“We did everything we could,” Brian Hubin, a manager with Lahaina Petroleum LLC, told the LC Adjudication Board at the September 3 hearing. A lot of people who come before the board say that, but in this case it actually seemed to be the truth.
On March 8, a 19-year-old minor decoy entered the Paia Shell station, took a bottle of Heineken out of the cooler and walked up to the register. Without asking for ID, the cashier sold the decoy the alcohol. It’s a familiar story, one that’s been repeated countless times in the LC’s chambers. Often, the cashier is under-trained, or the store’s ID-checking procedure is incomplete or nonexistent.
Not so here. Hubin said all employees are required to sign a zero tolerance policy every time they show up to work. On top of that, the company has contracted We Card, a third party program that conducts random ID checks. Lahaina Petroleum rewards employees who pass the test with a $25 bonus, and fires employees who don’t.
The boardmembers were visibly impressed. They asked questions about We Card and lauded Hubin for going the extra mile. It was pretty surreal, actually.
Then we all left the room, the board deliberated for a few minutes and issued a $2,000 fine, half of it suspended. While accepting his punishment, Hubin asked, politely, why workers aren’t subject to penalties (aside, of course, from usually getting fired), even when they’ve clearly failed to follow a rigorous policy. Director Frank Silva said that matter would have to be taken up in rulemaking, and some boardmembers, including Glenn Kunitake and Jason Medeiros, got defensive.
After being showered with praise moments before, Hubin was suddenly just another scofflaw daring to question the LC’s policies and authority. And thus order was restored. Maui Time Weekly, Jacob Shafer
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