STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3594
Honolulu, Hawaii
S.D. 1
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 106 entitled:
"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING HAWAII EMPLOYERS TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT STANDARDS OF CONDUCT AND POLICIES FOR MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEES TO REDUCE WORKPLACE BULLYING AND PROMOTE HEALTHFUL AND SAFE WORK ENVIRONMENTS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to urge Hawaii employers to develop and implement standards of conduct and policies for managers and employees to reduce workplace bullying and promote healthful and safe work environments.
Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO, the Hawaii Federation of Business and Professional Women, and two individuals.
Your Committee finds that the current law seeks to provide employees throughout the State with safe and healthful work environments. However, beyond membership in a protected class, certain employees are continually subjected without recourse to abusive work environments, where workplace bullying is a prevalent occurrence. Your Committee further finds that employers can provide safeguards for their employees that will not only protect the employees, but also ultimately result in increasing the success and prosperity of their businesses. This measure encourages employers within the State to develop and implement policies and standards of conduct aimed at reducing workplace bullying and creating healthful and safe working conditions for employees. Your Committee determines that a wealth of resources is currently available to assist employers in developing and implementing these policies and has amended the measure to provide guidance in this manner. Furthermore, in order to properly track and ascertain the necessity of future legislative action, your Committee also believes that a system must be established for recording and analyzing the effects of the implementation of these types of policies.
Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Including information regarding resources for developing and implementing policies and standards of conduct to reduce workplace bullying;
(2) Requesting employers who develop and implement policies to report such to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; and
(3) Requesting the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to report to the Legislature on the businesses that have developed and implemented policies regarding workplace bullying.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 106, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 106, S.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,
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BRIAN KANNO, Chair |
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