The union representing Kauai Police Department officers reached a settlement agreement with the county over COVID-19 hazard pay with initial payouts of approximately $20,000 coming in the next four to five months if the Kauai County Council votes to accept it.

The total cost of the settlement package has not been finalized. Kauai county officials do not yet have a firm cost estimate, but are working on one to present to Council members ahead of the vote.

The agreement between the county and the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, or SHOPO, covers officers who worked from March 4, 2020, through March 25, 2022. Officers would be compensated for hours actually worked during that period, not any leave time.

SHOPO’s Kauai chapter counts 121 members.

“We are pleased to have reached agreeable terms for a COVID THP (temporary hazard pay) settlement with SHOPO,” Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It was important to our administration that the settlements with various unions be consistent, and we appreciate our associates’ patience as we worked through the details.”

Voting material is being mailed to eligible police officers to the addresses the union has on file. Voting on the agreement begins Monday and closes at noon March 17.

In an email to SHOPO’s Kauai chapter members obtained by the Star-Advertiser, union President Robert Cavaco, a Honolulu Police Department lieutenant, announced the agreement with the county.

“After three years of legal and labor law process, the (SHOPO) State Board has a Hazard Pay compensation package worthy of your support,” Cavaco wrote. “We endorse this agreement, and we recommend you ratify it. The SHOPO State Board believes the compensation package in front of you provides the best financial benefit attainable through a negotiated agreement.”

Payouts will be based on the officer’s “actual experience” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is “highly likely” that members who worked consistently through the COVID-19-related hazard period will get a check for $20,000 or more.

The estimated payment timeline is four to five months after the agreement is ratified by the membership and the County Council, Cavaco said.

He told members familiar with Honolulu’s COVID-19 hazard pay settlement that they “may have noticed that SHOPO’s analysis of the two proposals is basically identical,” explaining that while each chapter “has to pursue hazard pay separately, each chapter relies upon the same collective bargaining agreement.”

A hypothetical calculation included in a short video message shared with members Thursday night shows what a KPD officer who worked during COVID-19 might receive.

The agreement covers up to 4,160 regular work hours per officer. The hourly rate for a police officer VII was $32.81, meaning the officer would have earned $136,490 over the two-year period. Fifteen percent of that amount is $20,473.

Hazard pay for overtime also is calculated at 15% of each overtime hour worked, regardless of rank or assignment.

The same police officer VII who worked two years of overtime at 600 hours a year would earn $39,372 by the terms of the agreement, for an additional $5,905 in hazard pay.

At the end of February, members of the Honolulu police officers union overwhelmingly voted to accept a COVID-19 hazard pay settlement with the city worth more than $30 million, with initial payouts of $20,000 or more by June 30.

Of the 946 votes cast, 890 were in support of the settlement, 49 were opposed and there were seven blank votes. The number of eligible SHOPO Honolulu chapter voters was 1,653.

“Just as was the case in Honolulu, while it is impossible to predict the future, we do believe that if the agreement is not ratified, we will not likely see future settlement discussions with the county,” Cavaco wrote. “You all have been patient through this cumbersome, frustrating process. We appreciate that. We hope you see the value in the settlement package before you.”