Re1636port Title:

Workers' Compensation; Labor-Management Agreements

Description:

Requires the State and the courts to recognize the validity of labor-management agreements that meet certain specified requirements.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1636

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION.

 

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 386, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§386- Labor-management agreements. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the director and the courts of this State shall recognize as valid and binding any labor-management agreement that meets all of the following requirements:

(1) The labor-management agreement has been negotiated separate and apart from any collective bargaining agreement covering affected employees;

(2) The labor-management agreement is restricted to the establishment of the terms and conditions necessary to implement this section; and

(3) The labor-management agreement has been negotiated in accordance with the authorization of the director pursuant to subsection (e), between an employer or groups of employers and a union that is the exclusive bargaining representative, and establishes any of the following:

(A) An alternative dispute resolution system governing disputes between employees and employers or their insurers that supplements or replaces all or part of dispute resolution processes contained in this chapter, including, but not limited to, mediation and arbitration. Any system of arbitration shall provide that the decision of the arbitrator or board of arbitration is subject to review by the director. The findings of fact, award, order, or decision of the arbitrator shall have the same force and effect as an award, order, or decision of the director;

(B) The use of an agreed list of providers of medical treatment that may be the exclusive source of all medical treatment provided under this chapter;

(C) The use of an agreed, limited list of impartial physicians that may be the exclusive list of impartial physicians under this chapter;

(D) Joint labor management safety committees;

(E) A light-duty, modified job, or return-to-work program; or

(F) A vocational rehabilitation or retraining program utilizing an agreed list of providers of rehabilitation services that may be the exclusive source of providers of rehabilitation services under this chapter.

(b) Nothing in this section shall allow a labor-management agreement to diminish the entitlement of an employee to compensation payments for permanent total or partial disability, temporary total or partial disability, vocational rehabilitation, or medical treatment fully paid by the employer as otherwise provided in this chapter; nor shall any agreement authorized by this section deny to any employee the right to representation by counsel at all stages during the alternative dispute resolution process. Any portion of any agreement that violates this subsection shall be void.

(c) The parties to a labor-management agreement may negotiate any aspect of the delivery of medical benefits and the delivery of disability compensation to employees of the employer or group of employers that are eligible for group health benefits and nonoccupational disability benefits through their employer.

(d) Subsection (a) shall apply only to the following:

(1) An employer has or estimates an annual workers' compensation insurance premium, in this State, of $50,000 or more, and employs at least fifty employees, or any employer that paid an annual workers' compensation insurance premium, in this State, of $50,000, and employed at least fifty employees in at least one of the previous three years;

(2) Workers' compensation self-insurance groups that have or estimates to have an annual workers' compensation insurance premium of $500,000 or more; or

(3) Employers or groups of employers, including counties of this State, that are self-insured and that have projected annual workers' compensation costs that meet the requirements of paragraph (1), in the case of employers, or paragraph (2), in the case of groups of employers.

(e) Any exclusive bargaining representative may file a petition with the director seeking permission to negotiate with an employer or group of employers to enter into a labor-management agreement pursuant to this section. The petition shall specify the bargaining unit or units to be included, the names of the employers' or workers' compensation self-insurance group, and shall be accompanied by proof of the union's status as the exclusive bargaining representative. The current collective bargaining agreement or agreements shall be attached to the petition. The petition shall be in the form designated by the director. Upon receipt of the petition, the director shall promptly verify the petitioner's status as the exclusive bargaining representative. If the petition satisfies the requirements set forth in this subsection, the director shall issue a letter advising each employer and exclusive bargaining representative of their eligibility to enter into negotiations, for a period not to exceed one year, for the purpose of reaching an agreement on a labor-management agreement pursuant to this section. The parties may jointly request, and shall be granted, by the director, an additional one-year period to negotiate an agreement.

(f) No employer may establish or continue a program established under this section until it has provided the director with all of the following:

(1) Upon its original application and whenever it is renegotiated thereafter, a copy of the labor-management agreement and the approximate number of employees who will be covered thereby;

(2) Upon its original application and annually thereafter, a statement signed under penalty of perjury, that no action has been taken by any administrative agency or court of the United States to invalidate the labor-management agreement;

(3) The name, address, and telephone number of the contact person of the employer; and

(4) Any other information that the director deems necessary to further the purposes of this section.

(g) No collective bargaining representative may establish or continue to participate in a program established under this section unless all of the following requirements are met:

(1) Upon its original application and annually thereafter, it has provided to the director a copy of its most recent LM-2 or LM-3 form filed with the United States Department of Labor, where the filing is required by law, along with a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, that the document is a true and correct copy; and

(2) It has provided to the director the name, address, and telephone number of the contact person or persons of the collective bargaining representative or representatives.

(h) Commencing July 1, 2006, and annually thereafter, the director shall report to the legislature the number of labor-management agreements received and the number of employees covered by these agreements. The report based upon aggregate data shall include the following:

(1) Person hours and payroll covered by agreements filed;

(2) The number of claims filed;

(3) The average cost per claim shall be reported by cost components whenever practicable;

(4) The number of litigated claims, including the number of claims submitted to mediation, the appeals board, or the court of appeal;

(5) The number of contested claims resolved prior to arbitration;

(6) The projected incurred costs and actual costs of claims;

(7) Safety history;

(8) The number of workers participating in vocational rehabilitation;

(9) The number of workers participating in light-duty programs; and

(10) Overall worker satisfaction.

The director may require employers' and workers' compensation self-insurance groups participating in labor-management agreements pursuant to this section to provide the data enumerated in this subsection.

(i) The data obtained by the director pursuant to this section shall be confidential and not subject to public disclosure under any law of this State. However, the director shall create derivative reports pursuant to subsections (g) and (h) based on the labor-management agreements and data. Those derivative reports shall not be confidential, but shall be public. On a monthly basis, the director shall make available an updated list of employers and unions entering into labor-management agreements authorized by this section."

SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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