No. 25-488

Valerie Asato v. Hawaii Government Employees Association, et al.

Lower Court: Hawaii
Docketed: 2025-10-20
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived
Tags: constitutional-search duty-of-fair-representation employee-rights fourth-amendment grievance-process labor-law
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw Arbitration FourthAmendment DueProcess CriminalProcedure LaborRelations Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2026-01-09
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether the Hawaii Government Employees Association breached its duty of fair representation and whether the Department of Education violated constitutional search protections in terminating an employee

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

1. Whether the Hawaii Government Employees Association (“HGEA”) breached its duty of fair representation under federal and state labor law by engaging in arbitrary, discriminatory, retaliatory, and bad-faith conduct during the grievance and arbitration process, including hostile actions against Petitioner for filing a prior prohibited practice complaint. 2. Whether the State of Hawaii Department of Education (“DOE”) violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 7 of the Hawaii Constitution by relying on evidence obtained through an unconstitutional and unauthorized search of Petitioner’s work computer to justify her termination. 3. Whether the Hawaii Labor Relations Board, the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, and the Intermediate Court of Appeals erred in dismissing Petitioner’s claims without addressing the constitutional violations and procedural errors central to this case, as required by Haw. Rev. Stat. § 91-14(g)(1).

Docket Entries

2026-01-12
Petition DENIED.
2025-12-03
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/9/2026.
2025-11-17
Waiver of right of respondent Hawaii Government Employees Association to respond filed.
2025-10-31
Waiver of right of respondent Department of Education, State of Hawaii to respond filed.
2025-10-16
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 19, 2025)

Attorneys

Department of Education, State of Hawaii
Jonathan K. D. TungpalanState of Hawaii, Dept. of the Atty. General, Respondent
Jonathan K. D. TungpalanState of Hawaii, Dept. of the Atty. General, Respondent
Hawaii Government Employees Association
Keani S. AlapaAlapa & Otake, LLLC, Respondent
Keani S. AlapaAlapa & Otake, LLLC, Respondent
Valerie Asato
Shawn Anthony LuizShawn A. Luiz, Attorney at Law, Petitioner
Shawn Anthony LuizShawn A. Luiz, Attorney at Law, Petitioner