HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

31

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO compare legislative proposals to allow employees to use sick leave to care for their families and Hawaii's Family Leave Law, as codified in chapter 398, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

 

WHEREAS, Hawaii has a high percentage of two-wage earner families and a particularly high number of these families include school-age children; and

WHEREAS, these parents have a difficult time balancing their schedules even when family members are well; and

WHEREAS, when a parent, child, spouse, or reciprocal beneficiary becomes seriously ill, employees often use vacation leave to care for these individuals; and

WHEREAS, some employers do not allow employees to take their own sick leave to attend to sick family members; and

WHEREAS, an alternative is for the employee to take family leave, which was instituted in Hawaii in 1991 and codified in chapter 398, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's Family Leave Law entitles an employee to a total of four weeks of family leave during any calendar year upon the birth or adoption of a child, to care for the employee's child, spouse, or reciprocal beneficiary, or parent with a serious health condition; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's Family Leave Law covers private and public employers employing one hundred or more employees for each working day during each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and covers employees who work for not fewer than six consecutive months for the employer; and

WHEREAS, measures have been introduced during the Regular Session of 2002 to allow employees to take sick leave to care for their families; and

WHEREAS, it is apparent that Hawaii's workers are still bearing the pressures and stress of work and caring for themselves and their families; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to compare legislative proposals to allow employees to take sick leave to care for their families and Hawaii's Family Leave Law, as codified in chapter 398, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference Bureau is requested to submit findings and recommendations, including any necessary proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Acting Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau.

 

 

Report Title:

LRB Study of Hawaii and U.S. Family Leave laws