Hawaii offers FML protections to public and private employers under its Family and Medical Leave Act (HI Rev. Stat. Sec. 398-1et seq.).
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Download Now The Hawaii Family Leave Act covers public and private employers with 100 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Public employers and private employers with fewer than 100 employees may have obligations under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). There is additional information on the FMLA.
In order to be eligible for family leave, the employee must be employed for not less than 6 consecutive months by the employer.
An employee must be entitled to a family leave upon the birth or adoption of a child; to care for the employee's child, spouse, or reciprocal beneficiary; or parent with a serious health condition.
This law, unlike the federal FMLA, does not entitle eligible employees to a medical leave due to an employee's own serious health condition.
A “child” means a biological, step, adopted, or foster child of an employee. The definition of “parent” appears to be broader under the state statute than under the federal FMLA. “Parent” includes a biological, foster, adoptive, stepparent, legal guardian, parent-in-law, grandparent, or grandparent-in-law.
An employee is entitled to only 4 weeks of family leave during any calendar year. The leave may be taken intermittently. In addition, the leave is not cumulative. The leave can be paid or unpaid or a combination of both. If an unpaid leave conflicts with the unreduced compensation required for exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act,