Workplace Violence: TRO and Injunctions Under Hawaii Law

While workplace violence cannot be eliminated completely, Hawaii employers should take steps to prevent, reduce, and effectively manage actual and potential violence along with all other risks of health and safety in the workplace.  In addition to training employees on violence in the workplace and having a workplace violence policy, employers should familiarize themselves with remedies to potential threats of violence available under civil law that add a measure a protection to their workplace.

Temporary Restraining Orders ("TROs") and Injunctions

Hawaii law allows individuals to obtain an ex parte temporary restraining order against another person or persons from District Court. (“ex parte” means without notice to the aggressor).  To obtain a restraining order an individual must file a petition setting forth the reasons he or she is seeking the court's protection.  If a TRO is issued, it must be served upon the respondent(s) before it takes legal effect.  A hearing is then scheduled and conducted shortly thereafter to determine if a permanent 3- year injunction is warranted.  Mediation may be required by the Court.

Generally, a restraining order and subsequent injunction, if granted (or agreed to by the respondent), prohibits a respondent from visiting, harassing or communicating with the complainant, or coming within a specified distance of the complainant’s home and workplace.  If the complainant leaves the employ of a company, the Court order's protections follow the former employee, but not necessarily the workplace.  If the Company wishes to seek a restraining order against an individual, it must file a complaint and a motion for such an order in the Hawaii State Circuit Court.  The Company must demonstrate that the respondent poses an immediate and direct threat of harm to its employees, vendors or customers.

A violation of a District Court TRO is considered a misdemeanor, while a violation of an injunction or Circuit Court order can constitute a felony crime.  Violations of a restraining order or injunction should be reported to the local police department, which should have been provided a copy of the restraining order or injunction.

Trespass Warning

An employer can prohibit an individual from remaining on or coming onto its premises by issuing a statutory no-trespass warning.  Haw. Rev. Stat. §708¬814(1)(b), provides companies with a "self-help restraining order" process through which companies and employers can issue one-year no-trespass notices to keep unwanted persons, including ex-employees and visitors, from entering the Company's property.  The statute requires the Company to provide the unwanted person with "notice" which must include a reasonable warning or request to leave the premises.  

If the unwanted person remains on or comes onto the Company's property after the warning is issued, the police can be called, and the trespasser will be subject to arrest and prosecution for trespass in the second degree.  Criminal trespass in the second degree is a misdemeanor which may subject violators to a maximum of one year imprisonment.