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Public schools to pay $325K in wrongful termination suit

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Hawaii’s public school system will pay $325,000 to settle a wrongful employee termination lawsuit that dragged on for more than six years.

Ross Nishi oversaw personnel matters for Hawaii island schools when he was fired in 2008 for improperly accessing the Hawaii criminal justice database for personal reasons. His attorney Ted Hong said a hearing officer who overturned the firing and determined it wasn’t based on probable cause was also fired.

Nishi was reinstated in 2014. The settlement is for back wages.

“No one in the DOE is being held accountable for the taxpayers now having to fund this settlement,” Hong said.

A state Department of Education spokes-woman declined to comment.

Nishi’s case is among three lawsuits taxpayers will pay nearly $420,000 to settle, Hono-lulu news station Hawaii News Now reported.

One case involved part-time cafeteria workers at Mili-lani High School. Their lawsuit said they weren’t hired for future work because they complained the cafeteria manager was drinking alcohol at school and falsifying payroll records. They will receive $13,500 to settle their case.

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