Posted on: Sunday, October 10, 2004

State honors its workers of the year

Advertiser Staff

A Department of Taxation personnel officer was recognized as state manager of the year, and a data analyst with the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations was named employee of the year by Gov. Linda Lingle on Friday. Recognized as team of the year was a section of the Department of Human Services.

Sandra Yahiro, departmental personnel officer for the tax department, was acknowledged for building a more productive workforce during her one year on the job. Yahiro was credited with handling difficult labor relations cases and filling approximately 60 vacant positions when the Taxpayer Services Branch created a one-stop service.

Liane Kimura, a data processing systems analyst for the Labor Department, was recognized for leading the creation and maintenance of the Disability Compensation Division's automation and computer system, which allows the division to more efficiently administer the workers' compensation, temporary disability and prepaid healthcare programs.

The Membership File Integrity Section Team of the Department of Human Services was credited for helping their co-workers ensure timely processing of documents that help clients in the Medicaid fee-for-service program.

A volunteer panel of five judges from nongovernment organizations chose the winners from among 48 nominees.