STAND. COM. REP. NO. 522

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 535

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 535 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Prohibit an employer or labor organization from discriminating against an employer who uses accrued and available sick leave in accordance with a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment policy; and

(2) Clarify that the term "employee" includes an employee with a non-chronic condition of a short-term nature.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii State AFL-CIO, the United Public Workers, AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, and the ILWU Local 142.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Verizon Hawaii, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Retail Merchants of Hawaii.

Comments on the measure were submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) and the Department of Human Resources Development.

Your Committee finds that the existence of "no-fault" attendance policies may arbitrarily and unfairly penalize employees who rightfully utilize available sick leave benefits provided by employers. To this end, an employee who legitimately uses sick leave and an employee who is absent from work though the abuse of sick leave benefits are both considered absent for purposes of the no-fault policy and may be disciplined as a result of these absences. Your Committee determines that employees who legitimately utilize sick leave benefits that they have accrued and are available to them, verified by a valid doctor's excuse, should not be unfairly penalized. Your Committee further finds that jurisdiction over the enforcement of this provision is more properly placed with DLIR, which is adequately equipped to handle its administration.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure as follows:

(1) By deleting the newly created section within part I of chapter 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(2) By including an amendment to section 378-32, HRS, to:

(A) Prohibit an employer or labor organization from discriminating against an employer who uses accrued and available sick leave in accordance with a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment policy; and

(B) Clarify that the term "employee" covers an individual with a non-chronic condition of a short-term nature.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 535, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 535, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair