Hawaii

Thousands of Hawaii School Employees To Get Up To 25% In Pandemic Hazard Pay

Published

2 years ago

January 23, 2024

Thousands of Hawaii School Employees To Get Up To 25% In Pandemic Hazard Pay

An arbitration decision has determined public school employees in five bargaining units of the state’s largest union are entitled to back pay of up to 25% of their total salaries for as much as two years, according to the state’s largest union.

The Hawaii Government Employees Association said the decision covers up to 7,800 Department of Education employees, including school nurses, office employees, and classroom educational assistants.

“Those working in the DOE were some of the most exposed among public service employees, putting their own health – as well as that of their loved ones – at substantial risk to keep services running in Hawaii’s schools,” HGEA Executive Director Randy Perreira said Tuesday in a written statement.

The House of Representatives opens the legislative session Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in Honolulu. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024) — The arbitration decision awarding tens of millions of dollars in pandemic hazard pay to Department of Education employees will complicate the budget picture this year for both the state and counties. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)

Arbitrators considering the hazard pay issue have “thus far have been unanimous: our members faced severe hazards over the course of the pandemic to sustain government operations, and they deserve compensation,” Perreira said in the statement.

The decision will not apply to public school teachers because the Hawaii State Teachers Association does not have hazard pay provisions in its contract. DOE did not respond to a request for comment.

The award is expected to complicate the budget picture at the state and county levels, and Perreira said in an interview he expects DOE will need to ask the Legislature for extra funding to cover the cost of the award.

HGEA and other unions are in similar negotiations with the City and County of Honolulu and the Big Island.

House Speaker Scott Saiki said Tuesday he has not yet seen the arbitration decision, but “this was not really anticipated as we entered the legislative session, so now we’ll have to go back to the drawing board when it comes to approving a balanced budget.”

HGEA has language in its contracts calling for hazard pay of 15% or 25%, depending on the severity of the hazard. Perreira has said the Covid-19 pandemic is the first time that contract language has been applied to government employees statewide.

The union estimated the latest arbitration decision may require the state to pay up to $150 million in back hazard pay for the DOE workers, but Perreira said a more precise calculation will have to come from the DOE.

He said the $150 million estimate assumes all 7,800 of the employees covered by the award will get at least some back hazard pay.

State Budget Director Luis Salaveria also deferred to the DOE, saying he has not yet seen the decision and could not estimate the total cost.

State House Finance Committee Chairman Kyle Yamashita said in a written statement that Gov. Josh Green’s administration is “still working on this.”

“We’re still waiting for details that will give us a better understanding of how to proceed,” Yamashita wrote. But the impact on the budget will likely be substantial.

Republican House Minority Leader Lauren Matsumoto said the hazard pay issue will “cost the state and the city a lot of money, but it’s important that we honor the contracts that we put into place. I don’t know if there’s any way around that.”

The template for settlements and awards on hazard pay is generally expected to follow HGEA’s arbitration award on Maui in 2022.

That decision confirmed the pandemic qualified as a “hazard” under the HGEA contract and determined more than 1,300 employees were entitled to back pay for the first two years of the pandemic. Maui Count employees began receiving hazard compensation payouts at the end of 2022.

Another decision on Kauai also concluded HGEA members there had faced a hazard and therefore qualified for hazard pay by contract, but the union said a follow-up case will be necessary to determine exactly who qualifies for payments.

Arbitration proceedings or negotiations are also underway with Hawaii County and Honolulu, and the unions involved include HGEA, the United Public Workers union and the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers.

The DOE arbitration decision “is a clear signal to the state and counties that it’s time to get serious about how they will cover the hefty price tag of THP (temporary hazard pay) payouts,” Perreira said in the statement.

According to HGEA, the DOE arbitration decision covers the period from March 4, 2020, to March 25, 2022, when then-Gov. David Ige’s pandemic emergency proclamations were in effect.

The hazard pay will not apply to periods when employees are teleworking, on leave, or absent from the work sites. However, it does apply to some jobs that may not usually be considered to be public-facing.

Perreira said office assistants, clerks, secretaries and others continued to directly serve the community through food distribution programs that operated daily from the schools.

“That was where the most public contact took place, the food pickups,” he said. “It was an all-hands-on-deck thing.”

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Hawaii

People Power Hawaii festival remembers pivotal Marcos ouster in Philippines’ history

Published

11 hours ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

People Power Hawaii festival remembers pivotal Marcos ouster in Philippines’ history

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – This year marks 40 years since the People Power Revolution ousted former President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., from office in the Philippines, and Honolulu’s Filipino community is using art to preserve that history.

The People Power Hawaii month-long art festival is raising awareness about the historic peace movement and bringing the Filipino community together through art rooted in collective trauma and history.

“Art can inspire action, you want to tell people that something matters,” said Dianne Deauna, a board member of the Hawaii Filipinos for Truth, Justice, and Democracy, and organizer of the panel and art gallery. “If we don’t prioritize sharing these stories and capturing that history, we lose our most potent weapon against forces that try to erase us, and divide us, our heritage.”

The People Power Revolution consisted of a four-day, non-violent uprising in the Philippines in February 1986 that ended Marcos’ 20-year rule. It followed public outrage over his rule under martial law, electoral fraud and the assassination of opposition candidate Benigno Aquino Jr. Democracy advocates and Marcos’ dissenters held demonstrations, protesting corruption and persecution under the Marcos administration. Marcos and his family fled to Honolulu, where he lived in exile for three years, and died in 1989.

The month-long art festival opened with Pagalala’t Pakikibaka (Memory in Art), an artists’ panel and gallery event, at the Hawaii State Library, offering a historical view into the Marcos era of the Philippines and his time in Honolulu. It also included a People Power Hawaii Concert.

A new theater play called Indigo Child will be shown at The Actors’ Group (TAG) Brad Powell Theater at Dole Cannery on March 10, 11, 17 and 18.

The theater play follows the story of a mother and son and their psychological aftermath of martial law in the Philippines.

“It’s a warning, against political, historical revisionism and unexamined history,” said Emmanuele Mante, the organizer of the Indigo Child play. “It’s also a form of ethical and political act.”

People Power Hawaii 2026 is organized by the Hawaii Filipinos for Truth, Justice, and Democracy (HFTJD) and brought by the Filipino-American Historical Society of Hawaii (FAHSOH), Filipino Association of University Women (FAUW), and the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

For more information, head to People Power Hawaii 2026.

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Hawaii

Hawaii News Now launches new and improved mobile news app

Published

23 hours ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii News Now launches new and improved mobile news app

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Breaking news! We’ve just launched our new and improved Hawaii News Now mobile news app.

The updated app features a fresh layout designed to make it easier to find the stories and information that matter most to you.

Access all of our newscasts, specials, podcasts and more with a few quick taps.

New features include:

Latest news at a glance. Scroll through the latest headlines right on your home screen.
Light or dark mode. Choose the look you prefer in your app settings.
Easy access to live streams. Tap the Live icon at the bottom to watch our newscasts, streaming shows, and breaking news live streams.

All your favorite features are still there. Tap the hamburger menu in the upper left corner to access our traffic map, program guide, HI Now Daily lifestyle content, and more.

And with First Alert Weather Days coming up, you’ll want to stay prepared. Tap the Weather icon to jump straight into the HNN Weather App for radar, video forecasts and more.

If your phone is set to automatically update apps, simply open the app, click through the intro screen and start exploring.

Be sure to enable notifications to get First Alert push alerts and breaking news as it happens.

If an ad pops up, tap “Continue” in the upper right corner to proceed.

If you’re still seeing the old version, head to your app store to update:

Apple users can click here.
Google/Android users can click here.

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Hawaii

NJ’s Jake Thistle to be featured on ‘American Idol’ Hawaii episode

Published

1 day ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

NJ’s Jake Thistle to be featured on ‘American Idol’ Hawaii episode

Aloha, New Jersey.

Asbury Park rocker Jake Thistle will be featured on the Monday, March 9 episode of “American Idol.” It’s the ‘Ohana Round episode, which will have the Top 30 hopefuls performing for industry tastemakers as well as peers, family members and friends at Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii.

Jacquie Lee of Colts Neck is also in the Top 30.

The tastemakers include social media personalities Kaniyia Brown and Terry McCaskill; dancer Sasha Farber; musician Anthony Gargiula; actress Loren Gray; singer Cheryl Porter; Grand Ole Opry announcer Kelly Sutton; and Rolling Stone editor Shirley Halperin, an East Brunswick native.

Thistle sang an earnest and soulful version of Sam Fender’s “Seventeen Going Under” on the Thursday, Feb. 23 Hollywood Week episode.

Lionel Richie said “I like him” after he pumped his fist during the rendition.

“You’re so ready for this,” said Luke Bryan of Thistle.

Music legends Lyle Lovett with John Hiatt are also fans of Thistle, a Paramus native.

“We’ve know Jake since he was a youngster and we’ve watched him grow and if you ever get a chance to hear Jake thistle play you will be glad you did,” said Lovett Wednesday, Match 4 from the stage of the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown.

Thistle thanked the music stars on social media.

“Both of them have been hugely important to my development as a songwriter and musician, and I was honored they took the time!” Thistle said.

The 21-year old has been a regular on Asbury Park stages and Bruce Springsteen-related shows in the area. Thistle has even shared the same stage as the Boss.

“American Idol” airs 8 p.m. Mondays on ABC and subsequently streams on Hulu.

Subscribe to app.com for the latest on the New Jersey music scene.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at cjordan@app.com

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