Labor

...Five states continue to carry elevated long-term liability burdens above 20% of personal income in fiscal 2019, including Illinois (at 27% of personal income), Connecticut, New Jersey, Hawaii and Alaska. For all of them, pensions remain the driver of elevated liabilities....

...Two examples of the old way of thinking, both in Honolulu....

...rehire employees according to a strict formula based on an occupancy ratio....

...an example of leadership in the face of the COVID-19 crisis....

... Hawaii 2020 unemployment claims surpass 380,000 ....

...Hawaii has recovered just 13% of the jobs lost since the start of the pandemic....

... 200 Trained Operators Will Answer Phones ....

...While some states have prohibited vote harvesting, many states lack any regulations that would stop third-parties from fraudulently collecting and mishandling ballots as has occurred in recent elections....

... At the beginning of the year, our governor boasted about his efforts to put the state on a “sound financial footing.” What a difference a few months can make ....

...Jobs declined by 105,200 over-the-year....

...Meanwhile: Top Three Failure Reward: Former DLIR Director Scott Murakami takes job at DBEDT....

...Hawaii was the second-most-dependent state on the additional $600 in unemployment benefits that expired at the end of July.....

...Especially noteworthy is Miske’s involvement with unions, particularly International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 996, which represents drivers hired to do movie and television scenes....

... “Josh Green basically took her case to the Attorney General and presented to the Attorney General for whistleblower immunity,” Dr. Miscovich said ....

...These notices only represent announcements by companies in the state that have 100 or more employees....

...Ogden Newspapers is seeking the ability to have Mainland workers edit stories and design the pages....

...On July 31, 2020, Governor Ige returned SB126 with line item vetoes. Of the $321,000,000 that was struck from the bill the Governor intends to utilize the funding for the following priorities....

...DoH is too busy to respond to the State Auditor and too busy to organize contact tracing because they are working real estate deals on State time with the Board and Care home operators they regulate.  And their union wants them to be paid to 'work' from home again....

“We are still experiencing a significant increase of workers still attached to an employer being fully released from employment."

...HGEA preparing COVID-19 class action grievance....

... The unemployment rate would have been much higher except that there were nearly 30,000 fewer people in the labor force than a year ago ....

...Mr. Rosenlee encouraged teachers to show up for paid training days over the past two weeks, and now he is telling teachers not to show up for students. The union demanded this additional training for teachers, at a cost of nine fewer instructional days for students, but is trying to prevent students from having the same opportunity....

...COVID surge prompts HGEA to tell Departments: Limit physical presence at worksites....

...Injunction to stop students from returning to campus dropped....

...In the last 11 days, there have been at least nine campuses with coronavirus cases in which some staff were quarantined and campuses were closed....

...Starting on Aug. 17, all O'ahu public schools will be implementing full distance learning models....

"...At the stroke of midnight tonight (July 31) there will be over 161,000 Hawaii residents about to fall off the federal unemployment cliff and there appears to be no solution at hand...."

...Through July 14, the department has issued $35,980,789 to imposter fraud claimants....

...DoE's designed-to-fail scheme is falling apart....

...“Our schools are woefully underprepared to deliver a distance learning program should a school be shut down by the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) due to the spread of COVID-19,” said HSTA President Corey Rosenlee....

...Waiving the entire “annual required contribution” or ARC payment to EUTF for this year would save the state about $840 million, according to one official….

... UH Board of Regents resolution calls for emergency proclamation, drastic cuts ....

...unemployment insurance and how it is going to fare after the pandemic....

... Hawaii public schools to reopen with safeguards ....

...Laughing at your sacrifice: Senate votes 21-3, House votes 45-4....

...The letter outlines low participation rates for distance learning, internet connectivity and device access inequities among students, and the lack of a concise plan for how they will spend the federal CARES Act funding they have received....

...The Kaua‘i Education Technology Pilot Project is reimagining how much HSTA members can get away with in response to the COVID-19 pandemic....

...5,989 victims have reported Identity theft after receiving a letter about eligibility for PUA benefits....

...48% of middle and high school teachers report 0-20% of students consistently participated in distance learning....

...The plan provides discretion to the Ige Administration to spend the remaining CARES funds to pay for unanticipated and emerging needs....

...Hawaii State Whose Unemployment Rates Are Bouncing Back Least....

...the augmented unemployment payments have done a fairly good job  preventing the worst from happening so far. But that program is set to expire August 1....

...only Nevada and Puerto Rico are higher....

... State Has Issued $803,200,377 in Benefits Since March 1 ....

...“We do not have the ability to get rid of many of these officers that we know have done wrong in the past due to issues with both the contract and the arbitration associated with the union.”....

...use of CWAs, also known as project labor agreements, would drastically limit the use of nonunion employees on public projects, thereby reducing competition among bidding contractors and increasing costs for Honolulu taxpayers....

...Timesheets and leave requests are now transmitted electronically to payroll offices, replacing paper-based manual labor-intensive tracking methods in employee pay calculation....  

...the UPW still has not agreed to allow all guards to be searched for contraband....

...how many times will Hawaii fall for phony High-Tech scamsters?....

...to provide food assistance to recently unemployed individuals is set to conclude with two remaining food distribution events at Aloha Stadium....