State Unemployment Benefits in Alaska

State Unemployment Benefits in Alaska: key facts

Administering agency

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Employment and Training Services (Unemployment Insurance).

Claim centers

Anchorage (907) 269-4700; Juneau (907) 465-5552; Fairbanks area (907) 451-2871. Technicians are available 10 a.m.–3 p.m. AST, Monday–Friday. The (888) 252-2557 line is toll free only for areas with underserved broadband.

Hearing impaired

Dial 711 in Alaska or Alaska Relay (800) 770-8255.

Who receives a deceased claimant's benefits

Benefits due and payable to a deceased claimant are paid, under department regulations, to persons in this order: spouse, child, parent, sister or brother, aunt or uncle. The department picks the person within that order whose payment best carries out the purposes of the unemployment law, and the rule does not follow the intestate-succession statutes. A receipt from that person discharges the fund. (Alaska Stat. 23.20.370.)

Overpayments after death

Benefits paid that the claimant was not entitled to are a debt to the unemployment fund, but the department may absolve the liability where the individual has died and recovery would be against equity and good conscience; the regulation directs the director to waive repayment in that case. (Alaska Stat. 23.20.390(b); 8 AAC 85.220(b).)

Governing law: Alaska Stat. 23.20.370