Bill Text: HI SB535 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-07-09 - Act 248, 7/1/2013 (Gov. Msg. No. 1351). [SB535 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB535-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1166

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

 

RE:   S.B. No. 535

      S.D. 1

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Labor & Public Employment and Economic Development & Business, to which was referred S.B. No. 535, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to:

 

(1)  Extend basic labor rights and protections to domestic workers by:

 

          (A)  Establishing hours of labor for domestic workers and defining "causal basis" employment and "domestic worker" under the Hawaii Employment Relations Act;

 

          (B)  Amending the definition of "employment" under Chapter 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), to prohibit discriminating against domestic workers;

 

          (C)  Including service of domestic workers under the workers' compensation law's definition of "employment"; and

          (D)  Excluding individuals employed in domestic service in or about the home of the individual's employer on a casual basis from the Wage and Hour Law under Chapter 387, HRS; and

 

     (2)  Direct the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to submit a written report to the Legislature regarding the feasibility of allowing domestic workers to organize for the purposes of collective bargaining.

 

     The Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Hawai‘i Women's Coalition, First Lady of the State of Hawaii, and several concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Hawaii Labor Relations Board supported the intent of this bill.  Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission supported this measure with amendments.  A concerned individual opposed this measure.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Removing the definitions for "causal basis" employment and "domestic worker" and the provisions relating to hours of labor for domestic workers from the Hawaii Employment Relations Act;

 

(2)  Removing the service of domestic workers from the workers' compensation law's definition of "employment";

 

(3)  Prohibiting discriminatory practices against any "domestic," rather than any "domestic worker";

 

(4)  Adding definitions for "casual basis," "companionship services for the aged or infirm," and "domestic service" under the Wage and Hour Law;

 

(5)  Specifying that an individual providing companionship services for the aged or infirm is also excluded from the Wage and Hour Law;

 

(6)  Removing the requirement directing the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to submit a written report to the Legislature regarding the feasibility of allowing domestic workers to organize for the purposes of collective bargaining;

 

(7)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2113, to promote further discussion; and

 

(8)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor & Public Employment and Economic Development & Business that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 535, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 535, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor & Public Employment and Economic Development & Business,

 

 

____________________________ CLIFT TSUJI, Chair		____________________________ MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair