Corporate, Litigation, and Labor & Employment Lawyers

Honolulu and Hilo, HI

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions March 12 to March 18, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District Court properly granted summary judgment against ADA claim, because former teacher and his wife failed to raise genuine issue of material fact as to whether they were terminated because of his disability or reasonable accommodation requests.  District Court properly granted summary judgment under Fair Housing Act, because teacher...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions March 5 to March 11, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District Court properly denied employee’s motion for judgment as a matter of law and new trial on hostile work environment claim.  Although evidence could have supported employee’s claim, there was also support for the employer.  Several witnesses testified the conduct amounted to no more than jokes and horseplay   Employee’s...

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Directors Jeffrey S. Harris, Ronald I. Heller Selected for Inclusion to the Top 25 2016 Hawaii Super Lawyers List

Two of our attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers with inclusion in their Top 25 2016 Hawaii Super Lawyers List. The honorees are attorneys Jeffrey S. Harris and Ronald I. Heller, both Directors at Torkildson, Katz, Hetherington, Harris & Knorek Attorneys At Law. They were selected by Super Lawyers on the basis of independent...

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January and February 2017 Key NLRB Decisions; Christine K. D. Belcaid

Change on the Horizon:  On January 26, 2017, President Trump named Board member Philip A. Miscimarra Acting Chairman of the NLRB.  Miscimarra, who is the sole Republican member of the Board, was known for his colorful dissenting opinions often in favor of employers.  Trump will likely nominate Republicans to fill the two current vacancies on...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions Feb. 26, 2017 to Mar. 4, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court properly granted summary judgment against claim for failing to adequately compensate employee for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Breaks not authorized by the employer were not working time.  Sheehy v. Santa v. Santa Clara Valley Trans. Auth., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 3723 (9th Cir. Mar....

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions Feb. 19, 2017 to Feb. 25, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court improperly granted summary judgment against Title VII hostile work environment claim.  A reasonable juror could find supervisor greeting with unwelcome hugs on over 100 occasions and at least one kiss during a 12-year period was more than ordinary workplace socializing and became abusive.  Supervisor hugging and kissing...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions Feb. 12, 2017 to Feb. 19, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals National Labor Relations Board retained authority to order reinstatement of discharged employee, after employee entered settlement accepting payment and waiving reinstatement.  District court did not abuse discretion by granting Board temporary injunction requiring employee's reinstatement.  Because employer's speech was allegedly illegally coercive, ordinary standard for temporary injunction applied.  Regional...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions Feb. 5, 2017 to Feb. 11, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals District court properly denied motion to vacate arbitration award.  Failure to provide agreed upon reasoned opinion denying former employee's claim did not support vacating.  Decision contained enough reasons.  Failure to rule on all evidentiary issues did not support vacating award.  Award stated all claims not expressly granted were denied.  ...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions Jan 29, 2017 to Feb. 4, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

Section 301 Labor Management Relations Act preempted state law claims because resolving them would require interpreting the collective bargaining agreements and not only looking to them.  Estrada v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan, Inc., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 1800 (9th Cir. Feb. 1, 2017). District court improperly granted summary judgment against trade secrets misappropriation claim.  Plaintiff...

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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions Jan 22, 2017 to Jan 28, 2017 – Jeffrey S. Harris

District court improperly granted summary judgment against former employee's hostile work environment claim.  Reasonable trier of fact could conclude coworker's conduct was sufficiently severe or pervasive to create hostile work environment.  The employer knew about the conduct and failed to take corrective remedial action.  District court improperly granted summary judgment against disparate treatment claim.  Even...

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