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<br />Merit Appeals Board July 18, 2025 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MR. AGUINALDO: And I do agree with the mental evaluation. Every year you have to register <br />your firearms—that’s one of the requirements of Hawai ʿ i Police Department. <br /> <br />But the confusing aspect is, Mr. Hong, your client—is he coming in because he was coming in <br />for appeal for his termination of—(inaudible) of his one-year probation or are the argument here, <br />is his disability discrimination, age discrimination—so, which is it? <br /> <br />MR. HONG: So, what we’re alleging—and, again, it’s a very lengthy statement— <br /> <br />MR. AGUINALDO: Mm-hmm. <br /> <br />MR. HONG: And I think it’s easy to get sidetracked by the superficial. But if you dig deep, <br />what we’re saying is his termination was because he didn’t meet the firearms qualification. <br /> <br />MR. AGUINALDO: Okay. <br /> <br />MR. HONG: And the evidence that we’re going to be prepared to show is that in terms of the <br />firearms qualification, they said, ‘Okay, we’re going to provide you with this type of training”— <br /> <br />MR. AGUINALDO: Mm-hmm. <br /> <br />MR. HONG: —and they didn’t provide it. <br /> <br />MR. AGUINALDO: Okay. <br /> <br />MR. HONG: So, if you don’t provide the right training, how is it you expect the employee—you <br />get a prospective probationary employee to meet those requirements? And that’s what—that’s <br />what we’re here for. <br /> <br />CHR. CABANAS: Okay. So let me interject because the hearing, if we have a hearing, it’s—do <br />we, as the Merit Appeals Board have jurisdiction to hear this appeal? That’s the focus, this <br />morning. <br /> <br />We’re not going to go into the merits of the case because that’s not appropriate. So, we’ve <br />allowed questions to be asked of the attorneys but it’s only really to focus on whether we have <br />the jurisdiction or not. <br /> <br />His appeal does say it’s based on age and discrimi—age and disability discrimination. That’s the <br />appeal. <br /> <br />Mr. Hong is explaining that there were other factors and focusing in on him not—Mr. Enriquez <br />not getting enough of the required firearm training, but there were also other factors written up in <br />the—that Mr. Enriquez shared as it’s in his explanation for this situation to have been arrived at. <br />There are other factors as well. <br /> <br />Page 19 <br /> <br /> <br />