STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3022

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 2171
                                        H.D. 1
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor and Environment, to which was
referred H.B. No. 2171, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEAL BREAKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide employees who work
six or more consecutive hours with a meal break.

     Testimony in support of this measure was provided by the
Department of Public Safety, Center for Labor Education &
Research, ILWU Local 142, Hawaii State Teachers Association,
Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, Hawaii State
AFL-CIO, Hawaii Nurses' Association, Hawaii Building &
Construction Trades Council AFL-CIO, Kokua Kalihi Valley,
Kapiolani Medical Center, and three individuals.  Testimony in
opposition to this measure was received from the Chamber of
Commerce of Hawaii, Hawaii Business League, Hawaii Hotel
Association, Ogden Energy Group, Inc., Society for Human Resource
Management, and the Legislative Information Services of Hawaii.
Comments were provided by the Department of Labor and Industrial
Relations and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.  Oral testimony
was provided by one individual.

     Currently an employer is not mandated by law to provide its
employees with a meal break.  This measure requires that an
employee working six or more hours be provided a meal interval of
at least thirty consecutive minutes or two periods of at least

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3022
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fifteen consecutive minutes each unless express provisions for
employee breaks are contained in a collective bargaining
agreement or company policy.  The measure is inapplicable to
employees providing health, transportation, or public safety
services.

     Your Committee is in agreement that a meal period permits
the employee to recuperate from the rigors of employment,
contributes to sound mental health, decreases the likelihood of
workplace violence and occupational injuries, and improves
employee concentration thereby enhancing productivity.

     Your Committee amended the measure by:

     (1)  Requiring that an employee working "five" or more
          continuous hours be provided an unpaid meal break of
          not less than thirty minutes;

     (2)  Removing the company policy exemption;

     (3)  Permitting waiver of the meal break period by mutual
          consent;

     (4)  Deleting the exceptions made for employees providing
          health, transportation, or public safety services; and

     (5)  Placing the statute in chapter 378, Hawaii Revised
          Statutes.

     Your Committee respectfully requests the Committee on Ways
and Means to address the difficulties associated with enforcing
mutual consent and the possibility of including appropriate
remedies for violations of the meal break law.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Labor and Environment that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of H.B. No. 2171, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B.
No. 2171, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means.


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



                                   ______________________________
                                   BOB NAKATA, Chair

 
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