Wednesday, December 18, 1996
Q: What happened to the federal audit involving Bank of Hawaii's profit-sharing, pension and severance plans in the late 1980s? Bank plan audit
turns up faultsA: "There were violations with the severance plan," said Alan Weiss, a U.S. Department of Labor spokesman.
"They were relatively minor, more procedural rather than any large money violations," said Weiss, with the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, who declined to give further details.
The audit was opened in June 1992 and closed in July 1993.
"They were real minor kind of violations that you would expect from the best-run companies," said Piia Aarma, Bank of Hawaii spokeswoman.
Jessica Hashimoto, a Bank of Hawaii employee who said she was fired in 1991 after complaining about what she believed to be violations of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit and eventually received a settlement in federal court dated Oct. 7, 1994. Her attorney, William Deeley, said: "The terms of the settlement - in terms of the funds that were paid to Mrs. Hashimoto - are confidential.
"There were terms of the settlement that did relate to other actions - whether they be federal, state or whatever - and those conditions are also confidential."