In October 2024, Administrative Law Judge Anita Baman Tracy found Hawai’i Pacific Health and Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children guilty of implementing coercive rules, in which the hospital engaged in unfair labor practices by enforcing a dress code policy that prohibited wearing logos in patient care areas. Hospital administration forced employees to remove union solidarity stickers and pins from their badges and uniforms in patient care areas. The Hawai’i Nurses Association (HNA) OPEIU Local 50 Union filed numerous charges on November 15, 2023, alleging bad faith bargaining, repudiation and modification of contract, and coercive rules. Due to this ruling, all HPH hospitals had to rescind any disciplinary actions against employees for violating this unlawful dress code and propagate official notices to employees by the National Labor Relations Board. This notice stated that the respective hospitals had violated federal labor law. It reassured employees of their federal rights, including the right to unionize, bargain collectively, and participate in protected activities. While this ruling did not find Kapi’olani Hospital guilty of bad faith bargaining or modification of contract, it did find that they attempted to suppress unionization or solidarity with the union.

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