REPORT TITLE:
Pay Equity


DESCRIPTION:
Establishes a four-year pilot project in the executive branch to
promote fair pay.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1833 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYMENT
   PRACTICES.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds the following:
 
 2      (1)  Despite federal and state laws banning discrimination
 
 3           in employment and pay, in both the private and public
 
 4           sectors of Hawaii's economy, wage differentials persist
 
 5           between women and men and between minorities and
 
 6           nonminorities in the same jobs and in jobs that are
 
 7           dissimilar, but that require equivalent composites of
 
 8           skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions;
 
 9      (2)  The existence of such wage differentials:
 
10           (A)  Depresses wages and living standards for employees
 
11                necessary for their health and efficiency;
 
12           (B)  Reduces family incomes and contributes to the
 
13                higher poverty rates among female-headed and
 
14                minority households;
 
15           (C)  Prevents the maximum utilization of the available
 
16                labor resources;
 
17           (D)  Tends to cause labor disputes calling for a living
 
18                wage, thereby burdening, affecting, and
 
19                obstructing commerce;
 

 
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 1           (E)  Constitutes an unfair method of compensation; and
 
 2           (F)  Constitutes a discriminatory practice;
 
 3      (3)  Discrimination in wage-setting practices has played a
 
 4           role in depressing wages for women and minorities
 
 5           generally;
 
 6      (4)  Many individuals work in occupations that are dominated
 
 7           by individuals of their same sex, race, and national
 
 8           origin, and discrimination in hiring, job assignment,
 
 9           and promotion has played a role in establishing and
 
10           maintaining segregated work forces; and
 
11      (5)  Eliminating discrimination in compensation based on
 
12           sex, race, and national origin would have positive
 
13           effects, including:
 
14           (A)  Providing a solution to problems in the economy
 
15                created by discriminatory wage differentials;
 
16           (B)  Reducing the number of working women and people of
 
17                color earning low wages, thereby lowering their
 
18                incidence of poverty during normal working years
 
19                and in retirement; and
 
20           (C)  Promoting stable families by raising family
 
21                incomes.
 
22      The purpose of this Act is to establish a mandatory
 
23 reporting and record-keeping system of employment statistics
 

 
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 1 pertaining to all permanent, full-time public officers and
 
 2 employees covered by chapter 76 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
 3 and to implement a pilot fair pay project for all such employees
 
 4 ("civil service employees").
 
 5      SECTION 2.  Chapter 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 6 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 7 read as follows:
 
 8      "§76-     Wage disclosure; recordkeeping; and reporting
 
 9 requirements.  (a)  Upon commencement of an individual's
 
10 employment as a civil service employee and at least annually
 
11 thereafter, the director of human resources development shall
 
12 cause each department to provide to each civil service employee
 
13 therein a written statement sufficient to inform the employee of
 
14 the employee's job title, wage rate, and the method of
 
15 calculating the wage.  The notice shall be supplemented whenever
 
16 an employee is promoted or reassigned to a different position
 
17 with the department; provided, however, that the director is not
 
18 required to issue supplemental notifications for temporary
 
19 reassignments that are no greater than three months in duration.
 
20      (b)  The director of human resources development shall make
 
21 and preserve records that document the following as to each
 
22 department:  the positions available; the wages paid to each
 
23 employee holding each position; the method, system, calculations,
 

 
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 1 and other bases used to establish, adjust, and determine the wage
 
 2 rates paid for each position; the demographic composition (i.e.,
 
 3 sex, race, age) of the employees who are employed in each
 
 4 position; and, to the extent the information is available without
 
 5 making specific inquiry of any individual employee, whether there
 
 6 is a history of discrimination against women or minority groups
 
 7 with regard to wages, assignment, or access to the position.
 
 8 Every department subject to this chapter shall preserve the
 
 9 records and make reports for periods determined by the director
 
10 of human resources development.
 
11      (c)  The rules adopted under this section shall provide for
 
12 the protection of confidentiality of employees, and shall
 
13 expressly require that reports shall not include the names or
 
14 other identifying information from which readers can discern the
 
15 identities of employees.  The rules may also identify
 
16 circumstances that warrant a prohibition on disclosing reports or
 
17 information identifying the employer.
 
18      (d)  The director of human resources development may use the
 
19 information and data collected pursuant to this section for
 
20 statistical and research purposes, and may compile and publish
 
21 studies, analyses, reports, and surveys based on the information
 
22 and data that the director of human resources development deems
 
23 appropriate."
 

 
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 1      SECTION 3.  Establishment of a fair pay project.  There is
 
 2 established a four-year fair pay project to be conducted by the
 
 3 civil service commission, beginning in fiscal year 2001-2002 and
 
 4 continuing through fiscal year 2004-2005.  This pilot project
 
 5 shall be implemented by each of the foregoing participants
 
 6 pursuant to plans, procedures, and guidelines to be developed by
 
 7 the civil service commission and the director of human resources
 
 8 development, with the initial consultation and advice of the
 
 9 members of the Hawaii civil rights commission.
 
10      SECTION 4.  General requirements.  The following shall
 
11 constitute general requirements of the fair pay project and shall
 
12 be followed in the implementation of this Act:
 
13      (1)  There shall be implemented a fair pay project which
 
14           shall be conducted pursuant to plans, procedures, and
 
15           guidelines to be developed consistent with this Act.
 
16           Plans, procedures, and guidelines to implement the
 
17           phases of this Act as described below shall be made
 
18           beginning in fiscal year 2000-2001 by the civil service
 
19           commission and the director of human resources
 
20           development, with the initial consultation and advice
 
21           of the members of the civil rights commission.
 
22      (2)  Pursuant to the plans, procedures, and guidelines, the
 
23           first phase (reporting) of the fair pay project shall
 

 
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 1           consist of an analysis conducted by the civil service
 
 2           commission and the director of human resources
 
 3           development of the information collected pursuant to
 
 4           the foregoing mandatory reporting and recordkeeping
 
 5           provisions of chapter 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  All
 
 6           positions occupied by each executive branch
 
 7           department's civil service employees in fiscal year
 
 8           1999-2000, shall be examined to determine:
 
 9           (A)  Equivalent positions, with the term "equivalent
 
10                positions" meaning jobs or occupations that are
 
11                equal within the meaning of the Federal Equal Pay
 
12                Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. 206(d), or jobs or
 
13                occupations that are dissimilar but whose
 
14                requirements are equivalent, when viewed as a
 
15                composite of skills, effort, responsibility, and
 
16                working conditions;
 
17           (B)  What numbers of each gender, race, and national
 
18                origin occupy which positions; with the objective
 
19                of determining whether certain types of positions
 
20                are dominated by individuals of one gender, race,
 
21                or national origin as opposed to the other; and
 
22           (C)  What levels of compensation are paid to persons
 
23                occupying each job or position.
 

 
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 1      (3)  The first phase (reporting) shall culminate in a report
 
 2           to be prepared in fiscal year 2001-2002 by the civil
 
 3           service commission and the director of human resources
 
 4           development, which shall identify the following for
 
 5           implementation in the second phase (action) of the fair
 
 6           pay project:
 
 7           (A)  Each job or position shall be identified, together
 
 8                with title, wage rate, and the method of
 
 9                calculating the wage.
 
10           (B)  Rules shall be proposed for the purpose of
 
11                specifying criteria for determining whether a job
 
12                or position is dominated by employees of a
 
13                particular gender, race, or national origin.
 
14                Criteria shall include factors such as whether the
 
15                job has ever been formally classified as or
 
16                traditionally considered to be a "male" or
 
17                "female" job, whether there is a history of
 
18                discrimination on the basis of gender, race, or
 
19                national origin with regard to wages, assignment,
 
20                or access to jobs, or other terms and conditions
 
21                of employment, and the demographic composition of
 
22                the work force in equivalent jobs.
 
23           (C)  Rules and recommendations shall be proposed
 

 
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 1                identifying equivalent jobs or positions, and
 
 2                specifying which jobs or positions require
 
 3                additional compensation, and in what amounts, to
 
 4                be paid in order to reduce or extinguish any
 
 5                unequal wage differential that may exist between
 
 6                equivalent jobs or positions.
 
 7      (4)  The action phase of the fair pay project shall consist
 
 8           of the following:
 
 9           (A)  The director of human resources development shall
 
10                submit an interim report of the fair pay project
 
11                to the legislature not later than twenty days
 
12                prior to the regular session of 2002, describing
 
13                the progress of the planning phase;
 
14           (B)  The director of human resources development shall
 
15                submit the final report of the fair pay project
 
16                report to the legislature not later than twenty
 
17                days prior to the convening of the regular session
 
18                of 2003, together with a proposed budget for
 
19                appropriations to implement the report's rules and
 
20                recommendations beginning in fiscal year 2003-
 
21                2004.
 
22           (C)  This legislature will review the report of the
 
23                fair pay project during the regular sessions of
 

 
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 1                2002 and 2003, and will give its utmost
 
 2                consideration to a grant of appropriations to
 
 3                implement the report's rules and recommendations
 
 4                consistent with the intent of this Act.
 
 5           (D)  The full implementation of the action phase of the
 
 6                fair pay project is scheduled to commence in
 
 7                fiscal year 2003-2004, wherein state employees of
 
 8                the participating departments will receive the
 
 9                initial increments of their fair pay.  Full
 
10                increments of their fair pay will be made by the
 
11                end of fiscal year 2004-2005.
 
12           (E)  The auditor shall monitor and evaluate the
 
13                efficacy of the fair pay project, and evaluate the
 
14                information gathered pursuant thereto, including
 
15                any additional demographic information (such as
 
16                ethnicity, age, and other pertinent data) as may
 
17                be gathered pursuant to the plans, procedures, and
 
18                guidelines to be established pursuant to this Act,
 
19                for further consideration by the legislature in
 
20                the regular session of 2005.
 
21      SECTION 5.  No private right of action.  By evidencing the
 
22 legislature's purpose of reporting data and investigating the
 
23 efficacy of equalizing compensation between and among
 

 
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 1 substantially equivalent jobs or positions, this Act does not
 
 2 permit any individual to bring an action for monetary or
 
 3 injunctive relief in reliance hereon; nor does this Act create
 
 4 any legal or equitable right in any person to seek back pay or
 
 5 benefits for equivalent work.
 
 6      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 7 
 
 8                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________