Haw. Rev. Stat. § 88-79
(a) Under rules the board of trustees may adopt, upon application of a member, or the person appointed by the family court as guardian of an incapacitated member, any member while employed in a position in which all contributions required to be made to the employees' retirement system by the employee or the employer, or both, have been made, who has been permanently incapacitated for duty as the natural and proximate result of an accident occurring while in the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place, or as the cumulative result of some occupational hazard, through no wilful negligence on the member's part, may be retired by the system for service-connected disability; provided that:
(b) In the case of firefighters, police officers, and sewer workers, the effect of the inhalation of smoke, toxic gases, chemical fumes, and other toxic vapors on the heart, lungs, and respiratory system shall be construed as an injury received or disease contracted while in the performance of their duty and as the result of some occupational hazard for the purpose of determining occupational disability retirement under this section.
Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, any condition of impairment of health caused by any disease of the heart, lungs, or respiratory system, resulting in permanent incapacity to a firefighter, police officer, or sewer worker, shall be presumed to have been suffered in the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place through no wilful negligence on the firefighter's, police officer's, or sewer worker's part, and as a result of the inherent occupational hazard of exposure to and inhalation of smoke, toxic gases, chemical fumes, and other toxic vapors, unless the contrary be shown by competent evidence; provided that such firefighter, police officer, or sewer worker shall have passed a physical examination on entry into such service or subsequent to such entry, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition.
(d) The system may determine whether or not the disability is the result of an accident occurring while in the actual performance of duty at some definite time and place and that the disability was not the result of wilful negligence on the part of the member. The system may accept as conclusive:
[L 1963, c 127, §7; am L 1965, c 225, §2; Supp, §6-46.1; HRS §88-69; am L 1969, c 110, pt of §1; am L 1971, c 152, §3; am L 1974, c 182, §3; am L 1975, c 41, §1; am L 1983, c 124, §15; gen ch 1985; am L 1987, c 81, §1 and c 283, §14; am L 1997, c 212, §3; am L 1998, c 151, §6; am L 2002, c 128, §6; am L 2007, c 215, §10; am L 2017, c 17, §4; am L 2018, c 69, §3]
Heart attack could constitute "accident" within meaning of section. Att. Gen. Op. 69-25.
Applicant for benefits under section is, by chapter 91 and constitutional due process, entitled to trial-type hearing on contested issues before the board of trustees. 52 H. 212, 473 P.2d 866.
Danger that accompanies a particular job is an "occupational hazard" if it is not a risk common to employment in general. 67 H. 485, 693 P.2d 405.
Where the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) reviewed the circuit court's decision upon its review of a decision by the board of trustees of the employees' retirement system, the ICA erred in concluding that the circuit court's decision should be reviewed under a clearly erroneous standard and in characterizing the determinative issue as a mixed question of law and fact; because the determinative issue was whether the statutory language of "definite time and place" in this section requires a claimant to show the exact moment when an injury occurs, the appropriate standard of review was de novo. 134 H. 1, 332 P.3d 144 (2014).
Where there was no dispute that employee was injured while lifting boxes during a work shift for the city and county of Honolulu's department of information technology, the "definite time and place" language in this section did not preclude the recovery of benefits despite employee's inability to pinpoint the precise moment of injury. 134 H. 1, 332 P.3d 144 (2014).
Where appellant, a regular school-year teacher employed by the department of education, applied for service-connected disability retirement based on injuries suffered as a result of being shot by a student at school, the circuit court erred in affirming decision of the board of trustees of the employees' retirement system that appellant was not eligible to receive benefits. Although appellant's summer school employment at the time of injury was not "membership service", it was nevertheless "service" as defined under §88-21, and this section provides for "service-connected disability retirement", not "membership service-connected disability retirement". 140 H. 177, 398 P.3d 766 (2017).
Office worker's permanent incapacitation for duty caused by asthmatic bronchitis was not cumulative result of an occupational hazard; incapacitation due to an "accident" or as "the cumulative result of some occupational hazard" are mutually exclusive. 5 H. App. 279, 687 P.2d 1340.
Where an employee is on the employer's premises, doing what the employer requires at a time and place the employee is required to do it, the employee is engaged in the actual performance of duty for purposes of service-connected disability retirement. 112 H. 292 (App.), 145 P.3d 835.