Minimum Wage Law Summaries
Hawaii, Minimum Wage Law Summaries
Hawaii's minimum wage law is codified in the Hawaii Code Annotated at Division 1, Title 21, Chapter 387. The full text of the law is available beginning at Wages-Hours ¶12-41,001 .
DEFINITIONS
“Employer” includes any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal representative, or any organized group of persons, acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee, but does not include Hawaii, its political subdivisions or the United States (Sec. 387-1, as amended by S. 2787, L. 2001, effective April 23, 2002).
“Employee” includes any individual employed by an employer, but does not include an individual employed (Sec. 387-1, as amended by S. 294, L. 2005):
at a guaranteed compensation totaling $2,000 or more a month, whether paid weekly, biweekly, or monthly;
in agriculture for any workweek in which the employer employs less than 20 employees or in agriculture for any workweek in which the individual is engaged in coffee harvesting;
in domestic service in or about the employer's home or as a houseparent in any home or shelter maintained for child welfare purposes by a tax-exempt charitable organization;
by the individual's brother, sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son, daughter, spouse, parent, or parent-in-law;
in a bona fide executive, administrative, supervisory, or professional capacity or in the capacity of outside salesperson or as an outside collector;
in the propagating, catching, taking, harvesting, cultivating, or farming of any kind of fish, shellfish, crustacean, sponge, seaweed, or other aquatic forms of animal or vegetable life, including the going to and returning from work and the loading and unloading of the products prior to first processing;
on a ship or vessel and who has a Merchant Mariners Document issued by the United States Coast Guard;
as a driver of a vehicle carrying passengers for hire operated solely on call from a fixed stand;
as a golf caddy;
by a nonprofit school during the time the individual is a student attending such school;
in any capacity, if the employee's minimum wage for the workweek is prescribed by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act; however, if the FLSA's minimum wage is less than Hawaii's minimum wage, Hawaii's minimum wage provision will apply for that workweek;
as a seasonal youth camp staff member in a resident situation in a youth camp sponsored by tax-exempt charitable, religious, or nonprofit organizations or in a youth camp accredited by the American Camping Association; or
as an automobile salesperson primarily engaged in the selling of automobiles or trucks if employed by a licensed automobile or truck dealer.
“Tipped employee” means any employee engaged in an occupation in which the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $20 a month in tips (Sec. 387-1, as amended by S. 2787, L. 2001, effective April 23, 2002).
COVERAGE
All private employees, except those specifically excluded from the law, are covered by Hawaii's minimum wage law.
EXCEPTIONS
See DEFINITIONS above.
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
Until January 1, 2006, the minimum wage is $6.25 per hour. Beginning January 1, 2006, the minimum wage will increase to $6.75 per hour. Beginning January 1, 2007, the minimum wage will increase to $7.25 per hour (Sec. 387-2, as amended by S. 294, L. 2005).
Tipped employee credit.- The hourly wage of a tipped employee may be deemed to be increased on account of tips, if the employee is paid not less than $.25 below the applicable minimum wage and the combined amount the employee receives from the employer and in tips is at least $.50 more than the applicable minimum wage (Sec. 387-2, as amended by S. 1144, L. 2001).
Subminimum wages.- The director may issue rules for the employment of individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by old age or physical or mental deficiency or injury, under special certificates and at wages lower than the applicable minimum wage and for a certain period of time stated in the certificates (Sec. 387-9, as amended by H. 758, L. 2005).
Learners, apprentices, students and paroled youth.- The Director of Labor and Industrial Relations may issue rules for the employment of learners, apprentices, part-time employees who are full-time students attending public or private schools other than colleges, universities, business schools, or technical schools, and of wards paroled from the Hawaii youth correctional facility, under special certificates, at wages lower than the applicable minimum wage and subject to time, number, proportion, and length-of-service limitations (Sec. 387-9, as amended by H. 758, L. 2005).
Standards.- The director may prescribe standards and requirements by rule to ensure that subminimum wages will not create a substantial probability of reducing the full-time employment opportunities of persons other than those to whom the special minimum wage rate is applicable (Sec. 387-9, as amended by H. 758, L. 2005).
School personnel.- Except as provided in Sec. 387-9 above, the wages of meal count assistants, adult supervisors, and classroom cleaners of the Department of Education shall be no less than the current state minimum wage (Sec. 1, H. 758, L. 2005).
Agreements.- No provision of Hawaii's minimum wage law may in any way be contravened or set aside by private agreement (Sec. 387-4.5).
Collective bargaining.- Nothing in Hawaii's minimum wage law may interfere with, impede, or in any way diminish the right of employees to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing in order to establish wages in excess of the applicable statutory minimum (Sec. 387-13).
Open workplaces.- Every employer must permit the director or an authorized representative to confer with and interrogate employees at the place of employment and during working hours with respect to any matter cognizable under the minimum wage law (Sec. 387-6).
NOTICE
Every employer must post and keep posted notices pertaining to the application of Hawaii's minimum wage law as prescribed by the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations in conspicuous places in every establishment where any employee is employed so as to permit the employee to observe readily a copy on the way to or from the employee's worksite (Sec. 387-6).
The director will furnish copies of the minimum wage law to interested persons, upon request, without charge. Copies of the director's orders, rules and regulations will also be furnished to affected employers without charge (Sec. 387-6).
ENFORCEMENT
The Director of Labor and Industrial Relations enforces the minimum wage law (Sec. 387-5).
Confidential records.- Information secured from the inspection of the records, from transcriptions, or from the inspection of the employer's premises by the director or an authorized representative, will be held confidential and may not be disclosed or be open to any person. However, the information may be made available to officials concerned with the administration of laws relating to matters under the jurisdiction of the director; to any state or federal agency for the purposes of enforcing the minimum wage law; to an employee to the extent necessary for the proper presentation of the employee's legal claim; or to the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions of the United States Department of Labor (Sec. 387-8).
Court actions.- At the request of any person paid less than the amount to which the person is entitled under Hawaii's minimum wage law, the director may take an assignment in trust for the assigning employee of the full amount to which the employee is entitled and may bring any legal action necessary to collect the claim. The employer will be required to pay the costs and such reasonable attorney's fees if the director prevails. The director will not be required to pay the filing fee, or other costs, in connection with the action (Sec. 387-12).
Injunctions.- Whenever it appears to the director that an employer is engaged in any act or practice that constitutes a violation of Hawaii's minimum wage law or minimum wage regulation, the director may bring an action to enjoin the act or practice and to enforce compliance with the law or with the regulation, and upon a proper showing, a permanent or temporary injunction or decree or restraining order will be granted without bond (Sec. 387-12).
The circuit courts have jurisdiction, for cause shown, to restrain any withholding of payment of minimum wages found by the court to be due to employees under the minimum wage or maximum hours provisions (Sec. 387-12).
Employee's remedies.- Any employer that violates Hawaii's minimum wage provisions or the maximum hours provisions will be liable to the employee or employees affected in the amount of their unpaid minimum wages, and in case of willful violation, an additional equal amount as liquidated damages (Sec. 387-12).
In addition to any judgment awarded to the employee or employees, the court will require costs of the action and a reasonable attorney's fee to be paid by the employer (Sec. 387-12).
WHO TO CONTACT
Contact the Director of the Labor and Industrial Relations Department, 830 Punchbowl Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. Telephone: (808) 586-8844. Fax: (808) 586-9099.
RECORDKEEPING
Every employer must keep records in the workplace that show the name, address, and occupation of each employee, the amount paid each pay period to each employee, the hours worked each day and each work week by each employee, and any other information prescribed by regulation.
Open records.- The Director of Labor and Industrial Relations or an authorized representative has the right to access and copy the records for the purpose of examination. Every employer must furnish information relating to the employment of workers to the director or an authorized representative as required by the director (Sec. 387-6).
POSTING
Every employer must post and keep posted notices pertaining to the application of Hawaii's minimum wage law as prescribed by the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations in conspicuous places in every establishment where any employee is employed so as to permit the employee to observe readily a copy on the way to or from the employee's worksite (Sec. 387-6). See ¶12-9900 .
PENALTIES
Wage violations.- Any employer, or its agent or officer, that pays or agrees to pay any employee compensation less than that to which the employee is entitled under Hawaii's minimum wage law, or that willfully violates any minimum wage provision, rule, regulation, or order, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, will be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 or by imprisonment for a period not to exceed one year, or by both (Sec. 387-12).
Records violations.- Any employer that willfully refuses to admit the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations or an authorized representative to any place of employment; that fails to keep or that falsifies any required record; that refuses to make records accessible; or that refuses to give information required for enforcement purposes, upon demand, to the director or an authorized representative will be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than 90 days, or both (Sec. 387-7).
Breaches of confidentiality.- Any person divulging information in violation of the provision requiring that records be kept confidential is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, will be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 or by imprisonment for a period not to exceed one year, or by both (Sec. 387-12).
Interference with enforcement.- Any employer that willfully hinders or delays the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations or an authorized representative in the performance of their minimum wage enforcement duties or that willfully refuses to admit the director or an authorized representative to any place of employment will be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than 90 days, or both (Sec. 387-7).
Discrimination.- Any employer, or its agent or officer, that discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because the employee has made a complaint to the employee's employer, to the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, or to any other person that the employee has not been paid wages in accordance with the minimum wage law, has instituted or caused to be instituted any minimum wage proceeding, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceedings, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, will be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500 or by imprisonment for a period not to exceed one year, or by both (Sec. 387-12).
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