Former state labor director Nelson Befitel will join ProService Hawai'i as corporate counsel effective Sept. 4.

Befitel, 41, will work with Pro-Service Hawai'i staff on labor, contract and employment law issues. He also will be responsible for workplace compliance, government agency relations, corporate governance, and policies for health benefits, payroll and workers' compensation.

ProService Hawai'i is the state's largest employee outsourcing firm that provides employee administration services, including payroll, human resource services, health benefits, and workers' compensation and 401(k) management. The company has 750 clients that represent about 7,500 employees statewide.

"I am excited to join a company whose mission is to help local small businesses and their employees," he said. "The outsourced employee administration industry is on a nationwide upswing, and I look forward to helping ProService take the industry to the next level in Hawai'i."

In 2002, Gov. Linda Lingle appointed Befitel to head the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Befitel, a longtime family friend of Lingle, had served as her campaign attorney.

As director, Befitel is credited with improving online access and technology to the department and launching the Hirenet Hawai'i Web site to link employers with job seekers. His last day with the state is today.

Benjamin Godsey, ProService president of finance and operations, said Befitel will give his company and clients "unparalleled (human resources) compliance and business legal expertise."

Befitel was raised on Moloka'i and graduated from Lahainaluna High School on Maui.

He received a journalism degree from the University of Hawai'i and a law degree at Arizona State University College of Law.