Effective July 1, 2018, Rhode Island employers will need to comply with the Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act.
We encourage all impacted clients to log-in to the CBGconnect portal and download our detailed Compliance Bulletin on this topic. For your reference, below is a brief overview of this Act.
- Rhode Island employers with 18 or more employees must provide paid sick and safe leave to employees, effective July 1, 2018
- Annual maximum paid leave accruals will be phased in as follows:
- Up to 24 hours during the 2018 calendar year
- Up to 32 hours during the 2019 calendar year
- Up to 40 hours each calendar year after 2019.
- Employers with fewer than 18 employees must provide employees with unpaid, job-protected sick and safe leave in the same amounts.
- Employers that have paid leave policies providing (at a minimum) the annual amount of leave required under the Act and allowing employees to use leave for the same purposes are not required to comply with the new law’s accrual and carry-over requirements.
- Current employees must begin accruing paid leave on July 1, 2018. Employees who are hired after July 1, 2018, must begin accruing paid leave upon hire.
- Employees must accrue at least one hour of paid sick and safe leave for every 35 hours worked, up to the annual maximum.
- The final regulations clarify that any employee whose primary place of employment is Rhode Island is covered by the Act, regardless of where the employer is located.
- Final regulations implementing the Act were published on May 11, 2018
I hope that you find this brief overview helpful. Please download the Compliance Bulletin via the log-in to the CBGconnect portal for more information. If you have any questions, please contact our team at 781-759-1222 or via email at info@CBGBenefits.com.