Gannett will cut 1,400 positions

Honolulu Advertiser parent company Gannett Co. confirmed it will be cutting 1,400 jobs in the coming weeks, about 3 percent of the work force, due to its continued decline in advertising revenue.

Advertiser President and Publisher Lee Webber told the newspaper's staff in a memo, “;the personnel aspects of the reductions ... are already being managed through here at the Honolulu Advertiser.”;

That means “;we should not expect any additional layoffs,”; said Wayne Cahill, administrative officer of the Hawaii Newspaper Guild, following a meeting with Webber yesterday. The Guild represents many unionized workers at the paper.

Kmart sued for age harassment

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit against Kmart Corp. for subjecting a 73-year-old female pharmacist to age harassment, retaliation and forcing her out of her job.

The plaintiff was the pharmacy manager of Kmart on North Nimitz Highway in Honolulu. She was subjected to age-based insults, the suit alleged, with statements such as that she was “;too old to work”; and that she “;should retire.”;

Although Kmart received notice of the harassment, the company failed to take appropriate investigative action and to correct the improper conduct, says the suit.

Instead, Kmart subjected the woman to a hostile work environment, made discriminatory remarks in her performance evaluations and told her to retire. The pharmacist resigned to escape the discriminatory conduct.

State bankruptcy filings rose 66.3%

Hawaii bankruptcy filings for June totaled 271 cases, according to final numbers from U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The total, up from the preliminary count of 268 filed through Tuesday afternoon that the Star-Bulletin reported yesterday, is 66.3 percent ahead of June 2008, when 163 cases were filed.

Hawaii's filings were primarily Chapter 7 liquidation cases, totaling 207, or 66.9 percent more than the 124 cases filed a year ago. Chapter 13 wage-earner cases were up 67.6 percent, with 62 cases filed versus the 37 last June. There was one Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case and one Chapter 15 case, initially filed in another country and since adopted by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Easter Seals taking over Arc of Kauai

Arc of Kauai is transferring its assets and some of its liabilities to Easter Seals Hawaii in a deal expected to close Sept. 1. Arc of Kauai provides services to people with developmental disabilities.

“;There will be absolutely no interruption in services whatsoever,”; said Kathy Harper, Easter Seals director of development.

Easter Seals will meet with all 62 employees regarding continued employment.

“;The goal is to provide Arc of Kauai employees and families with a sustainable, strong, statewide organization in the face of very challenging funding environments,”; Harper said.

ON THE MOVE

  Atlantis Submarines has promoted Fujio Ina to Asia market sales manager from Japan sales manager. Before joining Atlantis, Ina handled sales for Nissan Motor Co. in Kanagawa, Japan.

Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel has announced that it has earned five firm rankings and 17 individual rankings in the 2009 “;America's Leading Lawyers for Business.”; Firm rankings include corporate/commercial, litigation: general commercial and real estate. The Goodsill attorneys are: David J. Reber, Barbara A. Petrus, Carolyn K. Gugelyk, Corlis J. Chang, John R. Lacy, Bruce L. Lamon, Jacqueline L.S. Earle, Edmund K. Saffery, Lani L. Ewart, Leighton J.H.S. Yuen, Randall K. Steverson, Gail O. Ayabe, Lisa Woods Munger, Gary M. Slovin, Lisa A. Bail, Walter C. Davison and Miki Okumura.