Question: A friend recently had her first baby, and it was very hard to find information on paid maternity leave in Hawaii. She inquired with her human resources section and was told there was no allocation for paid maternity leave, unless she had sick leave to cover her time out. I read an article that said Hawaii was one of the few states that requires it. Can you help with some answers/clarification? I don’t think many people are aware of it, not even the experts.

Answer: Roman Amaguin, an employment and labor lawyer in Hawaii, provided us with information on what he said "is one of the most complex areas of the law."

There is no statute requiring "paid maternity leave," per se, he said. "However, there are statutes that would permit a pregnant employee to receive paid or unpaid leave, depending on the employer’s policy and discretion."

For example, he said, both the Hawaii Family Leave Law and the federal Family and Medical Leave Act require covered employers to grant leave for a period of time to eligible employees for the birth and care of a newborn.

The Hawaii law requires employers with at least 100 employees working 20 or more calendar weeks to provide up to four weeks of family leave per calendar year. The leave can be used for the birth or adoption of a child.

"Whether or not the leave is ‘paid’ depends on the established policy of the covered employer," Amaguin said. "For example, employers may require employees to exhaust vacation pay while they are on (the Hawaii or federal family leave). However, it is not a ‘paid leave’ requirement per se."

Amaguin also explained that Hawaii’s Temporary Disability Insurance law requires employers to have TDI insurance for eligible employees who have an extended disability associated with, among other things, pregnancy. TDI provides for weekly payments up to a maximum of 26 weeks for any period of disability, including pregnancy, during any benefit year, he said.

We also contacted the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations about any requirement for paid maternity leave. We were pointed to links from the department’s website — labor.hawaii.gov — about the TDI law, family leave law and other information concerning employee time off:

>> 1.usa.gov/1pflGWn

>> 1.usa.gov/1lFyr7N

>> 1.usa.gov/1pZVPxX

As explained by the Labor Department’s Disability Compensation Division, Hawaii’s TDI law requires employers to provide partial "wage replacement" insurance coverage to eligible employees for non-work-related injury or illness, including pregnancy.

To be eligible for TDI benefits, an employee must be in current Hawaii employment, worked at least 14 weeks during each of which was paid for 20 hours or more, and earned not less than $400 in the 52 weeks preceding the first day of disability. The 14 weeks don’t have to be consecutive or with one employer.

Let There Be LED

In June a reader complained about going to see the King Kamehameha statue on Kamehameha Day and finding it basically in darkness — bit.ly/1kMCQLs.

State Judiciary spokeswoman Marsha Kitagawa said the original halogen lights used to illuminate the statue were replaced by compact fluorescent lights several years ago to save energy.

She acknowledged CFLs do not provide as much light as halogen bulbs.

At that time, she said the Judiciary would like to replace the CFLs with the energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs, depending on cost.

Kitagawa told us last week that the Judiciary will be replacing the four CFL lights surrounding the statue with fixtures capable of using LED lights, which "provide much more illumination than CFL lights."

Mahalo

To the staff at the Union 76 at the Pearl City Shopping Center on Kamehameha Highway. They were friendly, polite and professional. My highest commendation to them all. — Grateful Customer

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.