REPORT TITLE:
Public Employees

DESCRIPTION:
Establishes parameters for civil service layoffs.


 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1337
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEE LAYOFFS.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that existing layoff
 
 2 procedures in collective bargaining agreements and administrative
 
 3 rules are unduly cumbersome and impair management's ability to
 
 4 expeditiously respond to fiscal exigencies and to maintain
 
 5 efficiency in government operations when there is a need to
 
 6 downsize the workforce due to lack of work or funds.  While the
 
 7 legislature subscribes to joint decision-making, it finds that it
 
 8 is in the public interest to establish parameters to ensure that
 
 9 a layoff is effectuated in a manner that is not counterproductive
 
10 to the underlying reasons necessitating the layoff.
 
11      SECTION 2.  Section 76-43, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
12 amended to read as follows:
 
13      "§76-43  Layoff.  (a)  Rules [and regulations] shall be
 
14 [promulgated] adopted by the director of human resources
 
15 development to govern the conditions under which an employee is
 
16 to be released from the employee's position due to lack of work
 
17 or lack of funds.
 
18      (b)  Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any
 
19 layoff procedures and compensation adjustment provisions 
 

 
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 1 developed pursuant to chapter 76, 77, 89, or 89C shall be in
 
 2 compliance with the following parameters:
 
 3      (1)  Employees affected by a layoff shall have placement and
 
 4           "bumping" rights only within their respective
 
 5           departments for positions in their same class or
 
 6           series;
 
 7      (2)  Notification of an impending layoff shall be provided
 
 8           as early as possible, but any advance notice required
 
 9           to employees of their possible termination if they are
 
10           unable to bump or be placed within their respective
 
11           departments shall not exceed thirty days;
 
12      (3)  The central personnel agency shall establish lists and
 
13           procedures, which shall take into consideration, among
 
14           other factors deemed appropriate, employee  performance
 
15           evaluations when referring employees for placement to
 
16           vacancies outside of their respective departments and
 
17           recalling employees;
 
18      (4)  A department shall retain the right to interview and to
 
19           accept or reject an employee referred for placement by
 
20           the central personnel agency based on the employee's
 
21           qualifications for the particular position and
 
22           sufficiency of funds to pay the employee's salary; and
 

 
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 1      (5)  Employees affected by a layoff shall not be paid more
 
 2           than the maximum rate of the salary range assigned to
 
 3           the class into which the employee bumps or is accepted
 
 4           for placement."
 
 5      SECTION 3.  Section 89-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 6 amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:
 
 7      "(d)  Excluded from the subjects of negotiations are matters
 
 8 of classification and reclassification, benefits of but not
 
 9 contributions to the Hawaii public employees health fund,
 
10 retirement benefits except as provided in section 88-8(h), and
 
11 the salary ranges now provided by law; provided that the number
 
12 of incremental and longevity steps, the amount of wages to be
 
13 paid in each range and step, and movement between steps within
 
14 the salary range shall be negotiable.  The employer and the
 
15 exclusive representative shall not agree to any proposal which
 
16 would be inconsistent with merit principles or the principle of
 
17 equal pay for equal work pursuant to sections 76-1, 76-2, 77-31,
 
18 and 77-33, or which would interfere with the rights of a public
 
19 employer to (1) direct employees; (2) determine qualification,
 
20 standards for work, the nature and contents of examinations,
 
21 hire, promote, transfer, assign, and retain employees in
 
22 positions and suspend, demote, discharge, or take other
 

 
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 1 disciplinary action against employees for proper cause; (3)
 
 2 relieve an employee from duties because of lack of work or other
 
 3 legitimate reason; (4) maintain efficiency of government
 
 4 operations; (5) determine methods, means, and personnel by which
 
 5 the employer's operations are to be conducted; and take such
 
 6 actions as may be necessary to carry out the missions of the
 
 7 employer in cases of emergencies; provided that the employer and
 
 8 the exclusive representative may negotiate procedures governing
 
 9 the promotion and transfer of employees to positions within a
 
10 bargaining unit, procedures governing the suspension, demotion,
 
11 discharge or other disciplinary actions taken against employees,
 
12 and procedures governing the layoff of employees[;] within
 
13 parameters set forth in section 76-43(b); provided further that
 
14 violations of the procedures so negotiated may be the subject of
 
15 a grievance process agreed to by the employer and the exclusive
 
16 representative."
 
17      SECTION 4.  This Act shall not apply to any collective
 
18 bargaining agreements in existence on the effective date of this
 
19 Act.  This Act shall apply to all collective bargaining
 
20 agreements executed after the effective date of this Act and to
 
21 any extensions and renewals of the collective bargaining
 
22 agreements in existence on the effective date of this Act.
 

 
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 1      SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 2 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 3      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 4                           INTRODUCED BY: ____________________
 

 
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