What Are the Labor Laws in Rhode Island?: While Rhode Island generally abides by federal law when it comes to issues like preemployment credit checks and occupational safety and health, the state has many laws that offer stronger protections to workers than federal law, such as rights to pregnancy accommodations, a higher minimum wage, paid sick leave, and paid family leave.
The following is a summary of some of the Rhode Island employment standards to assist employers in understanding the various Labor Laws in Rhode Island that impact the employer-employee relationship in the state. Employers are required to abide by state and federal laws.
In addition to following state and federal regulations, an employer must also abide by any applicable municipal law duties that may impact the employment relationship.
Minimum Wage
In Rhode Island, the minimum wage is currently $11.50. Rhode Island is required, like with all other states, to abide by the federal minimum wage guideline of $7.25. Employers are required to pay the higher of the federal or state minimum wage rates to their employees if they choose to offer them minimum wage.
Your minimum pay as a tipped employee is $3.89. Employers are in charge of providing their staff with the tipped minimum wage, unless they operate taxis and other public transportation. If employers decide to pay the tipped minimum wage, they are required to make sure that their workers receive at least the minimum wage after tips.
The Minimum Wage with Tips
- For employees that get tips, such servers and bartenders, the minimum wage in Rhode Island is $10.50.
- An individual must receive more than $30 in tips per month in order to be considered a tipped employee in Rhode Island.
- Businesses in Rhode Island are permitted to deduct this amount from the minimum wage by using a maximum tip credit of $6.61, which they can use to employee tips.
- The employer is liable for any shortfall in tips that a tipped employee receives and falls short of the normal minimum wage of $14/hour (after adding the direct hourly rate).
Minimum Wage Requirements Exemptions
- Certain vocations are exempt from Rhode Island’s minimum wage rules, such as:
- Domestic helpers who work in or near a private residence
- federal workers
- Voluntary service workers at nonprofit, educational, philanthropic, or religious institutions where there are no formal employer-employee links
- Employment at resorts that serve meals to the general public and are open for business for fewer than six months of the year
- Those who work for camps that are organised and follow a set curriculum, but do not operate full-time year-round and only for a maximum of seven months each calendar year
What Time Management Laws Apply in Rhode Island?
Federal rules are in place in the United States to regulate the amount of time that employees spend at work, protecting their rights and ensuring that they are fairly compensated for their labours. Employers are held accountable by these regulations, which serve as guidelines and reduce instances of exploitation and abuse.
An essential federal statute regarding time management, hourly wage rates, overtime compensation, and the need for businesses to maintain accurate records of their workers’ working hours is the 1938 Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA). For employees who work more than 40 hours per week, overtime is calculated at 1.5 times the standard hourly rate.
What Overtime Laws Apply in Rhode Island?
According to rules set forth by the Fair Labour Standards Act, a working week is any seven consecutive working days. Workers who put in up to 40 hours within this time frame are required to be paid at least the minimum wage, as set forth in the Rhode Island constitution, on an hourly basis. Any amount of hours beyond 40 is considered overtime, and it is required to be paid at a higher hourly rate. If the number of non-exempt employees surpasses that threshold, they will be entitled to 1.5 times their usual pay, which for minimum wage workers now equals $18.375.
Certain jobs and circumstances, however, may make this qualification unnecessary. Continue reading to find out more about Rhode Island’s overtime compensation eligibility.
What are Rhode Island’s Overtime Exemptions and Exceptions?
There are federal regulations that exempt some employees from working overtime. In general, four important employee categories are exempt from overtime under these laws. Administrative staff, executives, professionals, and outside salespeople are examples of what are referred to as “white-collar” workers. These workers are required to make a minimum of $684 per week and can work in a range of jobs within each category.
In Rhode Island, there are specific job and personal classifications that are exempt from minimum wage regulations. In order to determine who is excluded from minimum wage legislation, consider the following scenarios:
- White-collar workers, or legitimate executives, secretarial staff, and professionals
- Outside sales representatives
- Operators of taxi cabs
- People who work in domestic service or around private houses
- People who work for the US government or state agencies
- Deliverers of newspapers
- People who freely participated in nonprofit, philanthropic, educational, and religious organisations
- Shiners for shoes
- Golf course caddies
- Pin people on lanes for bowling
- ushers in cinemas
- Salespeople who travel.
Meals and Break Laws (Labor Laws in Rhode Island)
Employers are required by Rhode Island labour rules to give workers a 20-minute break during a six-hour shift and a 30-minute break during an eight-hour shift. Healthcare facilities and businesses with fewer than three people working at one location throughout a shift are not included in this.
Breaks for a Nursing Mother
According to Rhode Island labour regulations, employers are required to give nursing mothers’ employees a fair amount of unpaid break time each day so they can express or breastfeed, unless doing so would put an unreasonable burden on the business’s operations. If at all possible, the breaks must occur at the same time as any pre-existing breaks that the employer offers.
Employers are required to use reasonable steps to ensure that nursing mothers have access to a private, secure, and hygienic space near their work area where they can express or breastfeed. This space cannot be a toilet cubicle.
Reasonable efforts, for the purposes of nursing mother breaks, are defined as any attempt that would not place an excessive burden on the employer’s operations. Any activity that, when taken into account in respect to elements like the size of the firm, its financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation, involves a great deal of trouble or expense is termed an under hardship.
What Child Labor Laws Apply in Rhode Island?
People under the age of eighteen are referred to as “minors,” and child labour regulations in Rhode Island and the federal government work to prevent exploitation of this group. These rules value education and aim to make sure that working experiences for minors contribute to their development both personally and academically.
The employment of minors is subject to various restrictions, such as caps on the amount of hours worked, bans on working at night, and limitations on certain occupations. Under federal law, adolescents of any age are not allowed to work in hazardous positions. The Child Labour Laws of Rhode Island offer extra guidelines concerning the employment of minors.
In general, minors may not work if they are 14 or 15 years old:
- when schools are in session; before 6:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. (or 9 p.m. on school breaks);
- Over eight hours in a day and over forty hours in a week.
In general, minors who are 16 or 17 years old are not allowed to work:
- Before 6:00 a.m. or after 11:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. if there is no school the next day); during school hours
- over nine hours each day;
- Over 48 hours per week; and Without taking an eight-hour break between the end of one shift and the beginning of the next.
- During the summer, minors who are 16 years of age or older are permitted to work without restrictions on the total number of hours they can work in a given week or calendar day.
- Be advised that in cases where municipal, state, and federal laws overlap, the rule that gives the employee the most rights or benefits will usually take precedence.