Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-6. Payment of wages of deceased employees
(a) Any employer, including the state or a municipal corporation, may at any time after thirty (30) days from the death of an employee pay all wages or personal earnings due to the deceased employee, in order of preference, to: (1) The surviving husband or wife; (2) Children eighteen (18) years of age or older in equal shares; (3) Father and mother, or the survivor; (4) Sisters and brothers in equal shares of the deceased employee; or (5) The person who has paid the funeral bill of the deceased employee; provided the employer has no actual notice of the issuance of any letters testamentary or letters of administration upon the estate of the deceased employee, or of the pendency of any petition for them, provided the wages or personal earnings do not exceed the sum of one hundred fifty dollars ($150).
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 28-14-6
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- 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
- 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) The payment of wages or personal earnings as provided in subsection (a) shall be a full discharge and release to the employer from any claim for those wages or personal earnings by the estate of the deceased employee or any other person.
(c) As a condition of payment, the employer may require satisfactory proof by affidavit or otherwise as to the relationship of the parties and may also require proper receipts or releases for the payment or payments.
History of Section.
P.L. 1941, ch. 1069, § 2A; P.L. 1947, ch. 1945, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 28-14-6.