Section 28-39-19  Information held confidential.

Information held confidential. – Every employee of the department of labor and training is expressly prohibited from divulging to any individual not officially connected with the department: (1) any information obtained by the employee in the regular course of duty, or from the records and reports of employing units, or from the permanent records of the department, which would reveal the identity of any individual or employing unit; (2) the number of persons employed by any employing unit; (3) matters relating to employment of any employing unit; (4) the wages earned or paid to any individual; (5) the hours worked by an individual; (6) the type of sickness suffered by any individual; or (7) any other information relative to the temporary disability claim or payment of it; provided, that this prohibition shall not apply to information concerning wages earned or paid requested in a family court proceeding pursuant to §§ 15-5-24 and 15-5-25 or to information concerning wages earned or paid requested in a superior court proceeding pursuant to §§ 12-25-3 and 12-25-7.

 
Section 28-41-11 (b)  Eligibility

In order to be deemed eligible for benefits, an individual whose benefit year begins on or after October 7, 1990: must have been paid wages in:

(1) Any one calendar quarter of the base period which are at least two hundred (200) times the minimum hourly wage, as defined in chapter 12 of this title, and must have been paid wages in the base period amounting to at least one and one-half (1 1/2) times the wages paid to the individual in that calendar quarter of the base period in which the individual's wages were highest; provided, that the minimum amount of total base period wages paid to the individual must be at least four hundred (400) times the minimum hourly wage, as defined in chapter 12 of this title. The base period wages must have been paid to the individual for performing services in employment for one or more employers subject to chapters 39 – 41 of this title; or, in the alternative,

(2) The base period for performing services in employment for one or more employers subject to chapters 39 – 41 of this title amounting to at least three (3) times the total minimum amount required in subdivision (1) of this subsection.

Section 28-41-2.  Wages included for benefit purposes

Notwithstanding any provisions of chapters 39 – 41 of this title to the contrary, "wages" as used in the phrase "wages for employment from employers" means, with reference to the benefits provisions of chapters 39 – 41 of this title, only those wages which are paid subsequent to the date upon which the employing unit, by whom those wages were paid, has satisfied the conditions of § 28-39-2 (12) with respect to becoming an employer subject to those chapters. No individual shall be denied benefits under chapters 39 – 41 of this title because his or her employer continued to pay to that individual his or her regular wages, or parts of them, while he or she was sick and unable to perform his or her regular or customary work or services. The amount of any payments, whether or not under a plan or system, made to or on behalf of an employee by his or her employer after the expiration of six (6) calendar months following the last calendar month in which the employee performed actual bona fide personal services for that employer, shall not be deemed to be wages for the purpose of being used as a basis for paying benefits under chapter 41 of this title.  

Section 28-41-3.  Inclusion of unpaid wages

Inclusion of unpaid wages. – Wages earned by an employee for employment from employers, which remain unpaid because the assets of the employer for whom that employment was rendered are in the custody or control of an assignee for the benefit of a creditor, receiver, trustee, or any other fiduciary appointed by or under the control of a court of competent jurisdiction, shall, for all purposes of §§ 28-41-1 – 28-41-6 and § 28-41-11, be deemed to be, and shall be treated as though those wages had been paid to that employee during the calendar year within which those wages were earned.

 
Section 28-40-1 (b)  Amount of employee contributions - Wages on which based.

Each employee shall contribute with respect to employment after the date upon which the employer becomes subject to chapters 39 – 41 of this title, an amount equal to the fund cost rate times the wages paid by the employer to the employee up to the taxable wage base as defined and computed in subsection (a) of this section. The employee contribution rate for the following calendar year shall be determined by computing the fund cost rate on or before November 15 of each year as follows:

(1) The total amount of disbursements made from the fund for the twelve (12) month period ending on the immediately preceding September 30 shall be divided by the total taxable wages paid by employers during the twelve (12) month period ending on the immediately preceding June 30. The ratio thus obtained shall be multiplied by one hundred (100) and the resultant product if not an exact multiple of one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) shall be rounded down to the next lowest multiple of one-tenth of one percent (0.1%);

(2) If the fund balance as of the preceding September 30 is less than the total disbursements from the fund for the six (6) month period ending on that September 30, that difference shall be added to the total disbursements for the twelve (12) month period ending September 30 for the purpose of computing the fund cost rate, and if the resulting fund cost rate is not an exact multiple of one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) it shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of one-tenth of one percent (0.1%).

 

Section 28-41-5 Weekly benefit rate

(a) Benefit rate. The benefit rate payable under this chapter to any eligible individual with respect to any week of his or her unemployment due to sickness, when that week occurs within a benefit year, shall be, for benefit years beginning on or after October 7, 1990, four and sixty-two hundredths percent (4.62%) of the wages paid to the individual in that calendar quarter of the base period in which the individual's wages were highest; provided, however, that the benefit rate shall not exceed eighty-five percent (85%) of the average weekly wage paid to individuals covered by chapters 42 – 44 of this title for the preceding calendar year ending December 31. If the maximum weekly benefit rate is not an exact multiple of one dollar ($1.00) then the rate shall be raised to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1.00). Those weekly benefit rates shall be effective throughout the benefit years beginning on or after July 1 of the year prior to July of the succeeding calendar year.

(2) The benefit rate of any individual, if not an exact multiple of one dollar ($1.00), shall be raised to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1.00).

 

Section 28-41-5 (b)  Dependency allowances.

(b) Dependents' allowances. An individual to whom benefits for unemployment due to sickness are payable under this chapter with respect to any week, shall, in addition to those benefits, be paid with respect to each week a dependent's allowance of ten dollars ($10.00) or seven percent (7%), of the individual's benefit rate, payable under subsection (a) of this section, whichever is greater for each of that individual's children, including adopted and stepchildren or that individual's court appointed wards who, at the beginning of the individual's benefit year, is under eighteen (18) years of age and who is at that time in fact dependent on that individual. A dependent's allowance shall also be paid to that individual for any child, including an adopted child or a stepchild or that individual's court appointed ward, eighteen (18) years of age or over, incapable of earning any wages because of mental or physical incapacity, and who is dependent on that individual in fact at the beginning of the individual's benefit year, including individuals who have been appointed the legal guardian of that child by the appropriate court. However, in no instance shall the number of dependents for which an individual may receive dependents' allowances exceed five (5) in total. The weekly total of dependents' allowances payable to any individual, if not an exact multiple of one dollar ($1.00), shall be rounded to the next lower multiple of one dollar ($1.00). The number of an individual's dependents, and the fact of their dependency, shall be determined as of the beginning of that individual's benefit year; provided, that only one individual shall be entitled to a dependent's allowance for the same dependent with respect to any week. Each individual who claims a dependent's allowance shall establish his or her claim to it to the satisfaction of the director under procedures established by the director.

(c) Any individual's benefit rate and/or dependents' allowance in effect for a benefit year shall continue in effect until the end of that benefit year.

(d) Partial unemployment due to sickness. For weeks beginning on or after January 1, 2006, an individual partially unemployed due to sickness and otherwise eligible in any week shall be paid sufficient benefits with respect to that week, so that his or her wages, rounded to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1.00), and his or her benefits combined will equal in amount the weekly benefit rate to which he or she would be entitled if totally unemployed due to sickness in that week; provided that an individual must have been totally unemployed due to sickness for at least seven (7) consecutive days prior to claiming partial benefits under this provision; provided, that this provision shall not apply if the individual is entitled to lag day benefits pursuant to § 28-41-9; provided, further, that nothing contained herein shall permit any individual to whom remuneration is payable for any work performed in any week in an amount equal to or greater than his or her weekly benefit rate to receive benefits or waiting period credit for that week.

Section 28-41-7 Total amount of benefits

The total amount of benefits payable during a benefit year to any eligible individual shall be an amount equal to thirty-six percent (36%) of the individual's total wages for employment by employers subject to chapters 39 – 41 of this title during his or her base period; provided, that no individual shall be paid total benefits in any benefit year which exceed thirty (30) times his or her weekly benefit rate; provided further, that dependents' allowances to which he or she might be entitled under § 28-41-5 shall be in addition to these total benefits. If the total amount of benefits is not an exact multiple of one dollar ($1.00), then it shall be raised to the next higher multiple of one dollar ($1.00).

 

Section 28-41-8  Pregnancy benefits.  

An eligible individual who is unemployed due to sickness resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage, or abortion shall be entitled to receive those benefits which are regularly provided for unemployment due to sickness in chapters 39 – 41 of this title.

 

Section 28-39-2 (2)  Definitions - Base period.

(2) "Base period" with respect to an individual's benefit year when the benefit year begins on or after October 7, 1990, means the first four (4) of the most recently completed five (5) calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of an individual's benefit year; provided, that for any individual's benefit year when the benefit year begins on or after October 4, 1992, and for any individual deemed monetarily ineligible for benefits under the "base period" as defined in this subdivision, the department shall make a re-determination of entitlement based upon an alternate base period which consists of the last four (4) completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day of the claimant's benefit year. Notwithstanding anything contained to the contrary in this subdivision, the base period shall not include any calendar quarter previously used to establish a valid claim for benefits; provided, however, that the "base period" with respect to members of the United States military service, the Rhode Island National Guard, or a United States military reserve force, and who served in a United States declared combat operation during their military service, who file a claim for benefits following their release from their state or federal active military service and who are deemed to be monetarily ineligible for benefits under this section, shall mean the first four (4) of the most recently completed five (5) calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day the individual was called into that state or federal active military service; provided, that for any individual deemed monetarily ineligible for benefits under the "base period" as defined in this section, the department shall make a re-determination of entitlement based upon an alternative base period which consists of the last four (4) completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the first day the claimant was called into that state or federal active military service. Notwithstanding any provision of this section of the general or public laws to the contrary, the base period shall not include any calendar quarter previously used to establish a valid claim for benefits;