Hawai‘i Life. Hawai‘i Law.
The COVID-19 pandemic is an extraordinary challenge for all employers, particularly small businesses already trying to make ends meet. Stay-at-home orders issued by several states, including Hawai’i, intended to stop the rapid spread of the disease, have forced...
Firm News Coronavirus (COVID-19): Goodsill Continuing Client Services Mar 21, 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19): Goodsill Continuing Client Services We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and continue to take active steps to protect the well-being of our...
Employers, it is time to evaluate your compensation setting policy. Last month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that, in Hawai’i and other western states, an employer cannot use a “prior salary alone or in combination with other factors” to “justify a wage...
Employers should expect the Hawai’i Supreme Court to put the decision under a microscope. Employee’s "uncorroborated" and "self-serving" side of the story must be elicited and addressed before the decision is made. Employer’s documented reasons for termination “should...
Congress has avoided another government shutdown. The legislation, titled the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018,” is a 2,149-page behemoth that funds the federal government until September 30, 2018. Previously, the Trump Administration had signaled its intent to...
On February 1, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) regulates discharges of pollutants that travel indirectly through groundwater into a navigable “water of the United States,” such as the ocean. In Hawai’i...
Increasingly reports of harassment in the entertainment, news and political spheres are being brought to light. Victims are coming forward. Perpetrators are losing their jobs. Companies are being sued in court and heavily scrutinized by the media, as well as the...
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law in 2011, represents the most sweeping reform of food safety laws in the United States in more than 70 years. The FSMA imposes significant new responsibilities on food companies to proactively prevent food...
In the case of Gold Coast Neighborhood Association v. State of Hawai‘i, SCWC-14-0000472 (Aug. 25, 2017), the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai‘i held that, through decades of public use coupled with the State’s prior repair and maintenance of a seawall on private...