Court Opinion

ID: 9941057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-15 19:03:15.219934+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:46:11.331841
License: Public Domain

NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

                                                  Electronically Filed
                                                  Intermediate Court of Appeals
                                                  CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX
                                                  15-FEB-2024
                                                  08:07 AM
                                                  Dkt. 89 SO

                           NO. CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX

                 IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS

                         OF THE STATE OF HAWAI#I

     STATE OF HAWAII ORGANIZATION OF POLICE OFFICERS (SHOPO),
         Complainant-Appellant-Appellant, v. HAWAI#I LABOR
     RELATIONS BOARD; MARCUS R. OSHIRO; SESNITA A.D. MOEPONO;
         and STACY MONIZ,1, Agency-Appellees-Appellees, and
   DEREK S.K. KAWAKAMI,2 Mayor of the County of Kaua#i, State of
  Hawai#i; TODD G. RAYBUCK,3 Chief of Police of the Kaua#i Police
   Department; COUNTY OF KAUA#I, a political subdivision of the
          State of Hawai#i, Respondents-Appellees-Appellees

          APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT
                        (CASE NO. 1CC161001259)

                      SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
  (By:    Leonard, Acting Chief Judge, Hiraoka and Nakasone, JJ.)

          The State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers
(SHOPO) appeals from the Final Judgment in favor of the Chief of
the Kaua#i Police Department and the Mayor of the County of Kaua#i
(collectively, KPD) and the Hawai#i Labor Relations Board and its

      1
            Under Hawai#i Rules of Appellate Procedure (HRAP) Rule 43(c), a
public officer named in a case is automatically substituted by the officer's
successor when the holder of the office ceases to hold office on appeal.
Accordingly, Hawai#i Labor Relations Board (HLRB) labor member Stacy Moniz has
been substituted for former HLRB member Rock B. Ley.
      2
            Under HRAP Rule 43(c), Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami has been
substituted for former Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho, Jr.
      3
            Under HRAP Rule 43(c), Chief of Police Todd G. Raybuck has been
substituted for former Chief of Police of the Kaua#i Police Department
Darryl D. Perry.
  NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

members (collectively, HLRB) entered by the Circuit Court of the
First Circuit on April 25, 2017.4  We affirm.
          KPD consulted with SHOPO on creating a policy for a
body-worn camera system (BWCS) for use by Kaua#i police officers.
Consensus was reached. SHOPO asked KPD to sign an agreement
stating that mutual consent was required before the policy could
be implemented. KPD refused to sign. KPD issued General Order
41.17 "Body-Worn Camera System (BWCS)" (GO-41.17) on December 11,
2015.
          On January 11, 2016, SHOPO filed a complaint against
KPD with HLRB. It claimed that KPD violated its collective
bargaining agreement (CBA) and Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS)
Chapter 89. HLRB ruled that KPD did not have to obtain SHOPO's
consent to GO-41.17. Its Decision and Order was entered on
June 3, 2016. SHOPO appealed to the circuit court. The circuit
court affirmed and entered the Final Judgment. SHOPO filed this
secondary appeal.
          We must decide whether the circuit court was right or
wrong by applying the standards in HRS § 91–14(g) to HLRB's
Decision and Order, based on the record before HLRB. Flores v.
Bd. of Land & Nat. Res., 143 Hawai#i 114, 120, 424 P.3d 469, 475
(2018). SHOPO contends that HLRB misapplied the CBA and HRS
§ 89-9(d) or, if HLRB correctly applied HRS § 89-9(d), the
statute is unconstitutional because it infringes on SHOPO's right
to collectively bargain wages, hours, and working conditions.
          HLRB did not misapply the CBA. The CBA is a contract.
Arbles v. Merit Appeals Bd., 151 Hawai#i 400, 409, 515 P.3d 217,
226 (App. 2022). "The construction and legal effect to be given
a contract is a question of law freely reviewable by an appellate
court." Provident Funding Assocs., L.P. v. Gardner, 149 Hawai#i
288, 296, 488 P.3d 1267, 1275 (2021) (citations omitted).
"Contract terms are interpreted according to their plain,

        4
            The Honorable Rhonda A. Nishimura presided.

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  NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST'S HAWAI#I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER

ordinary, and accepted sense in common speech." Id. at 298, 488
P.3d at 1277 (citation omitted).
          The dispositive CBA terms are in Articles 1, 14,
and 17. Article 1 provides:

          C. Consultation — The Employer agrees that it shall consult
          [SHOPO] prior to the final formulation and implementation of
          personnel policies and practices affecting employee
          relations on wages, hours or conditions of employment.

          D. Mutual Consent — No changes in wages, hours or other
          conditions of work contained herein may be made except by
          mutual consent.

          Article 14 provides, in relevant part:

          The Employer agrees to furnish [SHOPO] and the respective
          chapter chairperson with a written notice of the Employer's
          intention to make changes in departmental rules, policies or
          procedures that would affect the working conditions of
          employees or equipment peculiar to police work[.]

(Emphasis added.) SHOPO has the opportunity to consult with KPD
on proposed changes. SHOPO's consent to the changes is not
required by the CBA.
          Article 17 concerns uniforms and equipment. It creates
a committee to evaluate proposed changes in personal police
equipment and make recommendations to the chief "for
consideration and action." SHOPO's consent to the changes is not
required by the CBA.
          HLRB found that the BWCS was "equipment peculiar to
police work." That finding was supported by substantial evidence
and was not clearly erroneous. HLRB concluded that "the adoption
of GO-41.17 is a change or addition to 'departmental rules,
policies or procedures that would affect the working condition[s]
of employees or equipment peculiar to police work.'" SHOPO
agrees with that conclusion, but argues that HLRB erred by
concluding that the phrase "peculiar to police work" modifies
both "working conditions" and "equipment" in Article 14.

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          The word "or" is a conjunction indicating an
alternative.5 Because no comma separates the clauses in
Article 14, the language could be read two ways: (1) the
opportunity to consult applies to proposed changes that would
affect "the working conditions of employees" or "equipment
peculiar to police work" or (2) the opportunity to consult
applies to proposed changes that would affect "the working
conditions of employees or equipment" that are "peculiar to
police work." HLRB resolved the apparent ambiguity by
concluding:

                  The phrase "peculiar to police work" modifies both
            "working conditions" and "equipment" in CBA Section 14.A.
            Otherwise, CBA Section 14.A could be read to mean that
            rules, policies and procedures may be changed even though it
            affects any type of working condition, and not just working
            conditions that are "peculiar to police work." If this was
            the intention of CBA Section 14.A, then all of SHOPO's
            arguments would be baseless since KPD could affect "working
            conditions" by just changing its rules and policies
            irrespective of whether the working conditions related to
            non-police work.

          HLRB's conclusion was not wrong. "A contract is
ambiguous when its terms are reasonably susceptible to more than
one meaning." Provident Funding Assocs., 149 Hawai#i at 298, 488
P.3d at 1277. But ambiguity exists "only when the contract taken
as a whole[] is reasonably subject to differing interpretation."
Sturla, Inc. v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 67 Haw. 203, 209–10, 684
P.2d 960, 964 (1984) (emphasis added). A contract is "construed
as a whole and its meaning determined from the entire context and
not from any particular word, phrase or clause." Maui Land &
Pineapple Co. v. Dillingham Corp., 67 Haw. 4, 11, 674 P.2d 390,
395 (1984) (emphasis added) (citation omitted).
          Reading the CBA as a whole, the Article 14 opportunity
to consult applies to proposed changes that would affect working
conditions peculiar to police work. The BWCS affected working
conditions peculiar to police work because only on-duty officers

      5
            Or, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/or
(last visited Feb. 12, 2024).

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had to use it. The BWCS is also equipment peculiar to police
work. HLRB was not wrong to conclude that GO-41.17 was subject
to the consultation provisions of Article 1.C. and Articles 14
and 17, not the mutual consent requirement of Article 1.D.
          SHOPO argues that the Article 1.D. mutual consent
requirement applies because GO-41.17 applied to "conditions of
work" — the potential that a police officer could be disciplined
for violating the order. The mutual consent requirement in
Article 1.D. applies only to "conditions of work contained
herein" — that is, contained in the CBA (emphasis added).
GO-41.17 changed no provision of CBA Article 13 (Discipline and
Dismissal) or any other condition of work contained in the CBA.
As a matter of law, the Article 1.D. mutual consent requirement
did not apply to GO-41.17. HLRB's decision was not wrong, nor
was the circuit court wrong to affirm HLRB's decision.
          Because we hold that HLRB correctly applied the CBA, we
need not address SHOPO's arguments about management rights or the
constitutionality of HRS § 89-9(d). The "Final Judgment" entered
by the circuit court on April 25, 2017, and HLRB's "Findings of
Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Decision and Order[,]" entered on
June 3, 2016, are affirmed.
          DATED: Honolulu, Hawai#i, February 15, 2024.

On the briefs:
                                      /s/ Katherine G. Leonard
Keani Alapa,                          Acting Chief Judge
Vladimir Devens,
for Complainant-Appellant-            /s/ Keith K. Hiraoka
Appellant.                            Associate Judge

Adam P. Roversi,                      /s/ Karen T. Nakasone
Office of the County                  Associate Judge
Attorney, for Respondents-
Appellees-Appellees.

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