News & Articles

Mike Gordon Advertiser Staff Writer The Queen's Medical Center yesterday reached a $150,000 settlement with a former University of Hawai'i medical researcher who had claimed the hospital violated his civil rights. The settlement between the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Hawai'i's largest private hospital does not admit any wrongdoing on the part of the hospital but was done to avoid further court expenses, the commission said. Dr. Shyamal Premaratne, a legal resident of Sri Lanka who was never employed by Queen's, had told the commission that he was being discriminated...

KALAELOA, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Christopher Cordeiro said it was around 2 a.m. on June 29, 2009. He was leaving one of his favorite night fishing spots when a vehicle began aggressively tailgating him on Coral Sea Road in Kalaeloa. "It was terrible. It was like a nightmare. A living nightmare is what it was," he said. Cordeiro said when he reached Roosevelt Road and pulled over, Navy Federal Police officers converged. He said one of them drew his weapon. "He comes to the side of me and orders and demands that I get out of my vehicle," he said. "He was off to my left shoulder. He told me to...

A Maui Community Correctional Center employee claims he was retaliated against for whistleblowing. Now he's suing the department of public safety. According to the lawsuit, hendricks haupu says he complained that a supervisor, a sergeant at the facility, was using inmates for his personal landscaping business. Haupu says he was subsequently re-assigned and physically and emotionally abused. In this instance its not sanctioned by the state or the federal government," said Joseph Rosenbaum, Haupu's attorney. "It's being used by a private man's business and in the instance we believe the...

If you think it doesn’t happen here, you’re wrong. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission look into more than 60 sexual harassment complaints each year in the Islands. And experts believe most cases are never reported or never reach those government agencies. “Nobody thinks it’s OK, but somehow people are doing it,” says Robin Wurtzel, chief counsel for the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. Sexual harassment at work hurts employee morale and productivity, and in some cases derails careers. And so often when it happens, victims don’t speak up....

Harvey Weinstein. Bill O’Reilly. Chef John Besh. Leon Wieseltier. Knight Landesman. All famous men from the mainland who have settled harassment charges, and/or have been forced out of their positions due to serious allegations of sexual harassment on the job — finally. To be clear: Sexual harassment is not about romance; it’s about power. Sexual harassment is not about love; it’s about oppression. Sexual harassment is not about joy; it’s about fear. Fear to come to work, because the verbal harassment will escalate to physical harassment and maybe even rape at the workplace. This is the fear...

Who knew that it would take high school students to wake up this nation (“Across the nation, masses call for an end to gun violence,” Star-Advertiser, March 15)? I am so very proud. My 14-year-old granddaughter, who attends SOTA, the San Francisco performing arts school, participated in the walkout. Even though she is an “A” student, she didn’t care that she would be marked with an unexcused absence. The walkout was very organized. The SOTA students first did a mass calling to Congress. My granddaughter was able to speak and argue with U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, trying her best to...