Bill Text: HI HB634 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Employment; Worker Retention; Appropriation ($)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2013-04-26 - Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday, 04-26-13 at 5:00PM in Conference Room 325. [HB634 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB634-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1016

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 634

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 634, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the retention of employees who would be displaced from an employer by divestiture of a covered establishment employing one hundred or more persons to the successor employer.  Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Requires the successor employer to hire all incumbent non-supervisory and non-confidential employees;

 

     (2)  Prohibits the successor employer from requiring the incumbent employees to file employment applications to be considered for hire unless the existing files are incomplete;

 

     (3)  Allows the successor employer to conduct pre-hire screening of the incumbent employees, including criminal conviction records checks and drug screening;

 

     (4)  Allows the successor employer to retain less than one hundred percent of the incumbent employees if:

 

          (A)  The business of the successor employer is substantially dissimilar to the former employer's business; or

 

          (B)  The human resource needs of the successor employer are reduced;

 

provided that the number of employees to be dislocated is in direct proportion to the reduction in the total human resource needs of the successor employer;

 

     (5)  Adds a definition of "covered establishment";

 

     (6)  Establishes penalties for an employer who is found in violation of this measure; and

 

     (7)  Requires the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations to adopt administrative rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; and Hawaii State AFL-CIO.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Retail Merchants of Hawaii; Hawaii Credit Union League; The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; Maui Chamber of Commerce; Tesoro Hawaii, LLC; National Federation of Independent Business Hawaii; and three individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that the divestiture of an establishment, whether via a sale, transfer, merger, bankruptcy, takeover, or transaction, often causes heightened anxiety for the incumbent employees.  This measure will provide job security for employees who are displaced during a divestiture of a covered establishment by requiring the successor employer to retain all incumbent non-supervisory and non-confidential employees, subject to certain exceptions.  This measure assists in minimizing the disruption that often occurs upon divestiture.  Pursuant to this measure, many workers will not be dislocated or face financial uncertainty, customers will see business continue with little disturbance, and the economy will not be impacted by increased unemployment.

 

     Your Committees encourage the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, in adopting administrative rules to effectuate this measure, to define "substantially dissimilar" and establish criteria to determine whether a successor employer may retain less than one hundred percent of the incumbent employees if the business of the successor employer is substantially dissimilar to the former employer's business.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the pre-hire screening executed in accordance with chapter 329B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is for substance abuse testing, not drug screening; and

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2013.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 634, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 634, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair		____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair