Senor Frog’s in Hawaii settles harassment suit

November 22, 2013

HONOLULU - A shuttered Waikiki restaurant and bar has agreed to pay $350,000 to settle complaints of male managers sexually harassing 13 female employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday.La Rana Hawaii LLC, the Hawaii arm of the Mexico company that owns the Senor Frog's chain, agreed to change its policies if it decides to reopen, the federal agency said.The settlement resolves a complaint filed nearly two years ago accusing managers of groping female workers' breasts and buttocks and demanding sex from them. EEOC officials accused the managers of making ...

Business/In Brief • Nov. 21, 2013

November 21, 2013

A&B to buy Kailua land for $373MHONOLULU - Major Hawaii landowner Alexander & Baldwin Inc. said Wednesday that it will buy hundreds of millions of dollars of commercial property in Kailua on Oahu's windward side.The $373 million deal, which also includes land in urban Honolulu and other parts of windward Oahu, is expected to close late next month, the company said in a news release.The properties account for most of Kailua's retail district and include grocery and drug- stores, strip malls, and light industrial areas, along with 585 acres of mostly preservation-zoned land and ...

Maui nonprofit will receive solar energy system

November 20, 2013

The La'a Kea Foundation on Maui will receive a $25,000 solar energy system as the winner of Enphase Energy Inc.'s Mahalo Hawaii Facebook contest.The Mahalo Hawaii video contest celebrates Enphase's nearing its 25,000th system installation in Hawaii. The contest awarded a solar system to a nonprofit organization with the most votes for its video. The contest, exclusively for Hawaii, highlighted 16 different nonprofit organizations hoping to add the benefits of solar power to their organization.La'a Kea is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing meaningful work opportunities and ...

Business/In Brief • Nov. 19, 2013

November 19, 2013

HONOLULU - The insurance company that paid $2.4 million to cover losses from a wind farm fire is suing manufacturers that built parts of its battery system.The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London paid to cover losses at First Wind's Kahuku wind energy project following a fire May 23, 2011.The fire destroyed one of 10 power modules. A second fire that August destroyed the battery system and knocked out service for more than a year.The lawsuit names Dynapower Co., which built power inverters in the battery system, and Electronic Concepts Inc., which ...

Seminar for solar installers and inspectors

November 19, 2013

A free seminar on the latest industry-standard photovoltaic installation practices will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at Maui Electric Co., the company announced.The seminar is for solar system installers and inspectors. The featured speaker will be national PV system expert and author William "Bill" Brooks, principal engineer of Brooks Engineering. He has more than 25 years of experience in designing, installing and evaluating grid-connected PV systems.MECO is hosting the event at its Kahului office at 210 W. Kamehameha Ave.Solar installers and inspectors can reserve a space by ...

Business/In Brief • Nov. 16, 2013

November 16, 2013

Health profiling to be offered at meetingLocal wellness consultants Shayna Naveh and Rebecca Zeuch will be offering a free health profiling and wellness consultation at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Kihei Charter Middle School in the Lipoa Center.The health profiling and wellness consultation is being held in conjunction with a meeting of Truestar Health employees and others at the Fairmont Kea Lani Maui. Truestar is a health and wellness company that educates others on how to improve their lives through five areas: nutrition, exercise, vitamins, attitude and sleep, a news release said.A ...