Rhode Island 2025 Regular Session

Rhode Island Senate Bill S0069 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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5	5	2025 -- S 0069
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7	7	LC000639
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9	9	S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
10	10	IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
11	11	JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025
12	12	____________
13	13
14	14	A N A C T
15	15	RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES
16	16	Introduced By: Senators Kallman, Ciccone, Thompson, Patalano, Murray, Britto, Lauria,
17	17	Tikoian, and Lawson
18	18	Date Introduced: January 23, 2025
19	19	Referred To: Senate Labor & Gaming
20	20
21	21
22	22	It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
23	23	SECTION 1. Chapter 28-14 of the General Laws entitled "Payment of Wages" is hereby 1
24	24	amended by adding thereto the following section: 2
25	25	28-14-32. Construction industry paycheck recovery. 3
26	26	(a) As used in this section: 4
27	27	(1) "Benefits" means any and all benefits, including paid vacations, holidays, sick leave, 5
28	28	employer contributions and reimbursements to health insurance and/or any other retirement 6
29	29	benefits, and any other similar benefits that are incidents of employment. 7
30	30	(2) "Construction" means the alteration, building, maintenance, reconstruction, moving or 8
31	31	demolition of any building, structure or improvement on, connected with, or on or beneath the 9
32	32	surface of any real property, or relating to the excavation, clear, grade, fill, or landscape of any real 10
33	33	property, or any other development or improvement to land. "Construction" also includes any 11
34	34	design or other professional or skilled services rendered by architects, engineers, land surveyors, 12
35	35	landscape architects, and construction managers. 13
36	36	(3) "Construction contract" means a written or oral agreement for the construction, 14
37	37	reconstruction, alteration, maintenance, moving or demolition of any building, structure or 15
38	38	improvement on, connected with, or on or beneath the surface of any real property, or relating to 16
39	39	the excavation, clear, grade, fill, or landscape of any real property, or any other development or 17
40	40	improvement to land. 18
41	41	(4) "Contractor" means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, association, company, 19
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45	45	organization or other entity, including a construction manager, general or prime contractor, joint 1
46	46	venture, or any combination thereof, which enters into a construction contract with an owner. 2
47	47	(5) “Notice” means a written communication mailed, postage prepaid, or hand delivered to 3
48	48	the contractor’s place of business, registered agent, officer, director, worksite manager or a 4
49	49	supervisor, or any other individual identified by the contractor as its representative. Notice shall 5
50	50	include, if known and available, the name of the employer, the amount of the claim or an 6
51	51	explanation of any data needed to calculate the amount of the claim and the dates that the claimant 7
52	52	worked. 8
53	53	(6) "Owner" means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association or 9
54	54	other organization or other entity, or a combination of any thereof, (with an ownership interest, 10
55	55	whether the interest or estate is in fee, as vendee under a contract to purchase, as lessee or another 11
56	56	interest or estate less than fee) that causes a building, structure or improvement, new or existing, to 12
57	57	be constructed, altered, repaired, maintained, moved or demolished or that causes land to be 13
58	58	excavated or otherwise developed or improved. "Owner" includes successors interest of the owner 14
59	59	and agents of the owner acting within their authority or on the owner’s behalf. An owner shall not 15
60	60	be subject to liability under subsection (b) of this section unless the owner is a contractor or 16
61	61	subcontractor. 17
62	62	(7) "Person" means, and shall include, any natural person, corporation, municipality, 18
63	63	partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. 19
64	64	(8) "Subcontractor" means any person, firm, partnership, corporation, company, 20
65	65	association, organization or other entity, or any combination thereof, which is a party to a contract 21
66	66	with a contractor, and/or the contractor's subcontractors to perform any portion of work within the 22
67	67	scope of the contractor's construction contract with the owner, including where the subcontractor 23
68	68	has no direct privity of contract with the contractor. 24
69	69	(b) A contractor making or taking a construction contract shall assume liability for any debt 25
70	70	resulting from an action under §§ 28-14-19, 28-14-19.1, 28-14-19.2, 37-13-14.1, or 37-13-17 owed 26
71	71	to a wage claimant or third party on the wage claimant 's behalf, incurred by a subcontractor at any 27
72	72	tier acting under, by, or for the contractor or its subcontractors for the wage claimant's performance 28
73	73	of labor; provided that, written notice of the alleged violation to be raised in that action is provided 29
74	74	to the contractor not more than forty-five (45) days from the last occurrence of the alleged wage 30
75	75	theft. A written offer and payment in full of all such wages allegedly owed during the forty-five 31
76	76	(45) day period after a receipt of the notice by a contractor shall extinguish a contractor’s liability 32
77	77	for damages under this section. 33
78	78	(c) A contractor’s joint and several liability shall be limited to one hundred twenty (120) 34
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82	82	consecutive days of any alleged wage theft, counting back the one hundred twenty (120) days from 1
83	83	the day of the last violation prior to the notice. This one hundred twenty (120) day damages 2
84	84	limitation period shall not impact other wage violation remedies available to a claimant. 3
85	85	(d) No agreement or release by an employee or subcontractor to waive liability assigned to 4
86	86	a contractor under this section shall be valid. The provisions of this section shall not be deemed to 5
87	87	impair the rights of a contractor to maintain an action against a subcontractor for owed wages that 6
88	88	are paid by a contractor pursuant to this section. 7
89	89	(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the remedies available for a claim pursuant 8
90	90	to subsection (b) of this section shall only be civil and administrative actions. 9
91	91	(f) In the case of a private civil action brought by an employee under §§ 28-14-19.2 and 10
92	92	37-13-17, such employee may authorize and designate any person, organization or collective 11
93	93	bargaining agent to file a complaint with the director to make a wage claim on their behalf. 12
94	94	(g) In the case of an action against a subcontractor, the contractor shall be considered jointly 13
95	95	and severally liable for any unpaid wages, benefits, wage supplements, penalties, liquidated 14
96	96	damages, attorneys' fees and any other costs resulting from such action in addition to any other 15
97	97	damages and penalties specified in §§ 28-14-17, 28-14-19, 28-14-19.1, 37-13-16, and 37-13-12.4 16
98	98	that are applicable. 17
99	99	(h) Nothing in this section shall preclude the attorney general from bringing a civil action 18
100	100	to collect unpaid wages and penalties on behalf of employees pursuant to this section. 19
101	101	(i) A contractor or any other person shall not evade, or commit any act that negates, the 20
102	102	requirements of this section; provided, however, that this section shall not be deemed to prohibit a 21
103	103	contractor or subcontractor from establishing by contract or enforcing any other lawful remedies 22
104	104	against a subcontractor it hires for liability created by violation of this section; provided further 23
105	105	that, such contract or arrangement does not diminish the right of employees to bring an action under 24
106	106	the provisions of this section. 25
107	107	(j) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to diminish the rights, privileges, or remedies 26
108	108	of any employee under any collective bargaining agreement. The provisions of this section may be 27
109	109	waived by a collective bargaining agreement with a bona fide building and construction trade labor 28
110	110	organization which has established itself, and/or its affiliates, as the collective bargaining 29
111	111	representative for persons performing work on a project; provided that, for such waiver to be valid, 30
112	112	it shall explicitly reference this section and provided further, however, that such waiver shall not 31
113	113	diminish or impair the rights of an employee provided under any other section of this chapter. 32
114	114	(k) Severability. If any provision of this section, or any application of any provision of this 33
115	115	section, is held to be invalid, that shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of any other provision 34
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119	119	of this section, or of any other application of any provision of this section, which can be given 1
120	120	effect without that provision or application; and to that end, the provisions and applications of this 2
121	121	section are severable. 3
122	122	SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on September 1, 2025, and shall apply to 4
123	123	construction contracts entered into, renewed, modified or amended on or after the effective date of 5
124	124	this act. 6
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131	131	EXPLANATION
132	132	BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
133	133	OF
134	134	A N A C T
135	135	RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES
136	136	***
137	137	This act would make contractors civilly liable and/or jointly civilly liable for any claims of 1
138	138	wage theft or nonpayment from an employee against the contractor, its subcontractors and any 2
139	139	subcontractor involved in the performance of the contract; provided that, written notice of the 3
140	140	alleged violation be given to the contractor not more than forty-five (45) days from the last 4
141	141	occurrence of the alleged wage theft. This act would also authorize only administrative and/or civil 5
142	142	actions to recover the claimed wages. This act would further provide that these provisions could be 6
143	143	waived by a collective bargaining agreement with a bona fide building and construction trade labor 7
144	144	organization which has established itself as the collective bargaining representative for persons 8
145	145	performing work on a project. 9
146	146	This act would take effect on September 1, 2025, and would apply to construction contracts 10
147	147	entered into, renewed, modified or amended on or after the effective date of this act. 11
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