HB 854 Summary

• Adds new section to Chapter 394B, Hawaii Revised Statutes requiring successor employers to hire all incumbent nonsupervisory and nonconfidential employees when a covered establishment (25+ employees in preceding 12 months) is divested.

• Prohibits successor employers from requiring incumbent employees to submit employment applications unless existing employee files are incomplete.

• Requires successor employers to recognize existing collective bargaining agreements if sufficient incumbent employees remain in the bargaining unit to require recognition.

• Allows successor employers to retain less than 100 percent of incumbent employees only if the successor's business is substantially dissimilar to the former employer's business.

• Requires employers violating these provisions to compensate dislocated employees for the difference between their former wages and unemployment insurance benefits received during the covered period; directs the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to adopt implementing rules.