(a) Except as otherwise provided for in law, an employer shall pay to each employee a minimum wage, as established herein, for hours worked in a pay period, whether the work is measured by time, piece, commission or otherwise. An employer may not apply tips or gratuities bestowed upon employees as a credit toward payment of the minimum hourly wage required by this section. Tip credit as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 as amended does not apply to the minimum wage established by this section. Beginning February 24, 2015, the minimum wage shall be $8.75 per hour effective January 1, 2015, $9.75 per hour effective January 1, 2016, and thereafter adjusted annually for inflation. The adjustment shall be calculated each September 30, for the proceeding January-December calendar year, by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, using 100 percent of the rate of inflation based on the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Anchorage metropolitan area, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor; the department shall round the adjusted minimum hourly wage up to the nearest one cent; the adjusted minimum hourly wage shall apply to work performed beginning on January 1 through December 31 of the year for which it is effective.

(b) Subject to the limitation under (c) of this section, an employer shall pay to each person employed as a public school bus driver wages at a rate of not less than two times the minimum wage established under (a) of this section, for hours worked in a pay period, whether work is measured by time, commission, or otherwise. An employer may not apply fringe benefits as a credit toward payment of the minimum wage established under this subsection.

(c) Notwithstanding (b) of this section, an employer who contracts with the Department of Education and Early Development, a school district, or a regional educational attendance area to provide school bus transportation services is not required to adjust school bus driver wages under (b) of this section, except when entering into or renewing the contract.

(d) If the minimum wage determined under (a) of this section is less than one dollar over the federal minimum wage, the Alaska minimum wage shall be set at one dollar over the federal minimum wage. This amount shall be adjusted in subsequent years by the method established in (a) of this section.