Two Honolulu paramedics who were secretly surveilled, pulled off the job and then fired in 2023 are officially back at work. What they still do not have is the backpay an arbitrator says the city owes them.
The paramedics were first placed on paid investigative leave, then terminated in February 2024. An arbitrator later ruled in June 2025 that they never should have been fired and ordered the city to reinstate them and make them whole. The long, messy path from surveillance to termination to reinstatement has raised new questions about how Honolulu’s Emergency Medical Services division runs its internal investigations and how much this one ended up costing taxpayers.
According to records posted on DocumentCloud, the inquiry kicked off after an anonymous tip in May 2023. An EMS official hired a private security firm to watch the employees’ homes during June and July, and the city provided the workers’ home addresses. The investigation file shows the private firm photographed department SUVs parked at the employees’ residences. Those surveillance images and related steps became central evidence in the grievance that eventually went to arbitration.
Arbitrator: Probe Was Mismanaged
In a June 2025 decision, the arbitrator concluded that the EMS official who drove the inquiry had “wrongly controlled and directed” the investigation and that the city treated the whole exercise as “mere legal camouflage,” according to the arbitration records on DocumentCloud.
The ruling found that the two paramedics were effectively punished for violating a rule that did not exist in writing at the time. The arbitrator ordered the city to wipe the disciplinary records and restore the employees to the status they would have held if they had never been fired.
Slow Rehire And Unpaid Backpay
Even after the arbitrator’s order, the city did not rush to bring the employees back. Rehiring dragged on for weeks as officials cited paperwork issues and questions about retirement pay, and the two supervisors were not returned to the payroll right away.
“An arbitrator ordered the city to give them backpay, but as of this month, the city acknowledged, they still haven’t gotten it,” Civil Beat reports. The outlet noted that each paramedic had been earning more than $97,000 a year and that taxpayers picked up more than $300,000 in paid leave while the dispute was unfolding. EMS spokesperson Shayne Enright told reporters the paramedics were reinstated on Aug. 28, 2025.
Context: A Strained EMS System
The timing could hardly have been worse for Honolulu EMS. The division has been struggling with staffing shortages and heavy overtime, even as the city has tried to bolster the ranks.
Hawaii News Now recently highlighted a new dispatcher academy along with other recruitment pushes meant to ease the strain on front-line crews. Against that backdrop, sidelining experienced paramedics for months over a mishandled investigation has become a cautionary tale inside the department about how discipline can ripple through an already stretched system.
What’s Next
The paramedics’ union, United Public Workers, carried the case through grievances and then arbitration. The case file includes internal memos and hearing transcripts that the arbitrator said city officials failed to fully weigh before firing the employees.
Those documents, available on DocumentCloud, are expected to be key if the union seeks court enforcement of the arbitration award or pursues additional remedies over the delays.
For the city, the episode has already triggered at least one policy shift: a new rule that tightens when EMS employees are allowed to take department vehicles home. The goal is to head off future disputes over take-home cars, surveillance and discipline before they spin into another years-long, high-cost fight.
