Honolulu—Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Hawai`i requesting it compel the State of Hawai`i Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) to process claims and pay long-overdue unemployment benefits to the growing population of unemployed residents.

The filing, led by Dentons partners Paul Alston and Blaine Rogers, was filed on behalf of thousands of Hawaii’s jobless residents and seeks a writ of mandamus directing Governor David Ige and DLIR Director Anne Perreira-Eustaquío to promptly pay unemployment insurance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits to Hawai`i residents rendered jobless by COVID-19.   

“The situation in Hawai`i is dire, and we need the DLIR to step up and immediately fulfill its mandate to promptly process and pay unemployment claims to all affected—many of whom have been waiting five months or more,” said Rogers. “Intervention is needed now. People are losing their homes, their vehicles and their savings. Their credit is being destroyed and their physical and mental health are suffering. If this situation is allowed to continue, their suffering will only get worse and create a domino effect that will have an even more negative and long-lasting impact on the state.”

With an economy dependent on tourism, Hawai`i has been enormously impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine restrictions implemented in its wake. The state went from an unemployment rate of less than three percent in January to almost a quarter of the population by May—the third highest rate in the country. According to Dentons’ filing, “over half a year into the pandemic, thousands of [unemployed citizens] continue to be failed by the inability of the DLIR to timely process, resolve and, most importantly, pay benefits to the citizens whose interests it is supposed to serve.”

Also according to the filing: “Mandamus relief is the only option available to Petitioners at this time, and no alternative exists under the law, because a civil lawsuit aimed at compelling the DLIR to discharge its mandatory obligations under Hawai`i law will result in protracted litigation, invariably resulting in financial disaster for the citizens of Hawai`i.”

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