UPW settles discrimi-
nation lawsuit

By Ian Lind
Star-Bulletin

The United Public Workers agreed this week to pay $48,750 to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of two deaf union members.

The settlement was approved Wednesday in Honolulu by Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway, and was announced today by the EEOC.

Under the terms of the settlement, UPW will pay $32,500 to Jason Nomura, a janitor with the state Department of Education, and $16,250 to Roberta Chiwa-Tanaka, Head House Parent at the Statewide Center for Learning Disabilities.

The payments must be made with 30 days.

Nomura and Chiwa-Tanaka had asked the union to provide sign language interpreters so they could understand information presented at special union meetings, but the union repeatedly refused.

Court records show the requests began as early as 1992, when the Americans with Disabilities Act first went into effect.

Nomura and Chiwa-Tanaka went to the EEOC after local agencies were unable to convince the UPW to provide the sign language assistance.

Federal law requires employers and unions to make reasonable accommodations for members or employees with disabilities.

In addition to the cash payments, the union agreed to provide training for its employees in the use of the Hawaii Telecommunications Relay Service, and at least two hours of training annually on the responsibilities to union members under federal law.

"This is a significant victory for union members and for the disabled who want to participate in union activities," said William R. Tamayo, regional attorney for the EEOC in San Francisco.

"We hope this consent decree sends the message to unions in Hawaii and nationwide that they must comply with the ADA," said EEOC District Director Susan McDuffie.

Attorneys for the union had argued that the state, as employer, was responsible to provide interpreters at special union informational meetings held twice a year during working hours. This was rejected by Mollway in a preliminary ruling.

"Although UPW does not agree with the court's ruling, it has chosen not to continue to contest the court's interpretation," this week's consent decree states.

Marcia Mitchell, senior trial attorney for the EEOC, said today that this was the first case of its kind in the nation, but only because the UPW is the only union to have refused assistance to its disabled members.

"We're perplexed, and very surprised this went on for four years," Mitchell said. "We expected to achieve this settlement soon after the case was filed."

Under the terms of the consent decree approved by the court, the UPW must mail a special issue of its newsletter to all members within 45 days announcing the settlement and explaining the rights of union members.

Mitchell said the settlement applies not only to deaf members, but to other individuals with disabilities.

UPW will be under court supervision for three years, and is required to submit evidence that it has complied, including copies of invoices for interpreter services and signatures of each person providing training on the ADA or attending annual training sessions.