On the day the State is reopening tourism, HMSHost is moving forward with permanently laying off hundreds of workers across the islands. As Local 5 members, you have what’s called recall rights. This means that as business returns and positions open over the next 365 days, the company has to reinstate laid off workers by seniority, with seniority and benefits still intact, before hiring anyone new (Article 10.5 of our union contract).
In the meantime, the way you file for unemployment will slightly change. We will continue to certify HMSHost workers as members of our union until you are recalled or until the end of the 365 day recall period BUT you will have to report the job separation and your vacation payout on your weekly claim certification and then reactivate your claim. The following are instructions and screenshots on how to do so (UPDATED ON 10/19/2020):
When you are filing your claim certification for the week ending 10/17/2020, you will have to report your permanent layoff effective on 10/15/2020. Your answers to the questions will look like this:
In the claim certification, you do not have to report your vacation payout because you already separated from the company. If you already have, you can email the unemployment office (dlir.ui.oahu@hawaii.gov) to tell them what you reported in your claim is considered severance pay due to a total layoff. Answer NO to the question about residual pay, which will look like this:
After you file your claim certification, you will have to reactivate your claim to report a job separation. Here is how to get there from your dashboard:
The following are the responses you will have to provide to report the job separation. If you already answered “yes” to the first question, you may have to get in contact with the unemployment office to tell them you do NOT need to update your employment record (email dlir.ui.oahu@hawaii.gov or call the phone numbers at the end of this page).
Make sure you confirm your membership with the union. We will continue to certify you as a member of our union until you are recalled or until the end of the recall period so you won’t have to look for work. Here is what those questions and your answers will look like:
After your reactivate your claim, make sure the claim certifications you file every week reflect the same reason for job separation (“Laid off lack of work”).
If you file biweekly, you will have to wait until the week that you are scheduled to file your claim certification and submit that before you move on to reactivating your claim.
If you have a second job, you may not be able to reactivate your claim online. Go ahead and try it but if you get and “Alert” message, call the unemployment office at any of these phone numbers:
808-762-5757
808-762-5751
833-901-2272
833-901-2275
If you have any problems or questions, call/text your organizer Lisa at 808-223-4292.