Kauai County Mayor Derek Kawakami can’t be serious about his recent (and unfair) offer to settle our temporary hazard pay case on behalf of our members. While the state is offering a settlement of $10,000 or $20,000 based on days worked during the emergency proclamation, Kawakami offered a paltry $7,000 for everyone, whether employed during the pandemic or not.
You gotta be kidding with this. Were Kauai County employees less affected by the pandemic than their state government colleagues? No way. We are better off proceeding with the second phase of arbitration than entertaining meager offers from Mayor Kawakami.
HGEA is not going to relent. We’ve already secured a phase I decision establishing that a hazard indeed existed for county employees during the pandemic, covering the duration of Gov. David Ige’s emergency proclamation from March 4, 2020 to March 25, 2022. And while the arbitrator went beyond the scope of the case by making eligibility decisions, HGEA is still in a strong position to argue in the next phase that our members deserve fair compensation, whether at the most severe (25%) or severe (15%) level.
We will accept no less than what the state is offering its employees.
