(a) Civil. Any employer who fails to pay wages in accordance with this chapter without equitable justification or violates this chapter or the administrative rules adopted under this chapter shall be liable:

Attorney's Note

Under the Hawaii Revised Statutes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class C felonyup to 5 yearsup to $10,000
For details, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-660

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 388-10

  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Director: means the director of labor and industrial relations. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 388-1
  • Employee: includes any person suffered or permitted to work. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 388-1
  • Employer: includes any individual; partnership; association; joint-stock company; trust; corporation; the personal representative of the estate of a deceased individual or the receiver, trustee, or successor of any of the same; general contractor, for purposes of wages owed to the employees of a subcontractor, as those terms are defined in section 388-11. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 388-1
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Wages: means compensation for labor or services rendered by an employee, whether the amount is determined on a time, task, piece, commission, or other basis of calculation. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 388-1
(1) To the employee, in addition to the wages legally proven to be due, for a sum equal to the amount of unpaid wages and interest at a rate of six per cent per year from the date that the wages were due; and
(2) For a penalty of not less than $500 or $100 for each violation, whichever is greater. The penalty shall be deposited into the labor law enforcement special fund.
(b) Criminal.

(1) Any employer who does not pay the wages of any of the employer’s employees in accordance with this chapter, or any officer of any corporation who knowingly permits the corporation to violate this chapter by failing to pay wages of any of its employees in accordance with this chapter shall be guilty of a class C felony and, notwithstanding § 706-640, be subject to a fine of not less than $500 per offense. Each violation shall be deemed a separate offense.
(2) Any employer or the employer’s agent or any officer or agent of a corporation who discharges or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because the employee has made a complaint to the employee’s employer, or to the director, or to any other person that the employee has not been paid wages in accordance with this chapter, or has instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this chapter, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceedings, or any employer who wilfully fails to comply with any other requirements of this chapter shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or punished by both fine and imprisonment for each such offense.