2021 -- S 0138

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- OVERTIME WAGES

     Introduced By: Senators Calkin, Mack, Anderson, Mendes, Bell, Valverde, Murray, and
Quezada

     Date Introduced: January 26, 2021

     Referred To: Senate Labor

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 28-12-4.3 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-12 entitled "Minimum

Wages" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     28-12-4.3. Exemptions.

     (a) The provisions of §§ 28-12-4.1 and 28-12-4.2 do not apply to the following employees:

     (1) Any employee of a summer camp when it is open no more than six (6) months of the

year.

     (2) Police officers.

     (3) Employees of the state or political subdivision of the state who may elect through a

collective bargaining agreement, memorandum of understanding, or any other agreement between

the employer and representatives of the employees, or if the employees are not represented by an

exclusive bargaining agent, through an agreement or understanding arrived at between the

employer and the employee prior to the performance of work, to receive compensatory time off for

hours worked in excess of forty (40) in a week. The compensatory hours shall at least equal one

and one-half (1 1/2) times the hours worked over forty (40) in a week. If compensation is paid to

an employee for accrued compensatory time, the compensation shall be paid at the regular rate

earned by the employee at the time of payment. At the time of termination, unused accrued

compensatory time shall be paid at a rate not less than:

     (i) The average regular rate received by the employee during the last three (3) years of the

employee's employment; or

     (ii) The final regular rate received by the employee, whichever is higher.

     (4) Any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional

capacity, as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq., compensated

for services on a salary basis of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) one thousand thirty-six

dollars ($1,036) per week, and beginning on January 1, 2024, and every year thereafter, on an

updated salary basis of not less than the fortieth percentile of weekly earnings of full-time

nonhourly workers in the Northeast Census Region in the second quarter of the year preceding the

update as published by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

     (5) Any employee as defined in subsection (a)(4) of this section unless the wages of the

employee, if computed on an hourly basis, would violate the applicable minimum wage law.

     (6) Any salaried employee of a nonprofit national voluntary health agency who elects to

receive compensatory time off for hours worked in excess of forty (40) hours per week.

     (7) Any employee, including drivers, driver's helpers, mechanics, and loaders of any motor

carrier, including private carriers, with respect to whom the U.S. Secretary of Transportation has

power to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of 49

U.S.C. § 31502.

     (8) Any employee who is a salesperson, parts person, or mechanic primarily engaged in

the sale and/or servicing of automobiles, trucks, or farm implements, and is employed by a non-

manufacturing employer primarily engaged in the business of selling vehicles or farm implements

to ultimate purchasers, to the extent that the employers are exempt under the federal Wage-Hour

and Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. and 29 U.S.C. § 213(b)(10); provided, that the

employee's weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly actual earnings exceed an amount equal to the

employee's basic contractual hourly rate of pay times the number of hours actually worked plus the

employee's basic contractual hourly rate of pay times one-half (1/2) the number of hours actually

worked in excess of forty (40) hours per week.

     (9) Any employee employed in agriculture; however, this exemption applies to all

agricultural enterprises that produce greenhouse crops, fruit and vegetable crops, herbaceous crops,

sod crops, viticulture, viniculture, floriculture, feed for livestock, forestry, dairy farming,

aquaculture, the raising of livestock, furbearing animals, poultry and eggs, bees and honey,

mushrooms, and nursery stock. This exemption also applies to nursery workers.

     (10) Any employee of an air carrier subject to the provisions of 45 U.S.C. § 181 et seq., of

the Railway Labor Act when the hours worked by that employee in excess of forty (40) in a work

week are not required by the air carrier, but are arranged through a voluntary agreement among

employees to trade scheduled work hours.

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     (b) Nothing in this section exempts any employee who under applicable federal law is

entitled to overtime pay or benefits related to overtime pay.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- OVERTIME WAGES

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     This act would exempt certain executive, administrative, and professional employees from

overtime pay if their weekly wages exceed one thousand thirty-six dollars ($1,036), an increase

from the current two hundred dollars ($200). Beginning on January 1, 2024, the weekly wage shall

be updated to not less than the fortieth percentile of weekly earnings of full-time nonhourly workers

in the Northeast Census Region in the second quarter of the year preceding the update as published

by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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