Proposed Findings of Fact by the 2023 County of Hawaii Salary Commission Dated October 12, 2023

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Hawaii County Dept. of Human Resources 10/16/2023 01:19:37 PM county jurisdictions within the State, inversion challenges, and other public and private industry data. 5. Historically, the salaries established by the COH Salary Commission have been indexed to the increases given to County of Hawaii employees in collective Bargaining Units 11 (HFFA), 12 (SHOPO), and 13 (HGEA - Professional and Scientific Employees) ("collectively, BUs") and the various Civil Service managerial employees who are excluded from collective bargaining ("Excluded Managers"), but whose salaries are tied to the BUs. 6. The COH Salary Commission has not awarded any inflationary adjustment for the Covered Positions since January 1, 2018 and March 1, 2018 (depending on the Covered Position). The COH Salary Commission has not met to evaluate the salaries of Covered Positions since 2019. 7. The COH Salary Commission acknowledges that employees whose positions are included in or indexed to BU 11 are set to receive a cumulative total of 17.25% in across- the-board ("ATB") salary increases for the period July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2025. Employees whose positions are included in or indexed to BU 12 are set to receive a cumulative total of 21.25% in ATB salary increases for the period July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2025. Employees whose positions are included in or indexed to BU 13 are set to receive a cumulative total of 16.02% in ATB salary increases for the period July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2025. Covered Positions have not and currently are not scheduled to receive any increase in salaries since 2018. 8. The COH Salary Commission notes that quite often Department Heads and Deputy Department Heads are suffering from salary "inversion" where subordinate Civil Servant employees are paid higher salaries than the Department Heads and Deputy Department Heads who supervise them and oversee their work. This inversion provides a disincentive for experienced Civil Servants to step into Department Head and Deputy Department Head positions when they are vacated and makes it difficult for the Mayor and appointing boards and commissions to appoint or promote experienced managerial employees from within the County of Hawaii or to recruit qualified candidates for employment. The COH Salary Commission considered inversion information, which compared base salaries that did not also include other forms of monetary compensation, such as overtime pay and step increases. None of the Covered Positions are eligible for overtime pay or step increases. 9. The COH Salary Commission considered all the above information and determined it was necessary to be competitive with the current compensation of Covered Positions to ensure the County's ability to both retain and recruit qualified employees. In so doing, the COH Salary Commission also considered that there has been a 22.44% Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate change that has not been accounted for by failing to increase Covered