Haw. Rev. Stat. § 386-92 (2026)

     §386-92  Default in payments of compensation, penalty.  If any compensation payable under the terms of a final decision or judgment is not paid by a self-insured employer or an insurance carrier within thirty-one days after it becomes due, as provided by the final decision or judgment, or if any temporary total disability benefits are not paid by the employer or carrier within ten days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, after the employer or carrier has been notified of the disability, and where the right to benefits are not controverted in the employer's initial report of industrial injury or where temporary total disability benefits are terminated in violation of section 386-31, there shall be added to the unpaid compensation an amount equal to twenty per cent thereof payable at the same time as, but in addition to, the compensation, unless the nonpayment is excused by the director after a showing by the employer or insurance carrier that the payment of the compensation could not be made on the date prescribed therefor owing to the conditions over which the employer or carrier had no control. [L 1963, c 116, pt of §1; Supp, §97-101; HRS §386-92; am L 1971, c 159, §1; am L 1979, c 66, §4; gen ch 1985; am L 1995, c 234, §14]

Case Notes

  Administrative penalties authorized by this section and §386-31(b) not intended to provide an injured worker's exclusive remedy for injuries resulting from an insurer's tortious delay or termination of benefits.  83 H. 457, 927 P.2d 858 (1996).

  Employer was not subject to penalties for failing to make immediate payments of temporary total disability even though the claim was not controverted in the employer's initial injury report, given that:  (1) employer was unable to controvert claimant's shoulder injury in the initial injury report because claimant had not complained of any shoulder injury, but employer did controvert the shoulder injuries as soon as claimant made those claims; and (2) holding that employer had not controverted claimant's shoulder injury for purposes of this section merely because employer had not done so in the initial injury report would have the effect of allowing employees to subsequently add any injuries to their claims and prevent their employers from controverting the additional injuries without paying a penalty.  136 H. 448, 363 P.3d 296 (2015).