STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2673

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3036

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 3036 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that under the State's anti-discrimination law, as set forth in part I of chapter 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes, an employer, employment agency, or labor organization may refuse to hire or refer, or discharge any individual for reasons unrelated to discriminatory practices, equal pay, criminal conviction records, or credit history.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and Society for Human Resource Management, Hawaii Chapter.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission, ILWU Local 142, and two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the State's employment practices laws relating to discriminatory practices, equal pay, criminal conviction records, and credit history were enacted to prohibit employment discrimination against individuals based upon protected categories, but were not intended to prevent employers from taking employment action for other unrelated reasons.  Implementation of this measure clarifies that an employer, employment agency, or labor organization may refuse to hire or refer, or discharge any individual for reasons unrelated to discriminatory practices, equal pay, criminal conviction records, or credit history.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Reinserting language to clarify that an employer may refuse to hire or refer, or discharge an individual for reasons relating to the ability of the individual to perform the work in question; provided that the employment policy is applied in a nondiscriminatory manner and unrelated to discriminatory practices, equal pay, criminal conviction records, or credit history;

     (2)  Amending section 1 to reflect the amended purpose;

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, for the purposes of clarity and consistency; and

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3036, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3036, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair