HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2403

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO LEAVES OF ABSENCE.

 

 

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

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 78-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§78-23  Leaves of absence.  (a)  Employees shall be eligible for vacation leave, sick leave, and other leaves of absence, with or without pay, as negotiated under chapter 89 or adjusted under chapter 89C, as applicable[.]; provided that leaves shall be consistent with all limitations and requirements under this section.

     (b)  The vacation and sick leave allowances for all employees hired after June 30, 2010, shall be limited as follows:

(1)  After the completion of twelve months of service, no more than eighty hours of vacation leave and forty hours of sick leave shall be allowed;

(2)  After the completion of each succeeding twelve months of service thereafter, no more than eighty additional hours of vacation leave and twenty additional hours of sick leave shall be allowed for each twelve-month period, subject to the maximum allowances under paragraph (3); and

(3)  The maximum allowance for vacation leave shall be no more than four hundred and eighty hours, and the maximum allowance for sick leave shall be no more than eighty hours.

In operations where employees do not earn nor use vacation or sick leave credits in essentially the same manner as twelve-month employees on a forty hour per week work schedule, the appropriate authority shall ensure that the equivalent of the limitations under this section shall also apply to employees in those operations who are hired after June 30, 2010.  The limitations under this section shall not prohibit collective bargaining negotiations pursuant to chapter 89 so long as the allowances do not exceed the limitations of this section which apply specifically to employees hired after June 30, 2010.

     (c)  Vacation and sick leave allowances shall be recorded and administered on a calendar year basis.  The allowance accruing during each calendar year shall be credited to employees as of December 31, of each year.

     (d)  Any unused vacation and sick leave allowances, which are not used by an employee during the year in which it accrues, shall accumulate for succeeding years, except that:

(1)  The total recorded accumulation of vacation leave shall be no more than four hundred and eighty hours for employees hired after June 1, 2010; and

(2)  The total recorded accumulation of sick leave shall be no more than eighty hours for employees hired after June 1, 2010.

     No employee shall be granted or permitted to take vacation or sick leave in any calendar year in excess of the maximum accumulation allowed in this subsection.

     [(b)](e)  When an employee is transferred from one department to another within the same jurisdiction or to another jurisdiction within the State, the employee shall be given credit for the vacation earned or accumulated in the department from which the employee transferred, and the director of finance of the State or the equivalent officers of the several jurisdictions shall make the appropriate transfer of funds to implement the employee transfer.  Moneys received from any such transfer of funds by a state agency financed by the general fund of the State shall be deposited with the director of finance of the State to the credit of the general fund of the State; provided that, when an employee is transferred from one department to another within the same jurisdiction, the transfer of funds shall not be made if the employee's salary is paid from the same fund.  Compensation for any period of vacation allowance shall be paid at the rate to which the employee is entitled at the time the allowance is granted.

     [(c)](f)  Upon discharge, an employee shall be entitled to all of the employee's accumulated vacation allowance plus the employee's current accrued vacation allowance to and including the date of discharge, notwithstanding that the current accrued vacation allowance may not have been recorded at the time.  If any employee dies with accumulated or current accrued vacation earned but not taken, an amount equal to the value of the employee's pay over the period of such earned vacation, and any earned and unpaid wages, shall be paid to the person or persons who may have been designated as the beneficiary or beneficiaries by the employee during the employee's lifetime in a verified written statement filed with the comptroller or other disbursing officer who issues warrants or checks to pay the employee for the employee's services as a public employee, or, failing the designation, to the employee's estate.

     [(d)](g)  Whenever an employee is to be discharged, voluntarily or involuntarily, the employee, at the option of the appointing authority, may be discharged and paid forthwith, in lieu of the employee's vacation allowance, the amount of compensation to which the employee would be entitled or which the employee would be allowed during the vacation period if the employee were permitted to take the employee's vacation in the normal manner, and in such case the employee's position may be declared vacant and may be permanently filled by a new appointee before the expiration of any vacation period following the date of the discharge.  For an employee hired after June 30, 1997, who is to be discharged, voluntarily or involuntarily, the amount of compensation to be paid in lieu of vacation allowance under this section shall be computed using the rate of pay and amount of accumulated and accrued vacation on the date the employee is discharged.  Prompt notice upon such forms and in such manner as may be required shall be given by the department head of any action taken under this provision.

     [(e)](h)  Payments of vacation allowance paid pursuant to subsections [(c)] (f) or [(d)] (g) shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 88D."

     SECTION 2.  Section 78-23.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  The governor or mayor or their respective designees may grant a state or county employee who is a certified American Red Cross disaster volunteer up to thirty days paid leave of absence to perform disaster relief services for the American Red Cross, a federally chartered nongovernmental disaster relief organization, when a disaster has been:

(1)  Designated as level III or higher by American Red Cross regulations;

(2)  Officially declared by the President of the United States; or

(3)  Declared a state of emergency by the governor;

provided that the employee has prior authorization from the governor or mayor, or their respective designee, as applicable, and the leave of absence imposes no undue hardship on state or county operations[.]; provided further that no leave shall be authorized in excess of the maximum amount allowed pursuant to section 78-23."

     SECTION 3.  Section 78-23.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§78-23.6[]]  Leave of absence to serve as bone marrow donor or organ donor.  Any officer or employee in the service of the State or any of the several counties shall be entitled to:

 (1) Seven days of paid leave each calendar year to serve as a bone marrow donor; and

 (2) Thirty days of paid leave each calendar year to serve as an organ donor[.];

provided that no leave shall be authorized in excess of the maximum amount allowed pursuant to section 78-23."

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2010.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 


 


 

Report Title:

Leaves of Absence; Limitations on New Hires

 

Description:

Limits vacation and sick leave to 480 hours (three months) and 80 hours (two weeks), respectively, for public employees hired after June 30, 2010.

 

 

 

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