SB2305.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that mandatory retirement upon attaining a certain age is necessary because there are certain occupations that require individuals to be placed in dangerous situations, such as law enforcement officers and military service members, or require high levels of mental skill, such as air traffic controllers and airline pilots, where age of the worker can play a significant role. Proponents for a mandatory retirement age contend that a worker's productivity declines significantly after age sixty-five and requiring retirement upon workers attaining a certain age allows employers to avoid this reduction in productivity.

The mandatory age requirement for pilots serving as pilot-in-command in domestic, flag, and supplemental airline operations is set at sixty-five years of age under federal law. Furthermore, federal law enforcement officers are required to be separated from the service on the last day of the month in which the law enforcement officer becomes fifty-seven years of age or completes twenty years of law enforcement officer service if then over that age. The Department of Justice's policy supporting a mandatory retirement age requirement is to maintain a young and vigorous workforce in physically arduous law enforcement officer positions and ensure the employment of persons who are physically capable of meeting the rigorous demands of law enforcement activities.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a mandatory retirement age for law enforcement officers in Hawaii by:

(1) Requiring all law enforcement officers to retire upon attaining sixty-five years of age or be transferred to an administrative or support role in the law enforcement officer's agency or to another government agency;

(2) Requiring all volunteer law enforcement officers to retire from volunteer law enforcement officer duty upon attaining sixty-five years of age; and

(3) Establishing that the mandatory retirement of law enforcement officers upon attaining the age of sixty-five shall not be an unlawful discriminatory practice.

SECTION 2. Section 52D-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§52D-6[]] Police force; employees. (a) The chief of police may appoint officers and other employees under such rules and at such salaries as are authorized by law. Probationary appointment, suspension, and dismissal of officers and employees of the police department shall be as authorized by law.

(b) A police officer shall be separated from service upon attaining sixty-five years of age or be transferred to an administrative or support role in the police officer's agency or to another government agency; provided that such transfer shall be in compliance with chapter 89. Any volunteer police officers shall be separated from service upon attaining sixty-five years of age."

SECTION 3. Section 353C-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§353C-4 Appointment of employees with police powers and other employees[.]; separation of public safety officers. (a) The director may appoint employees to be public safety officers who shall have all of the powers of police officers; provided that the director may establish and assign the employees to positions or categories of positions that may have differing titles, specific duties, and limitations upon the exercise of police powers.

(b) The director may appoint other personnel necessary to carry out the functions of the department.

(c) The state law enforcement officers transferred from the department of the attorney general by Act 211, Session Laws of Hawaii 1989, shall be responsible for public safety in state buildings as well as the personal protection of government officials and employees while in the conduct of their duties. The duties of state law enforcement officers shall also include the service of process, including subpoenas, warrants, and other legal documents, and other duties as the director may assign, including the performance of duties of other public safety officers within the department. State law enforcement officers shall have all of the powers of police officers, including the power of arrest.

(d) A public safety officer shall be separated from service upon attaining sixty-five years of age or be transferred to an administrative or support role in the public safety officer's agency or to another government agency; provided that such transfer shall be in compliance with chapter 89. Any volunteer public safety officers shall be separated from service upon attaining sixty-five years of age."

SECTION 4. Section 378-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§378-3 Exceptions. Nothing in this part shall be deemed to:

(1) Repeal or affect any law, ordinance, or government rule having the force and effect of law;

(2) Prohibit or prevent the establishment and maintenance of bona fide occupational qualifications reasonably necessary to the normal operation of a particular business or enterprise, and that have a substantial relationship to the functions and responsibilities of prospective or continued employment;

(3) Prohibit or prevent an employer, employment agency, or labor organization from refusing to hire, refer, or discharge any individual for reasons relating to the ability of the individual to perform the work in question;

(4) Affect the operation of the terms or conditions of any bona fide retirement, pension, employee benefit, or insurance plan that is not intended to evade the purpose of this chapter; provided that this exception shall not be construed to permit any employee plan to set a maximum age requirement for hiring or a mandatory retirement age[;] unless the employee is a law enforcement officer or volunteer law enforcement officer with any county police department or department of public safety as provided under paragraph (12);

(5) Prohibit or prevent any religious or denominational institution or organization, or any organization operated for charitable or educational purposes, that is operated, supervised, or controlled by or in connection with a religious organization, from giving preference to individuals of the same religion or denomination or from making a selection calculated to promote the religious principles for which the organization is established or maintained;

(6) Conflict with or affect the application of security regulations or rules in employment established by the United States or the State;

(7) Require the employer to execute unreasonable structural changes or expensive equipment alterations to accommodate the employment of a person with a disability;

(8) Prohibit or prevent the department of education or private schools from considering criminal convictions in determining whether a prospective employee is suited to working in close proximity to children;

(9) Prohibit or prevent any financial institution in which deposits are insured by a federal agency having jurisdiction over the financial institution from denying employment to or discharging from employment any person who has been convicted of any criminal offense involving dishonesty or a breach of trust, unless it has the prior written consent of the federal agency having jurisdiction over the financial institution to hire or retain the person;

(10) Preclude any employee from bringing a civil action for sexual harassment or sexual assault and infliction of emotional distress or invasion of privacy related thereto; provided that notwithstanding section 368-12, the commission shall issue a right to sue on a complaint filed with the commission if it determines that a civil action alleging similar facts has been filed in circuit court; [or]

(11) Require the employer to accommodate the needs of a nondisabled person associated with or related to a person with a disability in any way not required by title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act[.]; or

(12) Prohibit or prevent any county police department or the department of public safety from establishing a mandatory retirement age for its law enforcement officers and volunteer law enforcement officers."

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2305
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII