Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 447 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to prohibit employers from requiring employees, as a condition of employment, to waive the right to participate in any legal or administrative proceeding.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Hawaii Women Lawyers, the Hawaii Chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association, and a private citizen. Testimony in opposition was submitted by the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce and the Hawaii Chapter of the Society of Human Resource Management.

Your Committee finds that employers and applicants are in an unequal bargaining position when entering the employment relationship. Employers have much more leverage in the negotiation, and may use that leverage to force prospective employees to waive their legal rights.

Your Committee finds that the State has a compelling interest in protecting the rights of employees to bring legal actions, participate in investigations, provide information, and enjoy all of the rights secured by chapters 368 and 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes. These rights are designed to promote fairness in the employment relationship, and to protect the residents of our State. If an employer can unilaterally force an employee to waive any of these protected rights, the integrity of the business community is compromised.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 447 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.