Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 1779 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to allow permanent, full-time employees who are exempt from civil service and collective bargaining laws, but are not considered "excluded employees", to use more than 10 days of accrued and available sick leave for family leave purposes if authorized by a valid employment policy.

ILWU, Local 142 and the Hawaii State AFL-CIO testified in support of this measure. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) opposed this measure.

Act 44, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003, clarified that employees could use up to 10 days of accrued and available sick leave for family leave purposes unless a collective bargaining agreement authorized the use of more sick leave for family leave purposes. Your Committee finds that certain public sector employees who are excluded from collective bargaining and civil service laws but are not considered "excluded employees" are not covered by Act 44, even though the "employment policy" for these individuals mirrors those policies contained in collective bargaining agreements for comparable employees. Your Committee finds this situation to be unfair and that this technical problem was an unintended oversight.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1779 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.