Tag Archives: Hawaii

Tripping over another EUTF issue, this time dependent verification

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The woes of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund keep expanding.

Last week was the letter describing the ballooning backlog that could prevent timely verification of health insurance by the beginning of 2010.

Now comes a fat packet of papers for a newly required “Dependent Eligibility Verification”.

In what is described as a cost-saving measure, EUTF has contracted with two companies to verify eligible dependents, and anyone who doesn’t submit the required paperwork by December 31 will have their dependents’ coverage cancelled retroactive to October 16.

This packet claims other systems have saved an average of 9-13% by completing this kind of rigorous verification.

I’m personally involved since this un-or-under employed blogger is covered by the health insurance that Meda qualifies for as an employee of the University of Hawaii.

So getting this right is important.

This is the second round of similar paperwork. I looked through the first packet and set it aside because it did not appear to apply to spouses, only to other types of dependents.

This time around, though, public employees are informed that they must provide proof for their eligible spouse, either by submitting a 2008 tax return, or via a marriage certificate PLUS proof of joint property ownership/lease or a utility bill listing the employee and spouse.

Then come the instructions.

Required documents for verification

Page 1 and signature page of employee-beneficiary’s 2008 Federal Income Tax Return as filed with the IRS, listing the spouse as dependent….

Whoa, Big Guy. Our 1040 won’t list me as dependent. The tax form doesn’t work that way for couples filing jointly. We’re just shown as a married couple filing jointly.

Did anybody over at EUTF proofread these instructions?

First I followed instructions to access the secured Dependent Eligibility Verification website.

Oops. The access screen asked for “employee number”. Employee number? What’s that? I enter Meda’s social security number. Rejected. I try formatting it, xxx-xx-xxxx. Wrong again. No “special characters” allowed.

I suppose there may be some fine print number on the payroll receipt she receives twice a month, but it’s not a number anyone has ever referred to. So forget the online system.

Next stop–the telephone hotline number provided. Luckily, there wasn’t a long wait. I explained the “problem” and was told to just disregard the written instructions. A joint return is sufficient, according to the hotline staffer. Then why didn’t these extensive and very expensive instructions simply say that?

It leaves me very anxious that I’ll be stripped of insurance at some future date because, in fact, the tax return does not list me as a dependent. And didn’t you read the instructions, Mr. Lind? Weren’t they clear? When that happens, will I be able to cite this blog post as evidence of the advice I was given by the hotline staff?

Or do I need to track down our 40-year old marriage certificate? Won’t that be fun? And it would be the very first time in four decades that anyone has asked to see a copy.

And for us old married folks, the paperwork requirement is minimal. I pity folks with kids, especially adopted children, stepchildren, foster children, college students, etc. They’ll have to jump through a lot more hoops to get the required paperwork to prove that those children are eligible for insurance coverage. And kids born outside the country? How long do you think the State Department will take to certify a foreign birth, if the original paperwork has been lost?

You just know this is not going to turn out well for a lot of public employees whose personal lives are more complicated than my own.

Auwe!

Meeting Mr. Kaiser

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My dad, John Lind, spent time after his retirement in 1998 pecking away at an well-used typewriter to record some of the experiences of his long life. This little episode describes his first meeting with Henry Kaiser in 1955.

The opening of the Kalia Towers by Hilton Hotels occurred the later part of May 2001. There was no major splash in the newspapers about it but the construction of the building sort of fascinated me as do a lot of major buildings in the islands. This one in particular because it pretty well completes that lands making up the present Hawaiian Village hotel properties.

I decided to look at the grounds on Wednesday, May 30. The entry way is impressive with many landscape improvements consisting of waterfalls, plantings of many trees, and beautiful lawns.

I parked my car in the Ala Wai Harbor lot and walked up the roadway between the Ilikai Hotel and the old Waikikian Hotel site and into the Hawaiian Village area. It was a short walk avoiding a longer trek to the corner of Kalia Road and Ala Moana.

The large automatic doors leading in the coffee shop caught my eye as I had gotten up before breakfast and was anxious for a cup of coffee. Seating was available so I sat down and was pleasantly surprised to find a nice placemat at the table introducing guests to the new Niumalu Dining Room, including a little squib stating that the room is on the exact spot of the old Niumalu Hotel, once owned by Jerry Zuker.

Mr. Zuker was formerly a Hotel Street bar operator who patronized the Dohrmann Hotel Supply Company, the employer who had sent me to Honolulu in May of 1939.

Zuker had purchased the old Niumalu Hotel property in late 1940s and was making plans for its improvement. As I sat their looking over the placemat I could not help remembering one of the most historical moments of my career in the hotel and restaurant supply business.

Dohrmann moved into a new building on 1122 Ala Moana in 1955 following a move from the McCandless Building at 925 Bethel Street. World War Two was over and a new man in town, Henry Kaiser, phoned one afternoon about 4 p.m. stating that he wanted to have a representative meet with his people concerning some projects.

I asked if 9 a.m. the next morning would be suitable and was immediately told that the meeting was underway and he wanted somebody NOW!

I dropped everything and went to the old Niumalu Hotel where I found Mr. Kaiser and his right hand man, Mr. Hancock, seated at a large table with rolls of plans in front of them. I learned that Mr. Kaiser had recently purchased the property and was in the throes of a big project.

This was the Henry Kaiser that the world had heard so much about during the war with his ingenuity in getting things done, especially building ships and launching one a day when they were urgently needed. I was amazed that he was such a down to earth person.

Our company’s background was known to Mr. Kaiser and their full efforts to assist him was made known, as our San Francisco office had the talent that would be required for such a project.

The Niumalu property consisted of everything from the entry to Ft. DeRussy on Kalia Road to the water’s edge. The whole area was overgrown with weeds, trees, and rubbish. Mr. Kaiser’s plans called for several major buildings and this meeting was to get started on the development of a major kitchen as well as a smaller coffee shop.

For the next several years the company’s resources were used for this development and many nice projects were finalized, including the transformation of the old Niumalu into Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village.

He was indeed a man of action and one could not help but admire him for his sincerity and no nonsense manner. His staff that soon developed after that first meeting operated in the same manner and it was a real pleasure to have had the opportunity to work with them.

One one occasion, equipment for one of his kitchens was being assembled in our new Ala Moana building. He called the afternoon prior to the day of delivery to be certain everything was on schedule. He had been assured al was ready to go and would be out to the job site in the morning.

At 9 a.m. the next day, Mr. Kaiser’s Lincoln Continental drove up to the front door of the store and in came Mr. Kaiser to inspect the progress of his shipment. That’s the way he handled just about everything we did for him. He was really a man of action.

Before Henry Kaiser came to Hawaii there were no high rise buildings, as photos looking into Waikiki from the ocean confirm. The Royal Hawaiian and the Moana Hotel were the only large buildings visible. Following the development of the Hawaiian Village Hotel, the Hawaii Kai project was started. I have pictures taken in the early stages of that development. It was amazing how his organization could progress like magic. Dredges painted yellow were way up in the valley clearing channels for waterways that have made Hawaii Kai so popular.

Everyone who worked with or for Kaiser had the greatest respect for him. His vision was the greatest and Hawaii progressed tremendously while he was in action.

Thursday…Paddleboards in Waikiki 1940-42

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NatatoriumHere’s another oldie–paddlers pose at the Natatorium in 1940.

This was only a year after my father, John Lind, arrived in Hawaii from Long Beach, California, and years before the Waikiki Surf Club was formed after the end of WWII.

The photo looks like it might have been a publicity shot for an upcoming race, and it provides evidence that two future WSC founders, Wally Froiseth and my dad, were already active together in paddleboard racing by 1940.

My father said it was paddling that led him to surfing back in California, and he remained active as a paddler after he came to Hawaii.

When I was a kid, I remember that big, long, hollow, canvas-covered paddleboard, a rather bright yellow, stored in the garage. During a particularly heavy rain, our yard flooded and my dad got out his board and floated around in the flood waters, but I think I just remember the story being told rather than the actual event.

Clippings in my dad’s collection show paddling was a popular sport back in the 1940s and 1950s.

[text]I showed this second photo to my father recently, and he immediately recognized it as a 1942 race from Waikiki to the Diamond Head buoy and back.

He pointed to the paddler on the far right, closest to the camera. “That’s me,” he said. At least on this point, on this day, his memory was quite clear.

He recalls finishing the race “somewhere in the middle”.

Click on either photo for larger versions.

Wednesday (2)…Government’s response in opposition to HSTA/UPW motion for TRO to stop furloughs

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Click here to read the state’s reply brief to the joint HSTA/UPW motion seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the implementation of furloughs. The case is scheduled to be argued in court tomorrow.

The state argues that relieving employees of their duties temporarily for legitimate reasons is a non-negotiable management right under state law.

Despite the unions’ attempt to avoid even discussing the controlling law, HRS § 89-9(d) serves as the critical backdrop for this case. This statute reserves certain rights to the public employers, rights that are so fundamental and essential to the exercise of governmental powers that they cannot be bargained away. These rights are designated by statute as non-negotiable. HRS § 89-9(d). The Governor’s furlough plan clearly falls within the scope of these rights.

Included within these management rights are the public employer’s right to “relieve an employee from duties because of lack of work or other legitimate reason[,]” “[d]etermine the methods, means, and personnel by which the employer’s operations are to be conducted[,]” and “[t]ake such actions as may be necessary to carry out the missions of the employer in cases of emergencies.”

In addition, the state argues that the governor may invoke emergency powers in the face of today’s fiscal pressures.

Finally, the public employer may “[t]ake such actions as may be necessary to carry out the missions of the employer in cases of emergencies.” HRS § 89-9(d)(8). The missions of the executive branch are many, including: to ensure the public safety, run the prisons, protect Hawaii’s natural resources, maintain major roads, protect vulnerable children, elders, and the mentally ill, promote Hawaii’s agriculture, administer welfare and safety-net programs, protect consumers, run the State harbors, and regulate insurance and other industries.

It is the Governor’s job to “faithfully execute” the laws of this State, and to see that the many missions of the executive branch agencies continue to be pursued as best as possible despite the present economic difficulties. Haw. Const. Art V § 5. The Governor’s authority under HRS § 89-9(d)(8) therefore supports the furlough plan.

HRS § 89-9(d) does not limit “emergencies” to natural disasters. Addressing a budget shortfall of this magnitude can be every bit as exigent as almost any natural disaster, and poses potentially more of a disruption to the State’s ability to “carry out the missions” of the executive branch. An emergency should not be discounted just because it takes the shape of a financial crisis, rather than a naturally-occurring one.