TEN YEAR LAWSUIT BROUGHT BY PAINTERS AND GLAZERS UNION ENDS

News Release from Hawaii Attorney General May 16, 2016

HONOLULU – The Hawaii Supreme Court declined last week to hear an appeal sought by District Council 50 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and Aloha Glass Sales & Service, Inc., ending a lawsuit against the State that started in 2006.

The dispute began when the painters and glazers’ union complained to the State Contractors License Board that the contractors hired to renovate Lanakila Elementary School in 2005 were installing jalousie windows, and that such work was exclusively part of the union’s specialty. The Contractors License Board determined that hired contractors may perform “incidental and supplemental” work without the owner needing to hire additional specialty contractors just for that one purpose.

The Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the union’s second round of appeals effectively validates the Contractors License Board’s most recent interpretation of “incidental and supplemental” work.

Attorney General Doug Chin said, “The end of this lawsuit provides clarity about the amount of related work that specialty contractors may perform outside the scope of their respective specialty contractors’ licenses. This may help consumers by minimizing the number of specialty contractors that must be hired.”

For information about hiring a licensed contractor or the Contractors License Board, please see the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website at http://cca.hawaii.gov.

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