Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 325 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to allow an employee to use temporary disability insurance (TDI) sick leave benefits in excess of the minimum statutory TDI benefit requirements for family leave purposes.

The ILWU, Local 142, and Hawaii State AFL-CIO testified in support of this measure. The Hawaii Credit Union League, Society of Human Resource Management-Hawaii Chapter, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, The Sultan Company, Queen Kapiolani Hotel, and concerned individuals testified in opposition to this bill. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) and Department of Human Resources Development commented on this measure.

Hawaii has long been viewed as a leader in the establishment of progressive social policy in the United States. One such law, the Hawaii Family Leave Act (HFLA), required employers who employ more than 100 employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, to provide up to four weeks of family leave during any calendar year upon the birth or adoption of a child, or to care for the employee's reciprocal beneficiary, child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition.

However, the complexity of family obligations of working families has grown considerably in terms of intricacy, intensity, and scope. For example, Hawaii's population is growing older, necessitating greater demands for long-term care and health insurance. The larger segment of Hawaii's workforce is female, the member of the family unit primarily responsible for child care and other everyday tasks for many of Hawaii's families. These trends have been found in most every state throughout our nation.

Recognizing that existing law did not require an employer to permit an employee to use sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, spouse, or reciprocal beneficiary, the Legislature enacted Act 44, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003 (Act 44) to specifically allow employees to use up to ten days of accrued and available sick leave for family leave purposes in a single calendar year.

However, questions were raised by the Attorney General as to whether this requirement would be applicable to TDI plans filed with and accepted by DLIR that required that sick leave benefits were for the use of the employee alone. Your Committee finds that when the Legislature enacted Act 44, the intent was for accrued and available sick leave above and beyond that which is required under the TDI law to be allowed for family leave purposes.

Your Committee also acknowledges the concerns raised by DLIR that amendments to Act 44 may impact or be preempted by the Federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). However, the effects are unknown and thus should not play a role in determining the passage of a measure that was intended to provide welcome relief for Hawaii's working families.

After working and consulting with various interested parties from both labor and the Administration, including the Director of DLIR, this measure was drafted to clarify that any sick leave benefits in excess of the minimum TDI benefits as determined by DLIR may be used for family leave purposes.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 325 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.