Karl K. Sakamoto

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Please help others learn about Hawaii courts and judges by expanding this Hawaii-related article.

Karl K. Sakamoto is a judge of the O'ahu First Circuit of Hawaii.^[1]

Notable rulings

State court furloughs

In mid-2009, Governor Linda Lingle moved to institute mandatory furloughs for thousands of public employees in order to help close the $729 million budget shortfall over the next two years. Three state employee unions challenged her right to do so on constitutional grounds, saying that the constitutional provision "granting public employees the right to collective bargaining bars the governor from altering state worker wages and hours without negotiating with their representatives". Sakamoto agreed that Lingle had overstepped her bounds, and granted an injunction preventing the mandatory furloughs.

"Furloughs involve wages, actual wages decreasing," Sakamoto said. "Furloughs as core subjects of collective bargaining must be negotiated."

Attorney General Mark Bennett said the state is seriously considering an appeal to Sakamoto's ruling. ^[2]

References