Title 28, Title 28 and Labor Relations

No increment in salary resulting from the temporary service as chief justice, presiding justice, or chief judge shall be construed to add to the annual salary of a judicial officer for purposes of retirement under § 28-30-15 or § 28-30-15.1.

(a) Whenever any person engaged as a judge on or before July 2, 1997, has served as a workers’ compensation judge for twenty (20) years and has reached the age of sixty-five (65) years, or has served for fifteen (15) years and reached the age of seventy (70) years, he or she may …

Any workers’ compensation judge who retires in accordance with the provisions of §§ 28-30-15 and 28-30-16, and who is subsequently assigned to perform services in accordance with §§ 28-30-15 and 28-30-16, and when so assigned and performing that service, shall receive in addition…

(a) Whenever any person first engaged as a judge: (1) Subsequent to July 2, 1997, and prior to January 1, 2009, has served as a workers’ compensation judge for twenty (20) years and has reached the age of sixty-five (65) years, or has served for fifteen (15) years and reached the…

No increment in salary resulting from the temporary service as chief justice, presiding justice, or chief judge shall be construed to add to the annual salary of a judicial officer for purposes of retirement under § 28-30-16 or § 28-30-16.2.

(a) Whenever any judge of the workers’ compensation court who was engaged as a judge prior to January 1, 2009, dies after retirement or during active service while eligible for retirement or during active service after having served fifteen (15) years or more in office, his or he…

(a) All judges of the workers’ compensation court, or their surviving spouses or domestic partners, who retire after January 1, 1970, and who receive a retirement allowance pursuant to the provisions of this title, shall, on the first day of January next following the third anniv…

(a) Workers’ compensation judges engaged after December 31, 1989, shall have deducted from total salary beginning December 31, 1989, and ending on June 30, 2012, an amount equal to a rate percent of compensation as specified in § 36-10-1 relating to member contributions to the st…

The state of Rhode Island shall make its contribution for the maintaining of the system established by § 28-30-18.1 and providing the annuities, benefits, and retirement allowances in accordance with the provisions of this chapter by annually appropriating an amount that will pay…

(a) Any workers’ compensation commissioner who was appointed and confirmed and who took the oath of that office and is holding that office on July 11, 1990, shall continue to remain in the office of workers’ compensation judge in accordance with the general laws. The appointment …

For purposes of the calculation of retirement benefits, in the event that any judge of the workers’ compensation court participates or acquiesces in a state shutdown or in a reduced salary or a salary deferral plan consistent with any plan imposed upon or agreed to by other state…

Wherever in the general or public laws there appear the words, “workers’ compensation commission” it shall read “workers’ compensation court.”

(a) The chief judge of the workers’ compensation court, in consultation with the appropriate medical or professional association, shall appoint a medical advisory board that shall serve at the chief judge’s pleasure and consist of eleven (11) members in the following specialties:…

Any person serving as a member of the medical advisory board or fee dispute panel, and any medical service provider appointed as an impartial medical examiner, participating on a comprehensive independent healthcare review team, or serving as a member of the medical fee arbitrati…

For purposes of this chapter, “domestic partner” shall be defined as a person who, prior to the decedent’s death, was in an exclusive, intimate, and committed relationship with the decedent, and who certifies by affidavit that their relationship met the following qualifications: …

The holding of any section or sections or parts of this chapter to be void, ineffective, or unconstitutional for any cause shall not be deemed to affect any other section or part hereof.

(a) A workers’ compensation judge shall be an attorney at law and admitted to the bar. During his or her term of office a judge shall not engage in the practice of law or any other employment and shall not act as counsel or attorney at law. (b) The workers’ compensation court sha…

(a) There shall be a workers’ compensation administrator who shall be appointed by the chief judge of the workers’ compensation court with the advice and consent of the senate. The chief judge of the workers’ compensation court, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall ap…

There shall be a deputy administrator of the workers’ compensation court who shall be appointed by the administrator of the workers’ compensation court with the approval of a majority of the judges. Beginning in January, 2002, and during the month of January in every fifth (5th) …

In the event that a vacancy occurs in the office of the administrator, the chief judge of the workers’ compensation court, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a duly qualified person to act as administrator under the provisions of this chapter to serve for th…

In the event that a vacancy occurs in the office of the deputy administrator, the administrator, with the approval of a majority of the judges, shall appoint a duly qualified person to act as deputy administrator under the provisions of this chapter to fill the vacancy for the ba…

The administrator and deputy administrator shall not be active in determining the policies or conducting the affairs of any employers’ association or labor organization, but they shall impartially devote their full time to the duties of their offices. In the event of sickness, ab…

The administrator, with the approval of the chief judge of the workers’ compensation court, may employ any clerical assistance that he or she may require for copying, recording, indexing, and attending upon the files of the court, and may appoint additional staff as necessary.

The workers’ compensation court shall be located in Providence and all hearings before the court concerning compensation shall be conducted in Providence, unless the workers’ compensation court otherwise designates.

(a)(1) The acceptance of the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title by a city or town, except for the city of Providence, shall be by vote of the electors of that town qualified to vote on a proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money in town meeting assembl…

(a) The city of Providence shall be subject to and accept the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title and shall be governed by the provisions in these chapters; provided, that this section is not subject to §§ 45-13-7 — 45-13-10. (b) The city of Providence may elect to provi…

In ascertaining the average weekly wages, earnings, or salary of an injured member of the national guard or the Rhode Island state guard, § 28-33-20 will be followed and for the purpose of that ascertainment, it will be assumed that the injury occurred in the civilian employment …

Where an injured member of the national guard or the Rhode Island state guard receives pay, subsistence, hospitalization, or other benefits from the United States as the result of an injury, those payments shall not affect his or her right to receive compensation under chapters 2…

All members of disaster response forces who are killed or sustain disability or injury while in training for or on disaster response duty shall be construed to be employees of the state and compensated in like manner as state employees are compensated under the provisions of chap…

If the hourly wages cannot be ascertained, or if no pay has been designated for the required work, the wage for the purpose of calculating compensation under § 28-31-12 shall be taken to be a sum sufficient to guarantee the minimum payments under chapters 29 — 38 of this title.

Any sums payable under any act of Congress or other federal program as compensation for death, disability, or injury of disaster response workers shall be considered in connection with the determination and settlement of any claim brought under the provisions of §§ 28-31-12 and 2…

There are transferred to the department of administration those functions, powers, duties, and necessary resources relating to claims of state employees that relate to workers’ compensation formerly vested in the department of labor and training.

All notices required to be given by an employee to an employer under the provisions of §§ 28-29-17 — 28-29-19 and of §§ 28-33-30 — 28-33-32, and all other notices required to be given to an employer by an employee under chapters 29 — 38 of this title, if the employer is the state…

The medical treatment required to be rendered by an employer to an injured employee under the provisions of § 28-33-5, if the employer is the state, shall be rendered under the direction of a physician appointed for that purpose by the director of the department of administration…

(a) The department of administration shall have full authority and power to settle any claims an employee may have against the state under chapters 29 — 38 of this title. (b) When any town or city accepts the provisions of those chapters, the town council of that town and the cit…

(a) The expenses incurred for and in behalf of the state under the provisions of §§ 28-31-3, 28-33-5, 28-33-12, 28-33-16, 28-33-17, 28-33-18, 28-33-19, 28-33-34, 28-33-35, 28-33-36, 28-33-37, and 28-33-39 and for benefits similar to the benefits provided for employees of employer…

(a)(1) The expenses incurred for and in behalf of any town or city under the provisions of §§ 28-31-3 and 28-33-5 — 28-33-11, and the amount of compensation due an employee of a town or city as determined by an agreement with or paid by that town or city, or by the department’s p…

Legal proceedings under chapters 29 — 38 of this title between the state, a city, or town as an employer and any employee of them shall be brought in the same manner and with the same force and effect as is prescribed herein for any other employer and employee; provided, that if …

The provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title requiring employers to insure against liability to pay compensation arising under the provisions of those chapters shall not apply to the state or any city or town in the state, and the state or any city or town may separately insu…

Members of the national guard and Rhode Island state guard injured in the performance of required, authorized, or permitted duty shall be deemed to be employees of the state, and shall be entitled to all the benefits of chapters 29 — 38 of this title in accordance with the limita…

(a) Every employer who or that is or becomes subject to the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title shall report to the director, in writing or in any other manner specified by the director, every personal injury sustained by an employee arising out of and in the course of h…

(a) Any employer who or that refuses or neglects to make the reports required by the provisions of § 28-32-1 may be assessed a penalty of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) by the director for each refusal or neglect to make a report. (b) The workers’ compensation court shall have …

No report of injuries to employees other than those required by chapters 29 — 38 of this title shall be required by any other department or office of the state from employers to whom the provisions of those chapters apply.

No report required by chapters 29 — 38 of this title shall be admitted in evidence or referred to at the trial of any action or in any judicial or administrative proceedings, except in prosecutions for the violation of those chapters.

(a) No report, or part of a copy of a report, shall be open to the public, nor shall any of its contents be disclosed in any manner, nor be permitted to become known, by any officer or employee of the state or other person having access to it, but the reports shall be used for st…

Insofar as is not inconsistent with other provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title, the director shall have general supervision of the operation of those chapters, and from time to time he or she may furnish employers and employees with the information relative to those chapt…