STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3412

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1745

       H.D. 3

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1745, H.D. 3, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require a successor employer to rehire one hundred per cent of incumbent nonsupervisory and nonconfidential employees in the event of divestiture of a company.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from ILWU Local 142; Unite Here! Local 5 Hawaii; Hawaii State Teachers Association; and Hawaii State AFL-CIO.  Testimony in opposition was received from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; The Hawaii Business League; Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association; National Federation of Independent Businesses; Retail Merchants of Hawaii; The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; and Outrigger Hotels.  Testimony in opposition was received from Aloha Airlines.

 

     This measure applies whenever there is a divestiture, defined as a transfer of any establishment which employs at any time in the preceding twelve-month period, one hundred or more persons, including employees holding a management or similar position, from one employer to another because of the sale, transfer, merger, and other business takeover or transaction of business interests.  An establishment is an industrial, commercial, or other business entity.  The successor employer may retain less than one hundred per cent of incumbent employees if the nature of the successor establishment is substantially dissimilar to the former establishment or the human resource needs of the successor employer are reduced, resulting in a reduction of needed employees, as long as the number of employees to be dislocated is in direct proportion to the reduction in the total human resource needs of the successor employer.

 

     This measure also amends section 383-66, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the determination of employer unemployment contribution rates, by:

 

          (A)  Repealing now obsolete provisions of past contribution schedules; and

 

          (B)  Extending from December 31, 1992 to December 31, 2007, the provision allowing a predecessor employer to waive the rights to all or the clearly identifiable and segregable portion of the predecessor's prior experience record in favor of a successor employer where the successor employer acquired a clearly identifiable and segregable portion of the predecessor's organization, trade, or business.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Providing for a penalty of $1; and

 

     (2)  Adding "divestiture" as a conforming amendment to the purpose section of chapter 394B, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1745, H.D. 3, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1745, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 


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

 

 

 

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair