University of Hawai’i escapes improper termination finding over failed union grievance

They grieved the early termination through the Hawaii Government Employees Association under their collective bargaining agreement. The union took it through the process but declined to arbitrate. 

That decision set everything else in motion. 

In September 2018, the workers filed prohibited practice complaints with the Hawai’i Labor Relations Board against HGEA, alleging it breached its duty of fair representation. The following month, each worker added the university as a respondent, claiming it breached the law by allowing a fellow bargaining unit member to handle the termination process, and that the early terminations violated the CBA. 

It took the HLRB nearly five years. In Decision No. 517, filed August 10, 2023, the board found HGEA had not breached its duty. But it ruled the university’s terminations were improper anyway – because of how it used the bargaining unit member in the process. 

The university appealed. The circuit court affirmed. The university appealed again.