Title 28, Title 28 and Labor Relations

The examinations shall be conducted in the manner and under rules and regulations issued by the division. Initial licenses may be subject to a field examination, if deemed necessary by the division of professional regulation, which examination shall be conducted by the chief hois…

Licenses shall expire biennially on a fixed date or on the licensee’s birthday, as the board may provide in rules and regulations. Upon application, the person to whom a license is issued under this chapter shall be entitled to a renewal, unless the division for a cause named in …

This chapter is necessary to protect the life, property, safety, and welfare of the people of Rhode Island; to promote conservation of our natural resources used to generate energy; the proper installation of all piping systems and/or equipment used in fire protection systems; an…

There shall be in the department of labor and training, a mechanical board, responsible for the licensing and regulating of masters, journeypersons, and apprentices in the pipefitting, air conditioning/refrigeration, sprinkler fitting, and sheet metal trades, hereafter to be refe…

(a) The division of professional regulation, department of labor and training, has the authority, by its chief administrator or designates, upon proper identification and in the performance of his or her duties, to enter at any reasonable hour any building, structure, or premises…

The mechanical board shall assist the division of professional regulation of the department of labor and training to establish and from time to time update a preliminary criteria guide for the licensing of those persons regulated by this chapter. This guide shall include, but not…

(a) No application for a license of a pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning or fire protection sprinkler contractor or sheet metal contractor or sprinkler fitter master shall be filed by the department nor shall any applicant be permitted to take the examination for a lice…

(a) No application for a journeyperson’s test shall be filed by the department nor shall any applicant be permitted to take the examination for a license as a journeyperson unless: (1) The test application is accompanied by a test fee as outlined in § 28-27-17; (2) Upon passing o…

Any person who holds a certificate of license as a master, journeyperson, or apprentice shall promptly notify the department in the event of a change of address specified on his or her certificate of license. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be assesse…

The department shall provide and conduct examinations three (3) times each year of applicants who have had their application for a pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning or fire protection sprinkler contractor/sprinkler fitter master or journeyperson or sheet metal contract…

The director of labor and training shall allow or deny applications for master or contractors’ or journeyperson’s license upon the recommendation of the division as soon after the examination as practicable. Each applicant who has successfully passed the examination and has had h…

Any applicant who has failed an examination shall be permitted to take subsequent examinations at any of the three (3) examinations scheduled during the year as set forth in § 28-27-14. Every retest shall require payment of a separate test fee.

(a) All licenses issued to the pipefitters/refrigeration technicians and fire protection sprinkler contractor/sprinkler fitters and sheet metal contractor or journeyperson sheet metal worker detailed in this section shall be paid for as follows: (b) [Deleted by P.L. 2024, ch. 330…

Any licensed master, contractor journeyperson, or apprentice who does not renew his or her license on or before his or her birthdate shall be required to pay a twelve-dollar-per-month ($12) administrative assessment fee for the first two (2) years of delinquency, plus outstanding…

Any pipefitter, refrigeration, sprinkler fitter or sheet metal worker license expiring while the holder thereof is in the military, naval, or air service of the United States shall be renewed without further examination, upon payment of the prescribed fee, at any time within four…

(a) Any person who has agreed to work under the supervision of a licensed pipefitter, refrigeration/air conditioning, sprinkler fitter, or sheet metal master under an apprenticeship program registered with the Rhode Island department of labor and training shall be issued a certif…

To be eligible applicants for mechanical licensing exams, apprentices shall complete an applicable registered apprenticeship program in Rhode Island. Apprentices shall provide transcripts of completed related instruction and work record books from employer(s), or other reasonably…

(a) For licensing purposes, decisions by an apprenticeship sponsor to grant credit for prior learning or experience pursuant to § 28-45-9(2)(xii) or § 28-45-9.2 shall also require the written approval of the state mechanical board of the Rhode Island department of labor and train…

In every place in this state within and from which a pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning or fire protection sprinkler systems or air distribution business is conducted as specified for a pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning or fire protection sprinkler contractor…

(a) The division of professional regulation with the assistance of the board shall promulgate rules and regulations for the examining and licensing of masters, journeypersons, and apprentices of the mechanical trades. (b)(1) A state mechanical board is created in the department o…

Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit any city, town, or the state from providing for a pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning or fire protection sprinkler systems or air distribution systems inspection or from requiring permits for the installation, maintenance, repair, a…

The director of labor and training shall revoke or suspend the license or impose a fine on any pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning or fire protection sprinkler contractor/sprinkler fitter master or journeyperson or sheet metal contractor or journeyperson sheet metal work…

(a) No proceedings to revoke a license as provided in this section shall be instituted unless filed with the department of labor and training within one year after the date or dates of violation(s). (b) No license shall be revoked or cancelled until a full and impartial hearing a…

The department shall have the power to subpoena and bring before it or the board of examiners any witnesses to the testimony either orally or by deposition, or both, with the same fees and mileage and in the same manner as prescribed by law in the judicial procedure in civil case…

Prior to or during a hearing the director and division chief shall have the power to administer oaths and examine witnesses under oath, issue subpoenas, subpoenas duces tecum, compel the attendance of witnesses, and the production of papers, books, accounts, records, payrolls, do…

The director and his or her designees shall have the power to administer oaths to witnesses at a hearing that the department has authorized by law to conduct and any other oaths authorized or administered by the department.

(a) The board, upon the completion of any hearing held on a verified complaint, shall present to the director of labor and training a written report of its findings and recommendations. The director shall then order that the license of the licensee charged shall be revoked or sus…

In case of failure of any person to comply with any lawfully issued subpoena or subpoena duces tecum, or on the refusal of any witness to testify to any matter regarding which he or she may be lawfully interrogated, it shall be the duty of the district court or any judge of the d…

The superior court of the county where the licensee and/or violator so charged resided shall have the power to review the entire proceedings of any hearing had before the director and to review any order dismissing a complaint or revocation of a license and all questions of law p…

The district court shall have jurisdiction to enforce compliance with the provisions of this chapter upon petition being filed by the director of labor and training, or his or her designee, and notice being given to the person or persons charged with a violation of the provisions…

(a) It shall be the duty of the director of the department of labor and training and of state and local inspection authorities to enforce the provisions of this chapter. Local building and related inspectors, who are involved in day-to-day inspection, shall have the primary respo…

(a) A license is required for the installation, repair, replacement, servicing, maintenance, and alteration of: (1) Any devices or accessories for what is normally considered heating/cooling equipment, air distribution equipment, duct work, process piping, power piping, pipefitti…

(a) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to persons classified as maintenance personnel regularly in the employ of a public utility company doing utility company work, hospitals, schools, city, town or state employees regularly employed as maintenance personnel on the p…

(a) Annually, after June 30 of each year, the division’s state licensed chief administrator will compile a detailed statement of all income and expenses of the division. Any proceeds from the licensing fees and any other income guaranteed pursuant to this section shall be deposit…

Violations of this chapter may be enjoined upon bill of complaint being filed in the superior court for the county in which those violations have been committed by the department of labor and training or by any association of pipefitter or refrigeration/air conditioning masters o…

If any provision or part of this chapter, or its application to any person or circumstances, is held unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the remaining provisions of this chapter and the application of the provisions to other persons or circumstances other than those to which i…

The department of labor and training shall not grant, deny, suspend, or revoke the license of any person on the grounds of race, color, religious creed, sex, age, national origin, disability, or ancestry.

Investigators shall devote their entire scheduled work time and attention to the duties of their respective offices. The administrator of the division of professional regulation shall assign investigators to the duties to be performed. No employee of the division shall do or acce…

(a) “Division” means the division of professional regulation within the department of labor and training as established by § 28-22-1, in which all bureaus, boards, and commissions will serve and act in an advisory capacity to the director of labor and training in their area of ex…

(a) “Fire protection sprinkler contractor” means a person having a regular place of business and who, by himself or herself or a journeyperson sprinkler fitter in his or her employ, performs fire protection sprinkler systems work. (b) “Master pipefitting contractor” means a perso…

“Journeyperson refrigeration technician” means any person who has completed an appropriate ten thousand (10,000) hour registered apprenticeship program in accordance with chapter 45 of this title, and has passed a refrigeration technician examination and who does work in refriger…

(a) “Journeyperson pipefitter” means any person who has completed an appropriate ten thousand (10,000) hour registered apprenticeship program in accordance with chapter 45 of this title, and has passed a journeyperson examination and who does work on pipefitting systems subject t…

(a) “Sheet metal worker apprentice” means any person at least eighteen (18) years of age who is learning or working at the businesses of sheet metal work under the direct supervision of a sheet metal contractor or journeyperson sheet metal worker as a registered apprentice in an …

(a) “Master mechanical contractor” means any person who has worked as a contractor and has been associated in both trades of pipefitting and refrigeration for at least ten (10) years as a Rhode Island Licensed Pipefitter Master I and at least ten (10) years as a Rhode Island Lice…

(a) No person shall: (1) Engage in this state in the business of the mechanical trades as a master or as an employer of the mechanical trades; (2) Enter into contracts or agreements for the installation, maintenance, repair, or servicing in the mechanical trades; (3) Advertise or…

(a) No person shall engage to work as a pipefitter, refrigeration/air conditioning, or sprinkler fitter journeyperson or apprentice, or journeyperson sheet metal worker or apprentice, or shall advertise or represent in any form or matter that they are a journeyperson or apprentic…