STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 2025
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: S.B. No. 1454
S.D. 1
H.D. 2
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1454, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE WAGE AND HOUR LAW,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Require the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to issue an order of wage payment violation when it finds that a violation has occurred without remedy;
(2) Clarify the definition of "wage" to mean compensation for labor or services rendered by an employee, without regard of how the amount is calculated; and
(3) Establish penalties for employers that commit wage payment violations.
Your Committee finds that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations has the authority to issue orders of wage payment violations under the Payment of Wages and Other Compensation Law, but lacks similar authority under the Wage and Hour Law, which encompasses a larger group of low-wage earners. This measure ensures that all workers that earn any amount of compensation are equally protected by authorizing the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to issue orders of wage payment violations, establishing penalties, enforcement, and an appeals process, and clarifying that "wage" means compensation for labor rendered by an employee, regardless of how it was calculated under the Wage and Hour Law.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Clarifying that all civil penalties collected under this measure are to be deposited into the Labor Law Enforcement Special Fund; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1454, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1454, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,
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____________________________ DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair |
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