checks simply stopped with no notice, read what to do when payments stop.
Paying an Alaska workers comp lawyer
Alaska shifts the fee in a winning case. If you win before the Board, the insurer is ordered to pay your attorney. If you only want one-time advice about your claim, an attorney may charge you no more than $300 for it. Before you sign anything, ask any attorney you speak with how the fee would be handled in your case.
People also ask
Can I pick my own doctor in Alaska?
Yes. You choose your treating doctor and you may change doctors once.
Who answers basic questions about an Alaska claim?
The Alaska Division of Workers' Compensation, part of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, at (907) 269-4980.
I missed only a week of work in Alaska. Are the first days paid?
Not in that case. The first 3 days are paid only when you are disabled more than 28 days.