§388-10  Penalties.  (a)  Civil.  Any
employer who fails to pay wages in accordance with this chapter without
equitable justification shall be liable to the employee, in addition to the
wages legally proven to be due, for a sum equal to the amount of unpaid wages
and interest at a rate of six per cent per year from the date that the wages
were due.



(b)  Criminal.  Any employer who does not pay
the wages of any of the employer's employees in accordance with this chapter,
or any officer of any corporation who knowingly permits the corporation to
violate this chapter by failing to pay wages of any of its employees in
accordance with this chapter, or any employer or the employer's agent or any
officer or agent of a corporation who discharges or in any other manner
discriminates against any employee because the employee has made a complaint to
the employee's employer, or to the director, or to any other person that the
employee has not been paid wages in accordance with this chapter, or has
instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this
chapter, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceedings, or
any employer who wilfully fails to comply with any other requirements of this
chapter shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $10,000 or imprisoned
for not more than one year, or punished by both fine and imprisonment for each
such offense. [L 1963, c 158, pt of §3; am L 1965, c 77, §1(b); Supp, §95-9;
HRS §388-10; am L 1977, c 89, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1994, c 84, §1; am L 1999,
c 22, §1]



 



Case Notes



 



  Employer has burden of proving "equitable
justification" for failure to pay wages; civil penalty justified.  5 H.
App. 106, 679 P.2d 627.



 



Hawaii Legal Reporter Citations



 



  Civil penalty justified.  82-2 HLR 820908.