Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Kona/West Hawaii Agriculture Skill Panel March 6
What are Skill Panels? They are collaborative groups of people, both private and public-based ,who are interested in figuring out what needs a particular industry has and will have in the future (in this case agriculture). A complete description of skill panels can be found here.
Tuesday, March 6 at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., stakeholders will discuss the agriculture industry in Hawaii and develop an action plan. For more information see the agenda. To particpate contact stanford.j.fichtman@hawaii.gov.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Talk on Family Leave Issues Set for March 28
The federal Family Leave and Medical Act (FMLA) and the Hawaii Family Leave Law (HFLL) have the similar purpose of providing protected leave to employees if they need to miss work due to caring for a family member with a serious illness. In the application of the laws, there are differences that are important to understand to balance the employee's rights and the employer's concerns.
The Hawaii Employers Council (HEC) has asked both the local Wage and Hour Division of USDOL and the Hawaii Wage Standards Divison of DLIR to come speak March 28 on this topic. The talk is open to both members and nonmembers of HEC. More information about registering for this talk can be found at Hawaii Employers Council or call Vicky Tasaka-Loando at (808) 440-8822.
This collaborative effort with the USDOL Wage and Hour Division and Hawaii Wage Standards Division is an expression of the MOA signed last year. (See Sept 20, post)
The Hawaii Employers Council (HEC) has asked both the local Wage and Hour Division of USDOL and the Hawaii Wage Standards Divison of DLIR to come speak March 28 on this topic. The talk is open to both members and nonmembers of HEC. More information about registering for this talk can be found at Hawaii Employers Council or call Vicky Tasaka-Loando at (808) 440-8822.
This collaborative effort with the USDOL Wage and Hour Division and Hawaii Wage Standards Division is an expression of the MOA signed last year. (See Sept 20, post)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Worker Shortages in the Construction Industry.
Two years ago during the 2010 Legislature Act 68 was passed by overriding Governor Lingle's veto. The Act requires 80% of workers on public works projects to be residents on construction jobs of $50,000 or more. This procurement law is codified in Chapter 103B, Hawaii Revised Statutes. Most of the concerns in this law are the responsibility of the procurement officers of each department or agency and do not come under the jurisdiction of the DLIR. The exception to this 80% resident worker rule is if there are worker shortages in Hawaii. The responsibility falls on the DLIR to determine if there are worker shortages. (See 103B-3(b)), HRS last sentence).
The DLIR does conduct surveys of jobs in Hawaii on a regular basis. These surveys are called Occupational Employment Surveys (OES). The DLIR generally measures worker shortages in the Construction Industry for the purposes of Act 68, Regular Session 2010, by taking the percent of the annual average regular claims for unemployment in the Construction Industry to the number of construction jobs in the Occupational Employment Survey. If that percentage is less than 6.5% than a shortage of workers exists. 2007 was the last time a shortage existed. For the current year there continues to be no general shortage of workers so the 80% resident worker rule applies to all current construction.
With the general rule in place there are still some specific trades and materials that require specialty contractors with experience that may not be available in the Hawaii workforce. For those exceptions there is an ability to apply for an exemption from the 80% rule. The exemption request should be addressed to the Director of Labor, Dwight Takamine and contain the specific information outlined in the Act 68 information sheet.
The DLIR does conduct surveys of jobs in Hawaii on a regular basis. These surveys are called Occupational Employment Surveys (OES). The DLIR generally measures worker shortages in the Construction Industry for the purposes of Act 68, Regular Session 2010, by taking the percent of the annual average regular claims for unemployment in the Construction Industry to the number of construction jobs in the Occupational Employment Survey. If that percentage is less than 6.5% than a shortage of workers exists. 2007 was the last time a shortage existed. For the current year there continues to be no general shortage of workers so the 80% resident worker rule applies to all current construction.
With the general rule in place there are still some specific trades and materials that require specialty contractors with experience that may not be available in the Hawaii workforce. For those exceptions there is an ability to apply for an exemption from the 80% rule. The exemption request should be addressed to the Director of Labor, Dwight Takamine and contain the specific information outlined in the Act 68 information sheet.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Apps for Labor
Yesterday, I read a blog about an equal pay challenge the US DOL announced. The challenge is to build an innovative tool, or an app as it is more commonly called, that uses "publicly available labor data and other online resources to educate users about the pay gap and to build tools to promote equal pay." There are prizes including $5,000 cash and scholarships for training sessions. The app has to accomplish at least one of four goals more specfically outlined on the challenge page.
The first goal is to "Provide greater access to pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity. . . that would be helpful to women throughout their careers as they negotiate starting pay, request a promotion or a raise, or consider switching fields to a more lucrative career path." This made me think of the last post I did concerning HIWI. The DLIR is always collecting data and having a simple way to retrieve it on your phone would be helpful. If you could use your smart phone to look up the range of salary for a specific kind of position in Hawaii that would be helpful period, to men and women alike.
The focus of this current challenge is equal pay for equal work. Other challenges have focused on other topics. There is the Jobs for Heros app that e-mails veterans about job openings in their areas that have similar skill sets as their Military Occupational Speciality. (herojobs.org)
The DLIR has a timecard app link on the Main DLIR page that was developed by the US DOL. (Look for Timesheet App under "Tools") This is a helpful tool for employees to track their hours and keep records so they know what to expect in their paychecks. While it still requires the employee to use the app for it work, chances are a person is more likely to have their phone on them, then a pencil and paper to record information.
App development may be foreign to me, but so far I haven't met an App I didn't like. This equal pay app contest closes March 30 with a winner to be announced April 15.
...
The first goal is to "Provide greater access to pay data by gender, race, and ethnicity. . . that would be helpful to women throughout their careers as they negotiate starting pay, request a promotion or a raise, or consider switching fields to a more lucrative career path." This made me think of the last post I did concerning HIWI. The DLIR is always collecting data and having a simple way to retrieve it on your phone would be helpful. If you could use your smart phone to look up the range of salary for a specific kind of position in Hawaii that would be helpful period, to men and women alike.
The focus of this current challenge is equal pay for equal work. Other challenges have focused on other topics. There is the Jobs for Heros app that e-mails veterans about job openings in their areas that have similar skill sets as their Military Occupational Speciality. (herojobs.org)
The DLIR has a timecard app link on the Main DLIR page that was developed by the US DOL. (Look for Timesheet App under "Tools") This is a helpful tool for employees to track their hours and keep records so they know what to expect in their paychecks. While it still requires the employee to use the app for it work, chances are a person is more likely to have their phone on them, then a pencil and paper to record information.
App development may be foreign to me, but so far I haven't met an App I didn't like. This equal pay app contest closes March 30 with a winner to be announced April 15.
...
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