Hawaii Family Leave Law Update

      An interesting question arose at the Hawaii Employers Council (HEC) Workshop on Family Leave in Hawaii at the end of last month.  The question focused on the calculation of how much paid leave an employee is allowed under the Hawaii Family Leave Law, Chapter 398, Hawaii Revised Statutes.  The law says the employee is allowed up to 10 days of accrued and available paid leave of the 4 weeks they are entitled to. (See 398-4, HRS)  It's easy if an employee works a standard 5 day, 8 hour, 40 hour week schedule.  It would be the two week period or 80 hours.

     The question that arose at the HEC, was "what if an employee works three 12-hour days a week, are they allowed 10 days or 120 hours of paid leave?" The quick answer is no, Wage Standards Division interprets the law to allow 6 days of paid leave, in the example asked.

    Our analysis had to look at the intent of the law. The law entitles employees to a total of 4 weeks leave with an option of 10 working days, or two work weeks, or half of the entitlement, for the employee to use paid accrued or available sick leave. If an employee works 3 days a week, the four week period would be twelve days, and half of that is 6 days. So the number of days (6) times the amount of hours worked each day (12) would mean the employee would be allowed 72 hours of paid accrued and available sick leave. If an employee works a variable schedule, to determine how many days are allowed use an average amount of days worked per week, and allow two weeks worth.


     Expressing it as a calculation it would look like: (Normal number of days worked in a week x Normal number of  hours worked in a day) x 2 = # of hours allowed of paid accrued and available sick leave.

   
 Finally, HB 884, 2012 Regular Legislative Session,  that potentially added "Sibling" to the people an employee could be caring for with a serious health condition, did not pass out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, so there is no change to the HFLL.

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)