State labor lawRead at source, 24 September 2026

Hawaii Labor Laws for Employers (2026): Breaks, Overtime, Final Pay and Hiring

Hawaii requires no meal or rest breaks for adults; the only break rule is a 30-minute period after five hours for 14- and 15-year-olds. Overtime is due after 40 hours a week, with no daily rule. A fired employee must be paid at the time of discharge (or the next working day), and wages must be paid at least twice a month. Hawaii has no paid sick leave law, but it requires temporary disability insurance and prepaid health care. Employers with 50 or more employees must put a pay range in job listings, and every minor under 18 needs a state certificate. The minimum wage is $16.00.

Hawaii employment law at a glance

Hawaii looks relaxed on breaks and sick leave and is strict almost everywhere else. It requires employers to provide health insurance and temporary disability coverage, it requires a work permit for every minor, it bars conviction questions until after an offer, and it pays twice a month. Each row below was read in the Hawaii Revised Statutes or on a Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) page on September 24, 2026.

Hawaii break laws

Adults: no meal or rest break requirement

DLIR’s breaks page is direct: “There is no law that requires rest or meal breaks for other employees.” The only state break rule is for minors. If you do provide a meal break, it is unpaid only when it is 30 minutes or more and the employee is completely relieved of duty. Shorter breaks follow the federal rule in 29 CFR 785.18: “Rest breaks of five to twenty minutes are counted as hours worked and are compensable,” as DLIR puts it.

One related trap: DLIR’s wage and hour FAQs say that if an employee works through a scheduled meal break, the time must be paid. An automatic 30-minute deduction on a shift where the break did not happen is an underpayment.

Minors

Under HRS 390-2(c)(3), as DLIR summarizes it, 14- and 15-year-olds must get a 30-minute rest or meal period after five consecutive hours of work. Hawaii does not set a break rule for 16- and 17-year-olds. Compare with other states on our meal break laws by state page.

Lactation breaks

HRS 378-92 requires reasonable break time to express milk for one year after the child’s birth, and a location other than a restroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusion. Employers with fewer than 20 employees can be excused only if they show undue hardship. The federal PUMP Act also applies to FLSA-covered employers.

Hawaii overtime laws

HRS 387-3 requires overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Hawaii has no daily overtime rule for private employers; DLIR notes that the 8-hour daily rule applies only on state or county public works projects.

• Salary exemption. The current text of HRS 387-1 excludes anyone paid a guaranteed compensation of $4,000 or more a month from the minimum wage and overtime law, as well as bona fide executive, administrative, supervisory and professional employees. DLIR repeats the $4,000 figure in its wage and hour FAQs. Most Hawaii employers are also covered by the federal FLSA, whose own salary and duties tests still apply.
• Seasonal agricultural processing. Certain seasonal agricultural processing and packing employers pay overtime after 48 hours instead of 40 in exempt weeks (HRS 387-3(e)).
• Split shifts. All of an employee’s shifts within a 24-hour period must fall within 14 consecutive hours, except in an extraordinary emergency (HRS 387-3(f)). That matters for restaurants and hotels that schedule a lunch and a dinner shift.
• Records. DLIR says employers must keep wage and hour records for at least six years.

See how Hawaii compares on our overtime laws by state page.

Paying employees in Hawaii

Minimum wage

Hawaii’s minimum wage is $16.00 an hour from January 1, 2026, the third of four steps set by Act 114 of 2022. It stays at $16.00 through 2027 and rises to $18.00 on January 1, 2028. Tipped employees can be paid $14.75 only under strict conditions. Details are on our Hawaii minimum wage page. Since 2025, a violation of the wage and hour law also carries a minimum civil penalty of $500 under Act 115, according to the state’s December 15, 2025 announcement.

Pay frequency

HRS 388-2 requires payment “at least twice during each calendar month, on regular paydays designated in advance,” and wages are “due and payable within seven days after the end of each pay period.” Monthly pay is allowed only with DLIR approval or by a secret-ballot vote of a majority of employees. Compare on the pay frequency laws by state page.

Final paychecks

Under HRS 388-3, an employee you discharge, with or without cause, must be paid in full at the time of discharge, or no later than the next working day if the timing makes immediate payment impossible. An employee who quits is paid by the next regular payday, unless they gave at least one pay period’s notice, in which case all wages are due when they leave. Laid-off employees are paid by the next regular payday. Hawaii case law has held that unused vacation is not “wages” under the payment of wages law (108 H. 411, noted under HRS 388-3), so payout depends on your written policy. See final paycheck laws by state and PTO payout laws by state.

Hawaii hiring laws

Pay ranges in job postings

Since January 1, 2024, Act 203 has required employers with 50 or more employees to include in job listings “the hourly rate or salary range that reasonably reflects the actual expected compensation,” according to the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. The Commission notes the law does not say the 50 employees must be in Hawaii or full time. Internal transfers and promotions, and collectively bargained public positions, are excluded. Compare the other posting states on our pay transparency laws by state page.

Salary history

HRS 378-2.4 bars employers from asking about an applicant’s salary history or relying on it to set pay. You can discuss the applicant’s expectations and tell them the range for the job, and if they volunteer their history unprompted you may consider it.

Criminal records

HRS 378-2.5 allows an employer to consider conviction records only after a conditional offer, and only where the conviction “bears a rational relationship to the duties and responsibilities of the position.” Only the most recent seven years for felonies and five years for misdemeanors count, excluding time incarcerated. Employers that another law permits or requires to check criminal history, such as some health and education roles, are exempt from the timing and look-back limits. Arrest and court record is also a protected category under HRS 378-2. See ban the box laws by state.

Form I-9, E-Verify and new-hire reporting

Every employer completes the federal Form I-9. Hawaii does not require private employers to use E-Verify. HRS 576D-16 requires each new hire to be reported to the state Child Support Enforcement Agency within twenty days of hire.

Minors and work permits

Hawaii requires a child labor certificate for every working minor until age 18, according to the DLIR child labor page. For 14- and 15-year-olds, the employer must obtain a Certificate of Employment before the first shift, and must do it again for a new employer or new occupation. They may work up to 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week, 8 hours on a non-school day and 40 hours in a non-school week, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on school days and days before a school day (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on non-school days and days before a non-school day), no more than 6 consecutive days. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds apply online for a Certificate of Age, which the employer verifies and records at hire. Federal child labor rules also apply where they are stricter. See child labor laws by state.

Paid leave, disability and health coverage

DLIR says it plainly: “In Hawaii, paid vacation and sick leave is not required by law.” If you offer either, the policy must be in writing or posted, and changes must be issued before they take effect (HRS 388-7(3), per DLIR). Hawaii fills the gap in other ways:

• Temporary disability insurance. Employers must provide partial wage replacement for off-the-job injury or illness, including pregnancy. Statutory plans pay 58 percent of average weekly wages from the eighth day of disability for up to 26 weeks, up to a state maximum. Employers may share the cost, but the employee’s share cannot exceed 0.5 percent of weekly wages (DLIR Disability Compensation Division).
• Prepaid health care. Employers must provide approved health coverage to employees who work at least 20 hours a week and earn at least 86.67 times the Hawaii minimum wage a month, starting after four consecutive weeks of employment. Employers pay at least half the premium, and the employee’s share cannot exceed the lesser of half the premium or 1.5 percent of monthly gross earnings (DLIR).
• Hawaii Family Leave Law. Employers with 100 or more employees in Hawaii must provide job-protected family leave under HRS chapter 398; eligibility starts after six months of employment (DLIR family leave FAQ).

Posters and records

DLIR lists its required workplace notices on the Hawaii labor law poster page, including the minimum wage notice and the tip credit notice. Lactation break rights must also be posted under HRS 378-92(b). Federal posters are separate; our labor law posters by state page links every state source. For written policies such as vacation and sick leave, see employee handbook requirements by state.

Local rules in Hawaii

DLIR publishes a single statewide minimum wage, and we found no county minimum wage, sick leave or scheduling ordinance that changes the answers above. Hawaii also has no predictive scheduling law. Hawaii does have its own plant closing notice law (HRS chapter 394B) on top of federal WARN; see WARN Act by state.

What this means when you’re hiring hourly workers in Hawaii

For employers with 50 or more employees, the hourly rate or range must be in the job ad, and on social ads that is the line that stops the scroll anyway. Two Hawaii rules are worth stating in the ad because candidates weigh them: prepaid health coverage for employees working 20 or more hours a week, and the paycheck twice a month. On the application, leave criminal history out entirely until after an offer, and do not ask about pay history.

If you hire teenagers, build the certificate step into onboarding before the first shift. Our guide to job ad copywriting covers the wording, frontline recruiting shows how Boostpoint runs hospitality and retail campaigns, and the employee cost calculator prices a Hawaii hire at the wage you actually pay.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: Hawaii Revised Statutes chapters 378, 387, 388 and 576D; DLIR Wage Standards Division, Disability Compensation Division and Hawaii Civil Rights Commission pages, read September 24, 2026.