STAND. COM. REP. NO. 181

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1263

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1263 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide an opportunity for all employees who work more than a total of five hours a day to rest and eat by:

 

     (1)  Prohibiting employers from requiring any employee to work more than a total of five hours a day without at least thirty minutes for a meal break, with certain exceptions;

 

     (2)  Imposing penalties on employers who fail to provide meal breaks; and

 

     (3)  Clarifying that the employer's liability is based on an employee's regular wage at the time the infraction occurred.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Plumbers and Fitters, Local 675; International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142; and one private individual.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Building Industry Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Business League, Outrigger Hotels of Hawaii, Hawaii Credit Union League, Society for Human Resource Management – Hawaii Chapter, and one private individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that under existing law, employers are required to provide minor workers who are at least fourteen years old but under the age of sixteen an interval of at least thirty consecutive minutes for a rest or lunch period for no more than five continuous hours of work.  However, employers are not required by law to provide their employees sixteen years of age or older any meal or rest period, no matter how many consecutive hours their employees may be required to work.  Meal breaks offer employees the opportunity to eat and rest in order to recharge and sustain them through the remainder of their work day.

 

     The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations indicated in its written testimony that twenty-two other states or jurisdictions require employers to provide their employees meal periods, while seven states require employers to provide rest periods to their employees.  This measure aligns Hawaii with other state laws by requiring employers, under certain circumstances, to provide meal breaks for any employee who works more than five consecutive hours and imposes penalties on employers who fail to provide meal breaks when applicable.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     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 S.B. No. 1263, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1263, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 


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

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair