BUSINESS BRIEFS
Safeguard faces discrimination suit
Advertiser Staff and News Services
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Safeguard Services Inc. for allegedly subjecting female security officers to harassment based on their age and sex.
According to the EEOC, a supervisor repeatedly subjected the female security officers to harassing comments. After the company was alerted to the incidents, it took no steps to prevent or correct it, the suit alleged.
The actions were violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the commission said.
The EEOC said it filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawai'i after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement out of court.
The commission is seeking back wages, and compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief remedies to ensure equal employment opportunity in the workplace.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.
A&B ACQUIRES HOUSTON WAREHOUSE
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has bought a Houston warehouse complex for an undisclosed price, the latest in a string of Mainland industrial real-estate acquisitions for the Honolulu-based company.A&B said the property, a 313,000-square-foot facility called Republic Distribution Center, was built last year near the Port of Houston's two major container terminals and is nearly 50 percent leased to a regional third-party logistics company.
A&B said it expects to benefit from anticipated future growth at the port, which it said is the nation's seventh busiest container port and second busiest based on total tonnage.
Allen Doane, A&B chairman and CEO, said the purchase extends the company's emerging investment strategy of acquiring logistics-oriented warehouse facilities in key domestic transportation nodes.
The acquisition follows recent A&B purchases of industrial facilities in Dallas and Savannah, Ga., as well as a warehousing and distribution company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Collectively, the purchases have given A&B roughly 3 million square feet of additional warehouse space in the past year.
A&B's total portfolio of commercial property comprises about 7.2 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space, including 22 properties in Hawai'i and 23 properties in eight other states.
FHB OFFERS TRUST SERVICES TO JAPAN
First Hawaiian Bank has signed an agreement with one of Japan's largest trust banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., to provide corporate trustee and successor trustee service for the living trusts of Japanese citizens.The formation of a living trust is a new concept recently introduced to Japan and will assist Japanese citizens owning assets in the U.S. to avoid the lengthy U.S. probate process, First Hawaiian said in a news release.
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation is the first Japanese Bank to assist their Japanese customers in managing and planning for the succession of their U.S. assets.
First Hawaiian Bank said it was selected as one of three U.S. banks because of its extensive experience in trust services.
This follows an agreement in May between Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and First Hawaiian Bank, allowing First Hawaiian to provide estate settlement services for Japanese citizens.
First Hawaiian has a long history of serving Japanese customers with a wide range of individual and business services including checking and savings, investments and estate settlement.
