STAND. COM. REP. NO. 439

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 823

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 823 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to require employers to notify employees annually of their entitlement to family leave, as well as possible adverse impact of taking family leave.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by one organization and one public citizen.  Testimony in opposition was submitted by one state agency and three organizations.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds a discrepancy exists between the types of eldercare policies and benefits that employers offer and what working caregivers believe is offered.  According to recent studies on elder care, eighty per cent of employers say that they offer paid bereavement leave while only 4.7 per cent of employed caregivers know of this benefit.  About seventy per cent of employers offer unpaid family leave while only eighteen per cent of working caregivers are aware of this benefit.  Only five per cent of working caregivers know their employers offer leave without pay, but employers say that 66.3 per cent of them offer this benefit.

     Your Committee finds an annual notice requirement is a costly burden on the employer.  Your Committee adopts the recommendations of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to amend the measure to conform to posting requirements of chapters 387 and 388, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  These laws require employers to keep information posted in a conspicuous place that all employees have access to, which provides a daily reminder to individuals and prevents a waste of resources.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 823, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 823, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair