2022-03-10 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board March 10, 2022 CHR. CABANAS: It's still at his discretion. MR. YOSHIMOTO: Correct. CHR. CABANAS: to accept it or not. Okay. BecauseI don't know about the others but when we are out and about, people know that we are on the Merit Appeals Board that individuals may be approaching any of us providing comments or even suggestions or just making comments. And that has even occurred with me. They know I'm on the Merit Appeals Board, they know I've worked for the department many yearsso, they'll tell me something. So, I guess what I'm trying to say the exchange of ideas that we're now having is productive and to please take it constructively. MR. LEOPOLDINO: Sure. CHR. CABANAS: And, again, if there's any way that we can help—whatever it might be we'll pass it through our legal counsel `cause that's why J is here—and see if that's something we can do to support you and the department—'cause that's, basically, what we should be doing, yeah? MR. LEOPOLDINO: Yeah, great. Thank you. CHR. CABANAS: So, just kind of—our questions is so that we understand and then maybe we can be of little help. I don't know—some help to you folks. And I'll yield in caseCharlie, you wanted to say something? Go ahead. MR. KUNZ: I just wanted to underscore, I think, Waylen, a couple of things going back to the minimum wage and other employers poaching other employees on the West side. And I don't I can't even remember if it was almost 18 or 20 year ago, I had to—or more than that actually managed the Kona office before I managed the Hilo office. And back then, Pizza Hut closed and only did drive-thru and 7 -Eleven was bringing in employees from Maui. And this was, like, 25 years ago. So, it's still very prevalent issue. I did want to have one thought thrown out for all of us to remember that one of the things with civil services jobs, State and County, is the compensation through the fringe benefit rate. And that is another area that maybe doesn't quite translate into the minimum wage, but the usually the fringe benefit rate is rather high—and that marketing of that with recruiting people is one selling point. But I can understand that the wage part becomes an issue. But a lot of times, I think, for other employers fringe the fringe benefits can't even compete with the civil service jobs. So, I mean, there's a tug and pull with this as well and it's how you, I think, couch it, that that allows for a recruiting fiasco or recruiting bonus. But I just wanted to make sure that we Page 22