Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 921 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to entitle employers to obtain temporary restraining orders to protect against harassment in the workplace.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Shell Vacations Club LLC, Shell Management Hawaii, Inc., Sheraton Kauai, the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, the Society of Human Resource Management, the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and the Hawaii Government Employees Association.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, a business entity is not permitted to obtain a temporary restraining order or injunction. Violence at work is now considered to be a commonplace threat to both employers and employees. Your Committee also finds that although some incidents involve the violent actions of a disgruntled current or former employee, domestic-related violence in the workplace is one of the most frequent types of occurrence.

Additionally, your Committee determines that domestic abusers will frequently target their spouse or partner's ability to make a living as a means of furthering their agenda of complete control over the victim. Co-workers of abuse victims, as well as the victims themselves are particularly vulnerable to this type of violence since the perpetrator typically knows the exact location and schedule of the victim's employment. Similarly, if the place of employment is an establishment open to the public, it can be very difficult to restrict access to the potential victims. Following the tragic events and loss of life of Xerox employees in Honolulu, many employers in Hawaii have become more aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of a failure to adequately protect their employees on the job. Therefore, your Committee believes that employers should be permitted to obtain protection from harassment and threats of violence in the workplace.

Your Committee believes that this measure should be amended to comply with Hawaii's public policy prohibiting injunctions in labor disputes. Where the "harassment" involves or grows out of the labor dispute as defined in section 380-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, no court may issue an injunction without full compliance with Chapter 380, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which requires, inter alia, that it first exhaust the services of police officers and other public officers charged with the enforcement of public laws. Your Committee also believes that this measure should also act to level the playing field for the defendant in the event the employer files a petition through payment of attorney's fees in the event that the employee prevails and through the intervention of an employee organization which may represent defendant.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure as follows:

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. 921, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 921, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.