Anchorage tightens the rule on city workers' holiday pay

Anchorage is tightening the rule on when city workers keep their holiday pay. Under the change the Assembly is set to ratify July 21, an employee who isn't in paid status for any part of the shift immediately before or after a holiday forfeits the holiday pay. The old rule was more forgiving: you lost it only if you missed the entire flanking shift.

The change applies across six of the city's union bargaining units, bringing their contracts in line with a code change the Assembly already adopted. The administration doesn't expect it to have any significant financial impact.

A few of the contracts fold in other housekeeping updates — parental-leave language, holiday scheduling for workers on compressed weeks — but the holiday-pay tweak is the common thread.