Report Title:

Hawaii Civil Rights Commission; expedite caseload

Description:

Allows the Commission to grant only 1 60-day extension if the Executive Director cannot issue a determination of whether or not there is reasonable cause to believe that an unlawful discriminatory practice has occurred within 180 days. If an extension is not granted and no determination is issued by the 180th day from the filing, the pending case will be dismissed.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2488

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO THE HAWAII CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature feels that Hawaii's employees and employers should receive timely action on complaints of discrimination. The current law allows one-hundred and eighty days to make a determination that an unlawful discriminatory practice has occurred and that the commission may grant an extension if additional time is needed.

The Supreme Court held in Steinberg v. Hoshijo, 88 Haw. 10, 960 P.2d 1218 (1998), that in the absence of clearly expressed legislative intention to the contrary that the granting of four one-hundred and eighty day extensions of the investigation into a complainant's complaint, that the extensions were authorized and the number is not limited. Steinberg validated the commission's actions in extending cases before the commission initiated in 1992 to June of 1995, of which at one point the amount of pending cases reached six-hundred and forty-two. Currently, some cases before the Hawaii civil rights commission take two and a half years to investigate and make a determination of whether a complaint of unlawful discriminatory practice has occurred.

The legislature recognizes that there is an inherent need to limit the length of time to investigate a complaint of possible unlawful discriminatory practice. Two and a half years is an unreasonable burden to place upon both the complainant and the respondent to make a determination.

SECTION 2. Section 368-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The executive director shall issue a determination of whether or not there is reasonable cause to believe that an unlawful discriminatory practice has occurred within one-hundred and eighty days from the date of filing a complaint unless the commission grants an extension of time to issue a determination. The commission may grant only one extension of sixty days upon showing, to the satisfaction of the commission, by the executive director that a determination cannot be issued within one-hundred eighty days and that there exists a good faith and reasonable belief that the denial of an extension would cause hardship and injustice to the claimant.

If an extension is not granted and no determination is issued by the one-hundred eightieth day from the filing of the complaint, the pending case shall be dismissed. If an extension is granted, the executive director must render a determination of whether an unlawful discriminatory practice has occurred on or before the two-hundred fortieth day from the filing of the complaint."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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BY REQUEST