Chapter
289
2005 -- S 0683 AS AMENDED
Enacted 07/15/05
A N A C T
RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS
Introduced By: Senator Kevin A. Breene
Date Introduced: February 15, 2005
It is
enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. Section 28-39-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-39 entitled
"Temporary
Disability
Insurance - General Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows:
28-39-2.
Definitions. -- The following words and phrases, as used in chapters 39
-- 41 of
this
title, have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires
otherwise:
(1) "Average weekly wage" means the amount determined by dividing the
individual's
total
wages earned for services performed in employment within his or her base period
by the
number
of that individual's credit weeks within the 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;
(3) "Benefit" means the money payable, as provided in chapters 39 --
41 of this title, to
an
individual as compensation for his or her unemployment caused by sickness;
(4) "Benefit credits" means the total amount of money payable to an
individual as
benefits,
as provided in section 28-41-7;
(5) "Benefit rate" means the money payable to an individual as
compensation, as
provided
in chapters 39 -- 41 of this title, for his or her wage losses with respect to
any week
during
which his or her unemployment is caused by sickness;
(6) "Benefit year" with respect to any individual who does not
already have a benefit
year in
effect, and who files a valid claim for benefits as of November 16, 1958 or any
later date,
means
fifty-two (52) consecutive calendar weeks, the first of which shall be the week
containing
the day
as of which he or she first files that valid claim in accordance with
regulations adopted as
subsequently
prescribed; provided, that for any benefit year beginning on or after October
7,
1990,
the benefit year shall be fifty-three (53) consecutive calendar weeks if the
subsequent filing
of a new
valid claim immediately following the end of a previous benefit year would
result in the
overlapping
of any quarter of the base period of the prior new claim. In no event shall a
new
benefit
year begin prior to the Sunday next following the end of the old benefit year;
(7) "Board" means the board of review as created under chapter 19 of
title 42;
(8) "Calendar quarter" has the same definition as contained in
chapter 42 of this title;
(9) "Credit week" means any week within an individual's base period
in which that
individual
earns wages amounting to at least twenty (20) times the minimum hourly wage as
defined
in chapter 12 of this title, for performing services in employment for one or
more
employers
subject to chapters 39 -- 41 of this title;
(10) "Director" means the director of the department of labor and
training;
(11) "Employee" means any person who is or has been employed by an
employer subject
to
chapters 39 -- 41 of this title and in employment subject to those chapters;
(12) "Employer" means any employing unit that is an employer under
chapters 42 -- 44
of this
title;
(13) "Employing unit" has the same definition as contained in chapter
42 of this title and
includes
any governmental entity that elects to become subject to the provisions of
chapters 39 --
41 of
this title, in accordance with the provisions of sections 28-39-3.1 and
28-39-3.2;
(14) "Employment" has the same definition as contained in chapter 42
of this title;
(15) "Employment office" has the same definition as contained in
chapter 42 of this title;
(16) "Fund" means the Rhode Island temporary disability insurance
fund established by
this
chapter;
(17)
"Partial unemployment due to sickness" For weeks beginning on or
after January 1,
2006
an individual shall be deemed partially unemployed due to sickness in any week
of less than
full-time
work if he or she fails to earn in wages for services for that week an amount
equal to the
weekly
benefit rate for total unemployment due to sickness to which he or she would be
entitled
if
totally unemployed due to sickness and eligible.
(i)
For the purposes of this subdivision and subdivision (22) of this section,
"Wages"
includes
only that part of remuneration for any work, which is in excess of one-fifth
(1/5) of the
weekly
benefit rate for total unemployment, rounded to the next lower multiple of one
dollar
($1.00),
to which the individual would be entitled if totally unemployed and eligible in
any one
week,
and "services" includes only that part of any work for which
remuneration in excess of
one-fifth
(1/5) of the weekly benefit rate for total unemployment, rounded to the next
lower
multiple
of one dollar ($1.00), to which the individual would be entitled if totally
unemployed
and
eligible in any one week is payable; provided, that nothing contained in this
paragraph 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 under this
subdivision
for that week.
(17) (18) "Reserve fund" means the temporary disability
insurance reserve fund
established
by section 28-39-7;
(18) (19) "Services" means all endeavors undertaken by
an individual that are paid for by
another
or with respect to which the individual performing the services expects to
receive wages
or profits;
(19) (20) "Sickness". An individual shall be deemed to
be sick in any week in which,
because
of his or her physical or mental condition, including pregnancy, he or she is
unemployed
and
unable to perform his or her regular or customary work or services;
(20) (21) (i) "Taxes" means the money payments required
by chapters 39 -- 41 of this
title,
to be made to the temporary disability insurance fund or to the temporary
disability
insurance
reserve fund.
(ii) Wherever and whenever in chapters 39 -- 41 of this title, the words
"contribution"
and/or
"contributions" appear, those words shall be construed to mean the
"taxes," as defined in
this
subdivision, which are the money payments required by those chapters to be made
to the
temporary
disability insurance fund or to the temporary disability insurance reserve
fund;
(21) (22) "Wages" has the same definition as contained
in chapter 42 of this title;
provided,
that no individual shall be denied benefits under chapters 39 -- 41 of this
title because
his or
her employer continues to pay to that individual his or her regular wages, or
parts of them,
while he
or she is unemployed due to sickness 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 his or her employer, shall not be deemed to be wages
either for the
purpose
of paying contributions thereon under chapter 40 of this title, or for the
purpose of being
used as
a basis for paying benefits under chapter 41 of this title; and
(22) (23) "Week" has the same definition as contained
in chapter 42 of this title.
SECTION
2. Section 28-41-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-41 entitled
"Temporary
Disability
Insurance - Benefits" is hereby amended to read as follows:
28-41-5.
Weekly benefit rate -- Dependents' allowances. -- (a) (1) 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).
(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
section
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 3. This act
shall take effect upon passage.
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LC01559
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