STAND. COM. REP. NO. 638-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: H.B. No. 2464
H.D. 1
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. 2464 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to clarify that whenever a civil servant who is promoted or transferred to another position fails to successfully complete the probationary period because of inefficiency, the civil servant shall be returned to the former position or a vacant comparable position as determined by the employer.
The Department of Human Resources Development submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu supported the intent of this measure with amendments. The Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152 opposed this measure.
Your Committee finds that while an employer is often the best-suited to determine the most operationally-efficient solutions to staffing questions, policy-makers must balance the rights of civil servants with the need for efficiency in government.
As such, your Committee has grave concerns that the bill, as presently drafted, could conceivably allow the employer to use promotions and transfers to rid the workplace of certain employees who the employer may not be able to suspend, discharge, or demote under existing civil service laws, administrative rules, or employment policies. Your Committee acknowledges that the Legislature never intended promotions and transfers to be used to eliminate the workforce of disgruntled or inefficient civil servants.
After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by:
(1) Clarifying that if a civil servant is released from the new position for inefficiency during the probationary period, the civil servant shall be returned to the former position unless it no longer exists or is filled;
(2) Clarifying further that if the civil servant cannot be returned to the former position, the employee shall be placed in a comparable position in accordance with reduction-in-force procedures authorized under a valid collective bargaining agreement;
(3) Clarifying that if the employee is an excluded employee, the employee shall be returned to a vacant comparable position as determined by the employer;
(4) Defining "comparable position" to mean a position in any class of work in the same salary range, same bargaining unit, and same department for which the employee meets the minimum qualification requirements; and
(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.
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. 2464, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2464, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor and Public Employment,
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____________________________ MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair |
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