STAND. COM. REP. NO. 38

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 335

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 335 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Prohibit an employer or labor organization from discriminating against an employee who uses accrued and available sick leave in accordance with a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment policy; and

(2) Clarify that the term "employee" includes an employee with a non-chronic condition of a short-term nature.

The Hawaii State AFL-CIO, ILWU, Local 142, Hawaii State Teachers Association, United Public Workers, IBEW Local 1357, and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill. Verizon Hawaii, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Hawaii Credit Union League, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and Society for Human Resource Management-Hawaii Chapter testified in opposition to this measure. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Department of Human Resources Development commented on this bill. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission took no position on the measure.

Your Committee notes that programs such as the Workers' Compensation Program and Temporary Disability Insurance laws were started to afford certain protections for ill or injured workers. However, your Committee notes that no public policy, either via statute, rule, or regulation, exists to protect the use of sick leave for illnesses of a non-chronic and short-term nature.

However, your Committee understands that as presently written, this bill may be misconstrued as providing the right of excessive absenteeism to employees. Your Committee notes that this is not the intent of this measure and that the purpose of this bill is to provide workers with adequate protection against discipline for the legitimate use of sick leave in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement or employment policy.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the practice by an employer or labor organization must not penalize an employee who uses accrued or available sick leave as provided by the terms and conditions of a sick leave policy under a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment policy;

(2) Removing the requirement that the above-mentioned practice be deemed discriminatory;

(3) Deleting the definition of "employee"; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 335, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 335, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor and Public Employment,

 

____________________________

KIRK CALDWELL, Chair