Russell Tsuji, until last year the longtime administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division, is suing the DLNR and Dawn Chang, chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources. His lawsuit, filed in 1st Circuit Court, alleges that Chang’s behavior toward him amounted to violations of state law forbidding “disability discrimination, race discrimination, natural origin discrimination, gender discrimination, age discrimination, and retaliation.”
The complaint notes that in December 2021, Tsuji “suffered a stroke, specifically a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which constitutes a disability.” Afterward, he “worked diligently to manage his blood pressure and health, and he continued to perform all essential functions of his position as State Lands Administrator.”
Soon after the appointment of Chang to head up the DLNR, Tsuji’s complaint states, the behavior that forms the basis of his lawsuit began. “Beginning in or around January 2023, Defendant Chang engaged in a pattern of conduct intended to embarrass, harass, and create a hostile and intolerable work environment” for him, the complaint says.
Specifically, Chang said in front of other DLNR administrators and staff that certain persons, including the governor’s chief of staff, state Senator Tim Richards, and James McCully, a lessee of state land, wanted Tsuji to be fired, the lawsuit states.
Chang excluded Tsuji from communications with his own staff, Tsuji alleges. Among other things, she “sent emails directly to Land Division staff on substantive land matters, including the Army land exchange and other projects, without copying Mr. Tsuji, thereby subverting his supervisory authority.”
The complaint suggests other administrators were also disparaged by Chang, including former Water Deputy Kaleo Manuel and Land Deputy Laura Kaʻakua. “Defendant Chang publicly announced in a weekly administrators’ meeting that the Attorney General had ordered the removal of … Manuel,” who subsequently resigned, the complaint says. In addition, “Kaʻakua was removed shortly after Mr. Manuel, and [her] secretary later told Mr. Tsuji that she could not stand to see Laura being treated poorly by Defendant Chang.”
Tsuji filed a formal discrimination complaint in February 2024. According to the complaint, “the investigation confirmed that Defendant Chang did engage in much of the reported conduct.” Despite this, “the investigation concluded that there was ‘insufficient evidence’ that the conduct violated the [Department of Human Resources Development’s] internal [Equal Employment Opportunity] policy.”
A year later, Tsuji was approved for reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This, the complaint says, “included a hybrid telework schedule … in light of Mr. Tsuji’s disability resulting from his December 2021 stroke … and the ongoing need to manage his blood pressure.” He was also approved for intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
“A mere three days after Mr. Tsuji’s reasonable accommodation was approved, on March 17, Defendant Chang issued a memorandum placing Mr. Tsuji on a ‘special assignment,” the complaint says. That required Tsuji to personally conduct thorough site inspections of all 800-plus properties under state lease or revocable permit throughout the state.
At the same time, Tsuji was “relieved of all of his duties and responsibilities as State Lands Administrator.”
“The special assignment was fundamentally inconsistent with Mr. Tsuji’s approved reasonable accommodation and FMLA leave,” the complaint continues, requiring extensive interisland travel “in direct contravention of his approved accommodations.”
“By stripping Mr. Tsuji of his authority and responsibilities as the State Lands Administrator and assigning him work that fell within the job descriptions of land agents (a lower-level position), Defendant Chang imposed an adverse employment action without any due process or hearing,” the complaint states.
“The pretextual nature of the special assignment is further demonstrated by the fact that no other DLNR administrator has ever been given a similar assignment, the assignment was outside Mr. Tsuji’s job description, and the scope was so unreasonable that even multiple land agents working together over years could not have completed it,” the complaint says.
A week later, Tsuji asked Chang to reconsider the special assignment. On March 31, she rejected the request. Tsuji submitted his departure notice on April 23, even though he had planned to continue working for the DLNR for five or six more years, according to the court filing. “The constructive discharge forced him into early retirement, resulting in significant lost wages, lost benefits, and lost pension accrual,” it states. His last day of employment with the DLNR was May 30, 2025.
On June 23, Tsuji filed a complaint with the Hawaiʻi Civil Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging disability discrimination and retaliation. It took nearly a year for the Civil Rights Commission to issue its decision, granting Tsuji a “right to sue” letter on April 9. Five days later, his attorneys filed the complaint against Chang and the DLNR.
Loss of Continuity
Tsuji headed the Land Division for years and his departure meant a loss of institutional knowledge hard to replace. Exacerbating that loss, two other longtime Land Division staff have left. Ian Hirokawa was named acting Land Division administrator following Tsuji’s departure, but he soon transferred to the state Department of Transportation. Kevin Moore, assistant state lands administrator, transferred to the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, where he now manages that department’s portfolio of agricultural leases.
Other DLNR divisions that have seen departures include that of State Parks administrator Curt Cottrell and Ed Underwood, administrator of the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.
Other Workplace Complaints
Dawn Chang has headed the DLNR since January 2023. Over the past year, the department has issued seven separate contracts for investigations of workplace misconduct and, in one case, alleged workplace violence.
Summaries of the contracts on the state HANDS website do not provide details. However, two of the complaints allege workplace misconduct at the Division of State Parks. One alleges professional misconduct and administrative violations at the State Historic Preservation Division. One contract in April was issued to investigate allegations of workplace violence and/or misconduct at the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation. In all, the contracts were to investigate more than two dozen allegations of misconduct of one or another type.
So far, the contracts for workplace misconduct have cost the DLNR more than $90,000 in the past 12 months.
— Patricia Tummons