STAND. COM. REP. NO. 726
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2005
RE: S.B. No. 535
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2005
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 535, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to prohibit an employer or labor organization from discriminating against an employee who uses accrued or available sick leave in accordance with a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment policy.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii State Teacher's Association and ILWU Local 142. Testimony in opposition to the measure was submitted by Verizon Hawaii, the Society for Human Resource Management, Hawaii Shipyards Inc., the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Honolulu Advertiser, the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and Young Brothers Limited. Offering comments on the measure were the Department of Human Resources Development, the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
Your Committee finds that this measure is designed to allow employees to use sick leave benefits that they have accrued in accordance with an express provision of a valid collective bargaining agreement or employment policy without the fear of demotion, the withholding of pay, or discharge by a labor organization or any other employer.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Including language that prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee who uses accrued sick leave pursuant to a negotiated attendance policy and deleting references to sick leave benefits obtained through collective bargaining and employment policies to avoid interference with collective bargaining principles and possible preemption by the National Labor Relations Act;
(2) Removing references to hire or to employ as the prohibition applies to employees and not to individuals not yet hired or employed; and
(3) Deleting the definition of "employee" which included an individual with a nonchronic condition of a short-term nature.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 535, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 535, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,
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____________________________ COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair |
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