2025-09-26 Merit Appeal Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board September 26, 2025 CHR. CABANAS: It’s the HLRB meeting. Maybe they’ll meet here in the Councilroom or State Building? MS. GIBO: That I don’t know, but they are—they, generally, secure their own location. CHR. CABANAS: Okay. MS. GIBO: And, likely, to be someplace, maybe, more neutral—but as you folks are open to offering the location, I’m sure I can relay that to the Board. CHR. CABANAS: And if you need transportation, I’ll be happy to pick you up. MS. GIBO: Thank you, Chair. MR. THOMAS: I have, sort of, a generic question. I’m not sure where it fits in but, perhaps, you can tell me. The news reports from earlier in the week, I think, said—reported out in Alaska—a Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision that sounds a little like these cases—and I don’t know because I didn’t read or study or even find the case itself. But it had to do with Labor Relations Board looking at cases from Boards of Appeal—in this case, I think it came from Oʻahu—and what the standard is for the review of those cases. Does this sound familiar to the lawyers here or to anybody that’s seen something about this case and is it pertinent to what we have in front of us? No? MR. HONG: It’s actually—Mr. Thomas, it’s my case—that’s the Ruth Forbe’s case. It re-stated the law regarding agency appeals. What it basically said, and Ms. Gibo can correct me—that the—condensed down—it does apply to the Merit Appeals Board. That case involved the State Merit Appeals Board where the Merit Appeals Board made a decision, and the department appealed the decision. They felt that they needed to dance on Ruth Forbe’s grave in terms of punishment. So, the Circuit Court affirmed it. Well, actually, the Circuit Court reversed it—that was Judge Hiraoka. Then we went to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, and they affirmed Judge Hiraoka—and the Supreme Court, thankfully, reversed it. And what the Supreme Court said (inaudible) basically of that case is that, certainly, in an evidentiary contested case hearing, the Merit Appeals Board or the departmental—the agency— has that discretion, the authority to rule on issues of fact. So, the Appellate—whether it’s the Circuit Court level or higher—they don’t really get to second guess the Findings of Fact with respect to an agencies or commission or board’s decision. Does it apply or—does it apply in this case? Absolutely. It applies to all my existing appeals cases. Page 27