STAND. COM. REP. NO.  93-12

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2579

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2579 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INFORMATION FOR TEMPORARY DISABILITY INSURANCE CLAIMS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to expedite the temporary disability insurance process by:

 

     (1)  Requiring an employer to submit the employer's statement portion of a temporary disability insurance claim form to an employee when requested; and

 

     (2)  Increasing the fine an employer must pay when the employer is delinquent in providing this information to a requestor.

 

     The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Hawaii Laborers' Union, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this measure.  

 

     Hawaii's temporary disability insurance law is intended to partially compensate workers for the loss of wages caused by temporary, non-occupational disability or maternity.  In this system, the employer facilitates the claim filing process by providing wage and employment information in a timely manner.  However, current law requires an employer to provide wage and employment information only to an insurer and not to an employee.  This measure provides fairness in the process by allowing access to wage and employment information regardless of whether the requestor of the information is an insurer or an employee.

 

     However, your Committee does have concerns that increasing the fine an employer must pay when the employer is delinquent in providing the requested information to $500 for each delinquent request may be excessive.  Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by changing the fine to $250 for a first delinquent request and $500 for a second and any subsequent delinquent request.

 

     Technical, nonsubstantive amendments have also been made for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2579, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2579, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Economic Revitalization & Business.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair