Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-3.1. Payroll deductions
(a) Subject to any provisions of the general laws or the public laws to the contrary, whenever any employer provides for a payroll deduction for any purpose, the employer shall transfer those funds deducted to the appropriate person, agency, partnership, or corporation entitled to the money deducted, within twenty-one (21) days following the last day of the month in which the deduction is made, except if the person, agency, partnership, or corporation entitled to money deducted permits otherwise in writing.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-3.1
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Employee: means any person suffered or permitted to work by an employer, except that independent contractors or subcontractors shall not be considered employees. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-1
- Employer: means any individual, firm, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, receiver, or other like officer appointed by a court of this state, and any agent or officer of any of the previously mentioned classes, employing any person in this state. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-1
- in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- Wages: means all amounts at which the labor or service rendered is recompensed, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained on a time, task, piece, commission basis, or other method of calculating the amount. See Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-1
(b) Any employer who violates the provisions of this section shall be liable to an employee in a civil action brought by the employee for any loss sustained by the employee as a result of a violation.
(c) In addition to the penalty provided by subsection (b) of this section, any employer who fails intentionally, or who fails after written notification by the employee or by the collective bargaining representative of the employee, to transfer funds as required by subsection (a) of this section within thirty (30) days following the last day of the month in which the deduction is made, shall be liable for an additional penalty in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) for each day beyond the thirty-day (30) period during which he or she fails to transfer the funds. This additional penalty shall be payable to the employee from whose wages the funds were deducted.
History of Section.
P.L. 1984, ch. 240, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 146, § 1.