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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-08-16 Merit Appeals Board MinutesHilo, Hawaii Tuesday, August 16, 2010 The regular meeting of the Merit Appeals Board, County of Hawaii, was held in the conference room of the Department of Human Resources, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 2, Hilo, Hawaii, on Tuesday, August 16, 2010. Present: Mr. G. Rick Robinson, Chair Mr. Gary Yoshiyama, Vice Chair Mr. Brian De Lima, Member Mr. Kenneth Rowe, Member Mr. Ronald K. Takahashi, Director of Human Resources Ms. Sharon Toriano, Deputy Director of Human Resources Ms. Diane Noda, Deputy Corporation Counsel Ms. Yumi Nakamura, Clerk III Ms. Velma Y. Menezes, Secretary- Reporter Excused: Mr. Henry "Hank" Silva, Member Chair Robinson called the meeting to order at 9:34 a.m. MINUTES OF JULY 20, 2010 MOTION: Vice Chair Yoshiyama moved that the minutes of July 20, 2010 be approved as circulated. The motion was seconded by Mr. Rowe and unanimously carried. DIRECTOR'S REPORT Mr. Takahashi reported the following: 1) Workers' Compensation Presentation. Mr. Takahashi introduced Ms. Charmaine Kamaka, division head for the Health & Safety Division. Hawaii County is an U qual Opportunitq provider and F,mploger. Ms. Kamaka gave a presentation on workers' compensation and also responded to questions the Board had asked at its March 16 meeting. a) What is our exposure or liability for vehicle accidents when a vehicle is County subsidized? (This question was originally in reference to police officers.) Police officers have the option of obtaining property coverage either through SHOPO or through their own carrier with a maximum of $250 for collision and $100 for comprehension. By contract, the County pays the deductible and the officer pays the premium. When no property coverage is obtained, the County of Hawaii has no obligation to contribute. Chair Robinson asked whether there are other individuals using cars that are subsidized. Ms. Toriano stated that she knows of directors or deputies who use their personal vehicle to commute across the island and are given an allowance. It wouldn't be called a subsidy, however. Ms. Toriano noted that this subject came up because the Board has been looking at a log of vehicle accidents every month. She asked whether the Board wants to continue to look at this log. Vice Chair Yoshiyama responded that if Ms. Kamaka keeps the information in the form of statistical information, that's all the Board needs to see, rather than a narrative. In reference to the recent case in Kona where a County employee was driving a County vehicle without a license and hit a bicyclist, Ms. Kamaka noted that they're putting something together right now to track every employee by department, with the license expiration date. While it is the employees' responsibility to maintain their license, the County does have an inherent exposure or liability if they don't. Further, Ms. Kamaka is developing a policy that mirrors the Department of Transportation rules that say if an employee has a moving violation, it is the employee's duty to notify the employer in writing of that moving violation. This pertains to those employees who either operate a County vehicle or receive mileage reimbursement for using their own vehicle for County business. Ms. Toriano noted that the monitoring and possession of licenses was a role that was decentralized, and they're finding that they have to take a more active role. oil Mr. De Lima asked about a County -wide policy on the minimum amount of insurance Police should be required to have, as well as perhaps the other employees who receive car allowances. Ms. Kamaka stated that there may be a requirement; she'll find out. She noted that Fire and Parks are fully (self) insured. b) Why did Parks and Recreation have so many IAs (industrial accidents) for February? Ms. Kamaka explained that what the Board saw was a snapshot, and they happened to see a snapshot of a period where Parks had a lot of accidents. Ms. Kamaka showed the Board a year -to -date graphic of Parks and Recreation. In looking at the graph, Parks had a significant reduction last fiscal year and was the most improved department with a substantial reduction in the number of accidents. Chair Robinson asked if an industrial accident equates to a workers' comp claim, to which Ms. Kamaka responded that it's not necessarily so. There are two kinds of claims: 1) an incident report whereby the employee doesn't seek medical treatment; and 2) a workers' comp claim. Overall, the County is continuing to reduce its workers' comp claims. Ms. Kamaka distributed graphs and reviewed them with the Board. Since Ms. Kamaka came to work here in 2001, they have continued to reduce the number of claims each year. They went from a high of 800+ claims in 2001 and are currently down to 300+ claims. Ms. Kamaka also tracked new claims by number of employees, so even though the workforce was climbing and their exposure went up, they continued to keep the number of claims down. They're spending roughly $2.5 million a year on average right now for workers' compensation claims, which is still high but lower than it had been. c) What initiatives have been taken to reduce industrial injuries either by Safety or individual departments? Ms. Kamaka stated that they work to encourage departments to establish safety committees. They find that departments or divisions that have active safety committees have fewer accidents because they take ownership of their programs and take pride in their operations and the fact that they don't have accidents. Ms. Kamaka provides reports to departments that identify their respective trends from which they can develop preventative strategies. Her 3 division develops and presents a variety of safety training programs, and conducts in -house safety inspections to identify and eliminate hazards, which also reduces the potential for occupational safety and health fines. Ms. Kamaka's division does departmental safety checklists where they go in to a worksite and do their own safety inspections, and they provide an employee assistance program for troubled employees. An initiative they take with respect to claims handling is the assignment of case management nurses to the more complex claims. They conduct thorough, comprehensive claims investigations and management to stave off meritless claims; they assign litigious claims with potential for high payout to outside legal counsel; and they return injured workers back to light duty as soon as they can get a release from the physician, and that facilitates a speedy recovery. Mr. De Lima commended Ms. Kamaka on the above and suggested that the information be shared in the County online newsletter or through a press release. Chair Robinson asked that Ms. Kamaka also provide information on percentages, e.g., the total County payroll and workers' comp payoffs — what is that percentage basis, then measure and see what the benchmark is. 2) Other items of current interest. Ms. Toriano reported on the department's reorganization plans: With her arrival, one of her challenges was to look at what the department is doing and how they're doing it; what, if anything, can be done to improve their efficiencies. Most importantly, this will not be an exercise with just herself. They are taking their division heads and are asking and challenging all of them alike. As five of their staff are retirement eligible and they'll probably be lean in the next five years, working smarter and working better means taking down silos. Instead of being specialized, they need to be more generalized where they can leverage technology. When she discovered that a lot of their written civil service examinations that are being administered are locked in a vault, she challenged the division head to look at that process to bring the department to the 21St century. Happily, the division head is very enthusiastic and excited, and she's looking at a web based recruitment system where people can apply online. By bringing applicants into that data base, they will be able to screen the qualifications against what's holding so that someone isn't manually sitting there. The system can also correspond directly with the applicants to notify them of receipt and whether they qualified or not, whether there's a written exam or not, etc. It would replace their current system that focuses only on examination processes, and the cost is somewhere around $25,000 compared to the $5,000 they're spending now. They are looking at sources of funding through grants and other possible means. If they can't find a grant, they'll certainly look at building it into the budget for next year. Mr. Takahashi announced that his plan is to have all the division heads attend a meeting, one at a time, to provide presentations such as Ms. Kamaka's. He asked if there was any particular division the Board would like to hear from first. Vice Chair Yoshiyama responded that he'd like to hear from either Recruitment and Examinations or Labor Relations. NEXT MEETING DATE The Board's next meeting will be on September 21, at 10:00 a.m., followed by Todd Zeiller's appeal hearing at 10:30 a.m. The meeting recessed at 10:07 a.m. 5 Hilo, Hawaii Monday, August 16, 2010 HEARING — 10:00 A.M. — TERI J. BOTELHO — WERE ANY CIVIL SERVICE LAWS, RULES, OR REGULATIONS VIOLATED IN THE APPELLANT'S TERMINATION FROM EMPLOYMENT WITH THE OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY? Present: Mr. G. Rick Robinson, Chair Mr. Gary Yoshiyama, Member Mr. Brian De Lima, Member Mr. Kenneth M. Rowe, Member Mr. Julian White, Deputy Attorney General Ms. Yumi Nakamura, Clerk III Ms. Velma Y. Menezes, Secretary- Reporter Others Present: Ms. Teri J. Botelho, Appellant Mr. William Reece, Attorney for Appellant Ms. Diane Noda, Deputy Corporation Counsel Ms. Donna Springer, Investigator Mr. Joseph Kamelamela, Deputy Corporation Counsel The following witnesses testified: Mr. Kaysen De Silva Ms. Teri J. Botelho Ms. Joyce Seelen Chair Robinson called the hearing to order at 10:16 a.m. The Appellant requested a closed hearing. Ms. Springer and Mr. Kamelamela (who was present for a portion of the hearing) were allowed to remain but were instructed to refrain from discussing any matters with any of the witnesses. r. The hearing recessed at 2:55 p.m. and will be continued to September 21, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Ronald K. Takahashi Secretary APPROVE I : G. Rick Robinson Chair vym 13