Employee Handbook

EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

State of Hawaiʻi

[COMPANY LEGAL NAME]

Effective Date: [MM/DD/YYYY]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Handbook Status and Administration
2. Equal Employment, Accommodation, and Victim Safety
3. Wage, Hour, Payday, and Break Policies
4. Family, Medical, Victim, Court, Voting, and Company Leave
5. Health Coverage, Disability, Safety, and Workers' Compensation
6. Records, Employment Eligibility, and Protected Activity
7. Conduct, Attendance, and Corrective Action
8. Separation of Employment
9. Administration and Acknowledgment

1. HANDBOOK STATUS AND ADMINISTRATION

1.1 Purpose and Scope

This Handbook states the general policies of [Company Legal Name] (the “Company”) for Employees working in Hawaiʻi. It must be completed for the Company's workforce, locations, industry, benefits, and any collective bargaining agreement before distribution.

1.2 Not a Contract; Employment Relationship

This Handbook is not an employment contract, a promise of employment for a fixed term, or a guarantee that any particular corrective-action step will be used. Unless a signed agreement, collective bargaining agreement, or applicable law provides otherwise, either the Employee or the Company may end employment at any time. Only [AUTHORIZED TITLE] may sign an agreement changing that relationship.

1.3 Reporting Channels and Anti-Retaliation

An Employee may report a concern orally or in writing to [SUPERVISOR], [HR CONTACT], or [ALTERNATE/ETHICS CONTACT], and may bypass anyone involved in the concern. The Company will respond promptly and impartially and prohibits retaliation for good-faith reports, accommodation requests, wage complaints, protected leave, jury service, safety reports, workers' compensation activity, participation in an investigation, or other legally protected conduct.

1.4 Definitions and Coverage Review

“Employee” means an individual employed by the Company, whether full-time, part-time, temporary, or seasonal. A statute or benefit plan may use a different eligibility definition.

“Workweek” means the fixed seven-day period beginning at [DAY/TIME] and ending at [DAY/TIME] for payroll and overtime purposes.

Complete before issue:

• Fifty or more Employees for the 30-day victim-leave tier: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• One hundred or more Hawaiʻi Employees for each working day in 20 or more weeks for Hawaiʻi family leave: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Prepaid Health Care Act coverage and eligible Employees reviewed: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Temporary Disability Insurance plan approved or insured: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Workers' compensation coverage secured: ☐ Yes ☐ No
• Federal FMLA-covered employer and eligible worksites: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ Review required
• Collective bargaining agreement applies: ☐ Yes ☐ No

2. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT, ACCOMMODATION, AND VICTIM SAFETY

2.1 Equal Employment Opportunity

The Company prohibits discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on race; sex, including pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, gender identity or expression; sexual orientation; age; religion; color; ancestry; disability; marital status; arrest and court record; reproductive health decision; domestic or sexual violence victim status; national origin; genetic information; military or veteran status; or any other status protected by Company policy or applicable law. Employment decisions will be based on lawful job-related considerations.

2.2 Complaint Procedure

Employees should report discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or an accommodation need to [HR CONTACT] or [ALTERNATE CONTACT]. Reports will be addressed promptly and as confidentially as reasonably possible. Employees may contact a government agency or pursue another protected remedy without first exhausting this internal process.

2.3 Disability, Religion, and Pregnancy Accommodation

The Company will engage in an appropriate interactive process and provide reasonable accommodation when required for disability, religion, pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. Human Resources must evaluate each request under the law that provides the Employee the greatest applicable protection.

2.4 Lactation Breaks and Space

For one year after a child's birth, the Company will provide reasonable break time whenever an Employee needs to express milk and a location other than a restroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusion. Break time will be compensated when required by applicable wage law or Company policy.

An employer with fewer than twenty Employees may rely on Hawaiʻi's statutory undue-hardship exception only after Human Resources and counsel review significant difficulty or expense in relation to the Company's size, resources, nature, and structure. The Company will post the required Hawaiʻi notice and separately comply with any broader federal protection.

2.5 Domestic or Sexual Violence Safety Accommodation

An Employee who is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking may request a reasonable workplace safety accommodation, such as changed contact information, screened calls, restructured duties, a different work location, locks or other security measures, or flexible hours. The Company will provide an accommodation required by Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-81 unless it would cause statutory undue hardship.

Human Resources may request only verification permitted by law, will limit access to victim-related information, and will coordinate this section with Section 4.3.

3. WAGE, HOUR, PAYDAY, AND BREAK POLICIES

3.1 Classification and Minimum Wage

Human Resources will classify workers based on actual duties and the working relationship, not labels alone. Salaried status by itself does not establish an exemption.

Hawaiʻi's minimum wage is $16.00 per hour beginning January 1, 2026 and is scheduled to increase to $18.00 per hour beginning January 1, 2028. The Company will pay the highest applicable federal, state, local, contractual, or Company rate. A tip credit or exemption may be used only after written payroll and legal review.

3.2 Timekeeping and Overtime

Non-exempt Employees must accurately record all time worked, including authorized or unauthorized work before or after a shift, remote work, compensable travel, training, interrupted meals, and work communications. Working off the clock is prohibited, but all time actually worked must be recorded and paid.

Covered non-exempt Employees will receive one and one-half times the regular rate for hours worked over forty in a Workweek when required by Haw. Rev. Stat. § 387-3 or the Fair Labor Standards Act. Overtime should be approved in advance, but lack of approval does not permit unpaid work. Human Resources must separately review Hawaiʻi's statutory industry exceptions, including the limited seasonal agricultural and processing rule, before using one.

3.3 Paydays, Statements, Direct Deposit, and Deductions

The pay frequency is [WEEKLY / BIWEEKLY / SEMIMONTHLY], and payday is [____]. Unless a lawful election or Department of Labor and Industrial Relations approval permits another schedule, wages will be paid at least twice each calendar month on regular paydays designated in advance and within seven days after the end of each pay period.

Employees must promptly review each wage statement and report a suspected error to [PAYROLL CONTACT]. Direct deposit will be voluntary and administered under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 388-2. The Company will make deductions required by law and deductions otherwise permitted by law; it will not make a deduction that unlawfully reduces minimum wage or overtime pay.

3.4 Meal and Rest Periods

Hawaiʻi law does not generally require meal or rest periods for adult Employees. The Company policy is:

• Meal period: [____ minutes after ____ hours / not offered]
• Rest periods: [____ minutes and frequency / not offered]
• Timekeeping method: [automatic deduction / clock out and in / other]

An unpaid meal period generally requires at least thirty minutes during which the Employee is completely relieved of duty. Any work during a meal period must be reported and paid. Rest periods of five through twenty minutes will be treated as paid work time. Human Resources must separately apply the Hawaiʻi child-labor rule requiring a thirty-minute rest or meal period for a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old after five consecutive hours of work.

3.5 Vacation, Sick Time, and General PTO

The Company's written policy is:

• Accrual method: [____]
• Carryover or cap: [____]
• Permitted uses: [____]
• Separation payout rule: [____]
• Scheduling and approval rules: [____]

Hawaiʻi family-leave law does not require an employer to create a sick-leave plan. If the Company offers sick leave or a PTO bank usable for sickness and Section 4.1 applies, the policy must permit the required family-leave use.

4. FAMILY, MEDICAL, VICTIM, COURT, VOTING, AND COMPANY LEAVE

4.1 Hawaiʻi Family Leave

This section applies if the Company employs one hundred or more Employees in Hawaiʻi for each working day during at least twenty calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. An Employee with at least six consecutive months of service may take up to four weeks of family leave in a calendar year, including intermittently, for:

• the birth of the Employee's child or adoption of a child; or
• care of the Employee's child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, sibling, grandchild, or parent with a serious health condition.

The leave may be paid, unpaid, or a combination. An eligible Employee may elect to substitute accrued paid leave as permitted by Haw. Rev. Stat. § 398-4. If the Company provides sick leave, it will permit up to ten days of accrued and available sick leave per year for Hawaiʻi family-leave purposes, subject to the statutory TDI floor and any more generous collective bargaining agreement. This rule does not create additional sick leave.

Employees should give [NOTICE PERIOD] notice when practicable and contact [LEAVE ADMINISTRATOR] for certification and coordination with other leave. The Company will not interfere with or retaliate for protected Hawaiʻi family leave.

4.2 Federal Family and Medical Leave

The FMLA applies to private employers with fifty or more Employees in at least twenty workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year and to covered public employers. An Employee generally must have twelve months of service, 1,250 hours worked in the prior twelve months, and fifty Employees within seventy-five miles of the worksite.

Eligible Employees may receive up to twelve workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for qualifying family, medical, and military-exigency reasons and up to twenty-six workweeks in a single twelve-month period for qualifying military-caregiver leave. A separate FMLA policy and required notices control administration. Hawaiʻi family leave and FMLA leave may differ in covered relatives, eligibility, and permitted sick-leave use, so Human Resources must analyze both.

4.3 Domestic or Sexual Violence Victim Leave

An Employee with at least six consecutive months of service may take unpaid leave when the Employee or the Employee's minor child is a victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or stalking and leave is needed for medical attention, victim services, counseling, relocation, legal action, or another statutory safety purpose.

• If the Company employs fifty or more Employees, the maximum is thirty days per calendar year.
• If the Company employs not more than forty-nine Employees, the maximum is five days per calendar year.

An Employee must exhaust other paid or unpaid leave that is available for the same purpose before Hawaiʻi victim leave is applied, and the combined leave may not exceed the applicable maximum. The Employee must give reasonable notice unless notice is not practicable because of imminent danger. Human Resources may request only the certification allowed by Haw. Rev. Stat. § 378-72, will maintain information in the strictest confidence subject to statutory exceptions, and will restore the Employee as required by law.

4.4 Jury Service

An Employee must promptly provide [CONTACT] a jury summons or notice of prospective jury service and follow reasonable call-in procedures. The Company will not discharge, threaten, coerce, or otherwise deprive an Employee of employment because the Employee received or responded to a summons, served as a juror, or attended court for prospective jury service.

Jury-service leave is [PAID / UNPAID] under Company policy. Any juror-fee offset must be approved by payroll and counsel before use.

4.5 Voting Leave

Hawaiʻi's former election-day employee-leave statute, Haw. Rev. Stat. § 11-95, is repealed. The Company nevertheless provides the following voting policy as a Company benefit:

• Notice: [____]
• Time available: [____]
• Paid or unpaid: [____]
• Scheduling contact: [____]

This section must not be described as a current statutory promise of two paid hours. Human Resources will separately review any later-enacted law before each election cycle.

4.6 Military and Other Protected Leave

The Company will provide military leave, nondiscrimination, and reemployment rights required by USERRA and other applicable law. Human Resources will also evaluate requests for accommodation, Hawaiʻi family leave, FMLA, victim leave, jury service, workers' compensation absence, and other protected leave rather than treating the absence as ordinary attendance misconduct.

4.7 Company Leave

5. HEALTH COVERAGE, DISABILITY, SAFETY, AND WORKERS' COMPENSATION

5.1 Prepaid Health Care Act

Subject to statutory exclusions and waivers, the Company will provide a Department-approved health care plan to an Employee who works at least twenty hours per week, earns at least 86.67 times the current Hawaiʻi minimum wage per month, and completes four consecutive weeks of employment. Coverage begins at the earliest enrollment date available through the health care contractor, usually the first of the following month. Plan documents and required notices control coverage details and permitted employee premium contributions.

5.2 Temporary Disability Insurance

The Company will maintain an insured, approved self-insured, or other authorized TDI plan for covered non-work-related disability, including pregnancy. Under the statutory benefit rules, an Employee generally must have at least fourteen weeks of Hawaiʻi employment in the preceding fifty-two weeks, with at least twenty paid hours in each such week, at least $400 in total earnings, and current employment when disability begins. The approved plan controls benefits, waiting period, claims, and any lawful contribution.

5.3 Workplace Safety and Workers' Compensation

Employees must follow safety rules, use required protective equipment, and promptly report hazards, injuries, and illnesses to [CONTACT]. The Company prohibits retaliation for a good-faith safety or injury report.

Unless excluded by law, a Hawaiʻi employer with one or more full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary Employees must secure workers' compensation coverage. Employees should report a work-related injury or illness immediately so the Company can meet insurance, notice, recordkeeping, and reporting duties. The Company will not require Employees to contribute toward workers' compensation premiums.

5.4 Drug and Alcohol Policy

The Company policy is [NO TESTING / SEPARATE TESTING POLICY ATTACHED]. This Handbook alone does not establish a drug-testing program or authorize applicant, random, reasonable-suspicion, post-accident, or return-to-duty testing. Any program must be separately reviewed for the Company's industry, federal obligations, disability and privacy rules, collection procedures, and any workers' compensation consequences.

5.5 Violence Prevention and Weapons

Threats, violence, and unauthorized weapons are prohibited in Company buildings, work areas, and Company-owned vehicles to the extent permitted by law. Human Resources must review applicable law before searching a private vehicle or acting on a report about a lawfully stored weapon.

6. RECORDS, EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY, AND PROTECTED ACTIVITY

6.1 Employment Eligibility Verification

The Company will complete and retain federal Form I-9 for each covered hire and will allow the Employee to choose from legally acceptable documents. The Company will not demand a particular document or use the process for unlawful discrimination.

6.2 Confidentiality and Lawful Disclosures

Employees must protect legitimate confidential and trade-secret information learned through work. This policy does not prohibit an Employee from reporting suspected unlawful conduct to a government agency or attorney, cooperating in an investigation, discussing wages or working conditions where protected, or engaging in other legally protected activity.

6.3 Personnel and Medical Records

The Company will maintain payroll, leave, accommodation, medical, testing, and personnel records with access limited to legitimate business and legal needs. Victim-leave and victim-accommodation records will receive the confidentiality required by Hawaiʻi law, and protected medical information will be stored separately or treated confidentially when required.

7. CONDUCT, ATTENDANCE, AND CORRECTIVE ACTION

7.1 Expected Conduct

Employees must perform assigned duties safely and honestly; comply with lawful policies; accurately record time and business records; protect Company, customer, and coworker property; avoid unlawful harassment, threats, or violence; and disclose actual conflicts of interest to [HR/COMPLIANCE].

7.2 Attendance and Call-In

Employees unable to report as scheduled must notify [CONTACT] by [METHOD] at least [____] before the shift when practicable. This policy will be administered consistently with accommodation, Hawaiʻi family leave, FMLA, victim leave, jury service, military leave, workers' compensation absence, and other protected-absence laws.

7.3 Corrective Action

The Company may use coaching, verbal warning, written warning, final warning, suspension, or termination. It may select or skip steps based on the circumstances. This policy does not create a contract or authorize action for a protected reason.

8. SEPARATION OF EMPLOYMENT

8.1 Notice and Return of Property

Employees are requested, but not required by this Handbook, to provide [ONE FULL PAY PERIOD / OTHER] notice of resignation. At separation, Employees must return Company property and records. The Company will not withhold earned wages as leverage for a disputed debt or unreturned property outside a deduction permitted by law.

8.2 Final Pay and Benefits

If the Company discharges an Employee, it will pay earned wages in full at discharge or, when immediate payment is prevented by the timing or conditions, no later than the next working day. If an Employee quits or resigns, earned wages will be paid no later than the next regular payday; however, an Employee who gives at least one pay period's notice will be paid all earned wages at the time of quitting.

Vacation, commissions, bonuses, expenses, severance, and benefits will be handled under the governing written policy, plan, agreement, and applicable law. Complete the separation payout rule in Section 3.5 before issue.

9. ADMINISTRATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

9.1 Policy Administration

The Company may prospectively revise policies in writing, subject to applicable law, earned wages and leave, contracts, and collective bargaining agreements. If a policy conflicts with controlling law, the law controls and the policy will be administered as closely as possible to its lawful purpose.

9.2 No Mandatory Internal Exhaustion

Employees are encouraged to use internal reporting channels, but nothing in this Handbook requires an Employee to waive or delay a right to contact a government agency, file a charge, report a crime, seek emergency assistance, consult counsel, discuss wages or working conditions where protected, or pursue another protected remedy.

9.3 Separate Agreements

Any arbitration, restrictive-covenant, invention-assignment, confidentiality, commission, bonus, or employment agreement must be separately drafted and reviewed for current Hawaiʻi and federal law. This Handbook itself does not impose arbitration, a jury waiver, employee indemnity, a damages cap, attorney-fee shifting, an exclusive court forum, or a force-majeure excuse from wage, leave, insurance, or safety obligations.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT

I, [EMPLOYEE NAME], acknowledge that I received the [Company Legal Name] Employee Handbook effective [MM/DD/YYYY] and understand that I am expected to follow its lawful policies. I understand that this acknowledgment and the Handbook are not employment contracts and do not promise employment for a fixed term.

Sources and References

• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS Chapter 378, Employment Practices
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 378-2, Discriminatory Practices
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 378-72, Domestic or Sexual Violence Leave
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 378-73, Relationship to Other Leave
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 378-81, Victim Safety Accommodations
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 378-92, Opportunity to Express Milk
• Hawaiʻi DLIR — Minimum Wage and Overtime
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 387-2, Minimum Wages
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 387-3, Overtime
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 388-2, Paydays
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 388-3, Final Wages
• Hawaiʻi DLIR — Meal and Rest Breaks
• Hawaiʻi DLIR — Hawaiʻi Family Leave
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 398-3, Family Leave Requirement
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 398-4, Paid and Unpaid Leave
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 398-8, Prohibited Acts
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS § 612-25, Protection of Jurors' Employment
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS Chapter 11, Showing §§ 11-93 to 11-95 Repealed
• Hawaiʻi DLIR — Prepaid Health Care Act
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS Chapter 393, Prepaid Health Care Act
• Hawaiʻi DLIR — Temporary Disability Insurance
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS Chapter 392, Temporary Disability Insurance
• Hawaiʻi DLIR — Workers' Compensation
• Hawaiʻi Legislature — HRS Chapter 386, Workers' Compensation Law
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA Hours Worked
• U.S. Department of Labor — FLSA Overtime
• U.S. Department of Labor — FMLA Frequently Asked Questions
• U.S. Department of Labor — Pump at Work
• U.S. Department of Labor — USERRA Rights
• USCIS — Completing Form I-9