Letters

This is the first time I have purchased your magazine [April 2005]. But having grown up in Hawaii, I am exceedingly excited about the companies you featured, especially since 99 percent of the employers I have given my 110 percent effort have treated me so shabbily.

I am very happy for all those people, who work for good companies.

Sandra M. Barker
Honolulu, HI
Via email

WORST CASE SCENARIO

I am astounded that the [January 2005] article ["Best Case Scenario"] appeared in print in your magazine. It is not that I would question Steve Case as to the ability to "Do Well" however, the claim that, as you say, "he is a big believer in what he calls the concept of 'doing well and doing good' and he's applying this practice of solving large-scale social problems with entrepreneurial tactics to all of his current and future Hawaii investments," defies explanation.

I would refer you for one case to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle of Friday, January 14, 2005, where Mr. Case admits "Case Takes Blame For Dismal Merger." The contrary prevailing of Mr. Case in his track record with AOL and the questionable tactics he used to facilitate the merger with a long-time company Time Warner certainly don't sound like he believes "in doing good." Thousands of Time Warner employees would say that Mr. Case "did bad" in wiping out their life savings and retirement in his tricky merger with Time Warner and precipitated the free fall of the merged stock because of the deceptive over evaluation of AOL. He was basically hostilely banished from his position in the merged firm.

I guess my point is, is Ken Lay of Enron history a "big believer in doing well and doing good?"

Raymond C. Suiter
Honolulu, HI

HAVE YOU HUGGED ONE LATELY?

Thanks for the intelligent [May 2005 Nota Bene] on lawyers.

May 1 is Law Day in America and I am proud to be a lawyer. It has been another year of work for me representing injured workers in Hawaii. I am proud of the work that I do as I attempt to assist persons to get quality medical assistance and to return to work as rapidly as possible. I am proud of the many lawyers that I know who do similar work. And I am proud of the many defense lawyers who faithfully represent insurance carriers and employers in these work injury cases. Together we expose myths about the "system being broken" and about "worker fraud." Thanks to all of us the system is not broken and there is little, if any, fraud. There are some problems but as lawyers, we work at resolving them every day of the year. We encourage workers to try and return to work even with some daily pain.

We discourage employers from terminating their injured workers and we encourage insurers and employers to limit their work comp expenses by allowing workers to return to light duty work as soon as doctors release these injured persons. …

Finally, it's Law Day and I am proud to be a lawyer. I love Hawaii and its sense of Aloha. I try and maintain that spirit in my work as a lawyer and as a resident of my community. The lawyers that I know work hard to maintain our system of laws. Those laws allow citizens to resolve important personal and family conflicts and that process brings peace to our community.

It's Law Day and I am proud to be a lawyer. Do me a favor. Hug a lawyer today.

Joseph Zuiker
Honolulu, HI
Via facsimile

COMPANIES SHOULD BE FAMILY FRIENDLY

I read with interest your selection of the 25 Best Places to Work in Hawaii [April 2005] and was rather surprised that you didn't have a category of "Family Friendly" listed in the Methodology.

Some years ago the YWCA started a program of designating the best places to work and at the top of their list of criteria was "family friendly." The first company that was selected (in 1988) as a family friendly company was my firm, the American Trust Co. of Hawaii. At that time we served as the custodial trustee for several thousand retirement plans and as custodial co-trustee for about 1000 individual trusts.

We employed about 150 people, with over 100 being mothers or fathers with children under four years of age. Whenever a child was sick, or a caregiver was sick, our employee was tempted to take sick leave. Recognizing this problem, we offered flex-time and in some cases two employees shared on job for up to a year. We endeavored to offer a room for nursing mothers, but this was shot down by the State Department of Health because the building didn't provide hot running water.

For several key employees we offered partial subsidy for toddler care and arranged for before-tax child care for everyone.

Turnover was practically zero.

You may wish to consult with the Good Beginnings Alliance and with Patch, the State private referral agency, for up to date information on family friendly resources available to small businesses in Hawaii. And I suggest you review your methodology for next year's selections.

Robert R. Midkiff
Honolulu, HI