Gov. Josh Green and the state Legislature will have to figure out how to pay for an estimated $120 million to $150 million in retroactive hazard pay due to 7,800 unionized public workers who faced health risks at Hawaii public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An arbitrator’s ruling on behalf of members of the Hawaii Government Employees Association — the state’s largest union — followed a previous arbitration against Maui County in 2022 that has been settled.

Now the state also faces similar arbitration on behalf of blue- and white-collar supervisors and non-supervisors who worked on Kauai and Hawaii island during the pandemic, said Malulani Moreno, HGEA’s communications manager.

An arbitrator ruled in January that the 7,800 school workers are entitled to additional hazard pay of 15% to 25% that’s included in their contracts, “and pointed to the higher number,” Moreno said.

Exactly how much individual HGEA members will receive in so-called Temporary Hazard Pay remains the subject of ongoing negotiations.

In a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Wednesday, state budget and finance Director Luis Salaveria said, “While temporary hazard pay negotiations are ongoing, we continue to have conversations with affected public sector unions and are hopeful to reach a fair resolution as soon as possible. We remain committed to the priorities of the governor’s administration, our obligations to our workforce, and the various needs of our state, while ensuring fiscal responsibility through a balanced budget.”

In the first phase of the arbitration, HGEA argued that its members — including cafeteria managers, nurses, health aides, educational assistants and other support staff — faced health hazards by working at public schools throughout the pandemic.

In the second phase, “we needed to make the case of who was exposed and to what degree — and to what degree they are entitled to hazard pay because of the clauses in their contract,” Moreno said.

Whether each employee receives 15% of hazard pay or up to 25% depends on a variety of factors, including whether they worked mostly at home or at school, or took vacation time.

“Most of the teachers were teaching online, but these people continued to report to work and were still on-site,” Moreno said.

Following the arbitrator’s ruling, HGEA Executive Director Randy Perriera said in a statement that, “Those working in the DOE were some of the most exposed among public service employees, putting their own health — as well as that of their loved ones — at substantial risk to keep services running in Hawaii’s schools. The arbitrators in this case and others thus far have been unanimous: our members faced severe hazards over the course of the pandemic to sustain government operations, and they deserve compensation. This victory is a clear signal to the state and counties that it’s time to get serious about how they will cover the hefty price tag of THP (temporary hazard pay) payouts.”

HGEA in October 2022 won a similar arbitration against Maui County on behalf of more than 1,300 of its members, who also were entitled to as much as 25% of temporary hazard pay.

In a statement at the time, Perreira said, “This award validates our belief that what our government workforce did during the COVID-19 global pandemic was truly extraordinary. Our members sacrificed their health, and quite frankly, their families’ safety, to show up at work each and every day. They are not just essential workers, they are our social safety net and they kept Hawaii afloat during this unprecedented crisis.”

Perreira called the Maui arbitration “a precedent-setting award.”

“We look forward to resolving similar grievances with other jurisdictions so that our members can move forward and focus on serving our community,” Perreira said.