STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2272

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 2616

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2616 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEAL BREAKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require an employer to provide meal or rest breaks of at least thirty consecutive minutes to an employee who works five or more continuous hours, except in certain circumstances.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii State AFL-CIO, the ILWU Local 142, and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Testimony in opposition of this measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Hawaii Business League, and the Society for Human Resource Management – Hawaii Chapter. Comments on this measure were also submitted by the Retail Merchants of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that, pursuant to Act 172, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999, the legislature prohibited an employer from interfering with an employee's right to express breastmilk during a meal period or other break required by law. However, currently no federal or state wage and hour laws require an employer to provide an employee over the age of sixteen a meal period. Therefore, although it is common business practice for employers to provide their employees with meal breaks, employees in Hawaii have no statutory right to meal breaks.

Your Committee determines that employees who work more than five consecutive hours should be provided a meal break of at least thirty minutes, which will protect the health and safety of employees, promote work efficiency and productivity, and permit employees to express breastmilk during any meal break. However, your Committee also determines that in the interest of providing for continued service and operations throughout the work day and ensuring the welfare of businesses, the law should not be applicable to:

(1) Employers subject to a collective bargaining agreement that already addresses the issue of meal breaks;

(2) A common carrier as defined in chapter 271, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(3) A power-generating utility; or

(4) The operator of a continuously operating facility that is regulated by environmental permit.

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. 2616 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair