Providence, R.I. (January 19, 2022) - 2021 was a productive year for the members of the Rhode Island General Assembly. Against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Assembly passed several significant pieces of labor and employment legislation. Out of the remote hearings of the socially distant session emerged a bill to comprehensively address wage discrimination on the basis of protected class; a bill to gradually increase the state minimum wage; a bill to increase paid leave benefits under the Temporary Caregivers' Insurance (TCI) program; a bill to close a loophole in the state's sick and safe leave law; a bill to reform the state's unemployment benefits system; and a bill to further entrench Sunday and holiday premium pay requirements in Rhode Island law.
What follows is a brief overview of the most important employment law developments of 2021 as well as proactive tips for Rhode Island employers and HR professionals preparing for the effective date of the new pay equity law.
When the 2021 legislative session began, Rhode Island already had a pay equity law on the books. The focus of the law was on ensuring pay equity between the sexes (i.e., equal pay for equal work), unless a pay differential was based on one of several permissible factors.
Over time, the ascendant progressive caucuses of the House and Senate began to assert that the existing law was not doing enough to combat Rhode Island's stubbornly persistent gender pay gap. Additionally,...
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