District Court properly granted union's petition to compel arbitration under a collective bargaining agreement. It was for the arbitrator to decide whether the parties' collective bargaining agreement had expired when the union sought to invoke the agreement's grievance and arbitration procedure against the employer, or whether, according to an "evergreen clause," the agreement continued in...
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Hawaii Employment Law Decisions from August 23, 2015 to August 29, 2015 - Jeffrey S. Harris
Persons who held legal title to the assets of an employee benefit plan with the intent to deal with these assets solely for the benefit of the members of the plan were "trustees" and their relationship with the members of the plan was a "trust" covered by ERISA, even though the documents that formed that...
Read MoreHawaii Employment Law Decisions from August 16, 2015 to August 22, 2015- Jeffrey S. Harris
An employee did not allege facts sufficient to show that her eczema substantially limited her in a major life activity and caused her to have a protected disability, the Court of Appeals explained in affirming the district court's dismissal of her disability discrimination complaint for failure to state a claim. Fee v. Mgmt. & Training...
Read MoreHawaii Employment Law Decisions from August 2, 2015 to August 8, 2015- Jeffrey S. Harris
District Court improperly granted summary judgment against former employee's retaliation claim, because supervisor's comments "I learned all about you" and "I spoke with another manager" a month before the employer began imposing discipline that lead to termination, and an appeals board's apparent departure from or possibly summary statement of the management's stated basis for the...
Read MoreHawaii Employment Law Decisions from July 26, 2015 to August 1, 2015- Jeffrey S. Harris
District Court properly entered judgment against employee, because he failed to prove that the employer did not provide him reasonable accommodation for his disability. Katz v. Lew, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13388 (9th Cir. July 21, 2015). District Court properly granted summary judgment against employee's discrimination claims, because he failed to raise a genuine issue...
Read MoreSept. 18, 2015: John Knorek Speaks at Condominium Council of Maui Employment Seminar
On Friday, September 18, 2015, John Knorek of Torkildson, Katz presented hot topics in employment law at the Condominium Council of Maui Employment Law Seminar. His presentation addressed the question, "is at will employment dead?"
Read MoreOct. 8, 2015: Employment Law Workshop (Maui)
On Thursday, October 8, 2015, John L. Knorek of Torkildson, Katz will be presenting "Employment Handbooks, What's In and What's Out" a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Update. If your employee handbook hasn't been updated in the past six months, it's out of date. Your employee handbook can be an invaluable organizational tool...or an employment lawsuit waiting...
Read MoreNov. 16, 2015: Ronald Heller to Speak at Seminar on Limited Liability Companies
On November 16, 2015, Ronald Heller will be speaking on Limited Liability Companies at a seminar presented by the National Business Institute. Date: Monday, November 16, 2015 Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:40 p.m. Location: Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive, Honolulu, HI 96814 Seminar Overview Explore the Advantageous Uses and Benefits of LLCs Limited liability companies can...
Read MoreJoin Us To Follow Up On Matters Covered During The 22nd Annual Hawaii Employment Law Seminar
Torkildson Katz Moore Hetherington and Harris will host programs to cover in more detail matters discussed during the 22nd Annual Hawaii Employment Law Seminar. The firm will hold the following three one hour programs in our large conference room on the 15th Floor at 700 Bishop Street on the dates and times shown: September 9...
Read MoreHawaii Employment Law Decisions from July 19 to July 25 - Jeffrey S. Harris
A district court properly granted summary judgment requiring an employer to contribute to a trust fund in the month following an employee's termination, transfer to a non-union position or opt-out; assuming that the collective bargaining agreement was ambiguous, based on uncontradicted evidence of industry practice requiring reporting hours that month, coupled with eligibility depending on...
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