HB1791

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1791
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to employment.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Chapter 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"Part . reproductive loss LEAVE

§378- Definitions. As used in this part:

"Assisted reproduction" means a method of achieving a pregnancy through artificial insemination or an embryo transfer and includes gamete and embryo donation. "Assisted reproduction" does not include any pregnancy achieved through sexual intercourse.

"Employee" means any individual in the employment of an employer.

"Employer" does not include any person, other than the State or any of its political subdivisions, having fewer than five employees.

"Failed adoption" means the dissolution or breach of an adoption agreement with the birth mother or legal guardian, or an adoption that is not finalized because the adoption is contested by another party.

"Failed surrogacy" means the dissolution or breach of a surrogacy agreement, or a failed embryo transfer to the surrogate.

"Miscarriage" means a miscarriage by a person, by the person's current spouse or domestic partner, or by another individual if the person would have been a parent of a child born as a result of the pregnancy.

"Reproductive loss event" means the day or, for a multiple‑day event, the final day of a failed adoption, a failed surrogacy, a miscarriage, a stillbirth, or an unsuccessful assisted reproduction.

"Stillbirth" means a stillbirth resulting from a person's pregnancy, the pregnancy of a person's current spouse or domestic partner, or another individual, if the person would have been a parent of a child born as a result of the pregnancy that ended in stillbirth.

"Unsuccessful assisted reproduction" means an unsuccessful round of intrauterine insemination or an assisted reproductive technology procedure.

§378- Leave of absence for reproductive loss. (a) It shall be unlawful for any employer to refuse to grant a request by any employee to take up to five days of reproductive loss leave following a reproductive loss event; provided that:

(1) If an employee experiences more than one reproductive loss event within a twelve-month period, the employer shall not be obligated to grant a total amount of reproductive loss leave time exceeding twenty days within a twelve-month period;

(2) Each employer shall allow the days that an employee takes for reproductive loss leave to be nonconsecutive;

(3) The reproductive loss leave shall be completed within three months of the reproductive loss event; provided further that if, prior to or immediately following a reproductive loss event, an employee is on or chooses to go on leave from work pursuant to this chapter, chapter 398, or any other leave entitlement under state or federal law, the employee shall complete the reproductive loss leave within three months of the end date of the other leave; and

(4) The reproductive loss leave shall be taken pursuant to any existing applicable leave policy of the employer; provided further that if there is no existing applicable leave policy, reproductive loss leave may be unpaid, except that an employee may use vacation, personal leave, accrued and available sick leave, or compensatory time off that is otherwise available to the employee.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any employer to:

(1) Retaliate against an individual, including refusing to hire, discharging, demoting, fining, suspending, expelling, or discriminating against, an individual because of:

(A) An individual's exercise of the right to reproductive loss leave; and

(B) An individual's giving information or testimony as to their reproductive loss leave, or another person's reproductive loss leave, in an inquiry or proceeding related to rights guaranteed under this section; and

(2) Interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under this section.

(c) Each employer shall maintain the confidentiality of any employee requesting leave under this section. Any information provided to the employer pursuant to this section shall be maintained as confidential and shall not be disclosed except to internal personnel or counsel, as necessary, or as required by law."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________