Chapter 266
2017 -- S 0917 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 07/21/2017

A N   A C T
RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- WORKERS' COMPENSATION--BENEFITS

Introduced By: Senator P Fogarty
Date Introduced: May 25, 2017

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
     SECTION 1. Section 28-33-18.3 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-33 entitled
"Workers' Compensation - Benefits" is hereby amended to read as follows:
     28-33-18.3. Continuation of benefits -- Partial incapacity.
     (a) (1) For all injuries occurring on or after September 1, 1990, in those cases where the
employee has received a notice of intention to terminate partial-incapacity benefits pursuant to §
28-33-18, the employee, or his or her duly authorized representative, may file with the workers'
compensation court a petition for continuation of benefits on forms prescribed by the workers'
compensation court. In any proceeding before the workers' compensation court on a petition for
continuation of partial-incapacity benefits, where the employee demonstrates by a fair
preponderance of the evidence that his or her partial incapacity poses a material hindrance to
obtaining employment suitable to his or her limitation, partial-incapacity benefits shall continue.
For injuries on and after July 1, 2023, "material hindrance" is defined to include only
compensable injuries causing a greater than sixty-five percent (65%) degree of functional
impairment and/or disability. Any period of time for which the employee has received benefits
for total incapacity shall not be included in the calculation of the three hundred and twelve-week
(312) period.
     (2) The provisions of this subsection apply to all injuries from Sept. 1, 1990, to July 1,
2023.
     (b) (1) Where any employee's incapacity is partial and has extended for more than three
hundred and twelve (312) weeks and the employee has proved an entitlement to continued
benefits under subsection (a), payments made to these incapacitated employees shall be increased
annually on the tenth (10th) day of May thereafter so long as the employee remains incapacitated.
The increase shall be by an amount equal to the total percentage increase in the annual Consumer
Price Index, United States City Average for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, as
formulated and computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of
Labor for the period of March 1 to February 28 each year.
     (2) "Index", as used in this section, refers to the Consumer Price Index, United States
City Average for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, as that index was formulated and
computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor.
     (3) The annual increase shall be based upon the percentage increase, if any, in the
Consumer Price Index for the month of a given year, over the index for February the previous
year. Thereafter, increases shall be made on May 10 annually, based upon the percentage
increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for the period of March 1 to February 28.
     (4) The computations in this section shall be made by the director of labor and training
and promulgated to insurers and employers making payments required by this section. Increases
shall be paid by insurers and employers without further order of the court. If payment payable
under this section is not mailed within fourteen (14) days after the employer or insurer has been
notified by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the state it becomes due, there
shall be added to the unpaid payment an amount equal to twenty percent (20%) of it, to be paid at
the same time as, but in addition to, the payment.
     (5) This section applies only to payment of weekly indemnity benefits to employees as
described in subdivision (b)(1) and does not apply to specific compensation payments for loss of
use or disfigurement or payment of dependency benefits or any other benefits payable under the
workers' compensation act.
     (c) No petitions for commutation shall be allowed or entertained in those cases where an
employee is receiving benefits pursuant to this section.
     SECTION 2. Sections 28-53-2 and 28-53-7 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-53
entitled "Rhode Island Uninsured Employers Fund" are hereby amended to read as follows:
     28-53-2. Establishment -- Sources -- Administration.
     (a) There shall be established within the department of labor and training a special
restricted receipt account to be known as the Rhode Island uninsured employers fund. The fund
shall be capitalized from excise taxes assessed against uninsured employers pursuant to the
provisions of § 28-53-9 of this chapter and from general revenues appropriated by the legislature.
Beginning in state fiscal year ending June 30, 2017 June 30, 2018, the legislature may appropriate
up to two million dollars ($2,000,000) in general revenue funds annually for deposit into the
Rhode Island uninsured employers fund.
     (b) All moneys in the fund shall be mingled and undivided. The fund shall be
administered by the director of the department of labor and training, or his or her designee, but in
no case shall the director incur any liability beyond the amounts paid into and earned by the fund.
     (c) All amounts owed to the uninsured employers fund from illegally uninsured
employers are intended to be excise taxes and as such, all ambiguities and uncertainties are to be
resolved in favor of a determination that such assessments are excise taxes.
     28-53-7. Payments to employees of uninsured employers.
     (a) Where it is determined that the employee was injured in the course of employment
while working for an employer who fails to maintain a policy of workers' compensation insurance
as required by § 28-36-1 et seq., the uninsured employers fund shall pay the benefits to which the
injured employee would be entitled pursuant to chapters 29 to 38 of this title subject to the
limitations set forth herein.
     (b) The workers' compensation court shall hear all petitions for payment from the fund
pursuant to § 28-30-1 et seq.; provided, however, that the uninsured employers fund and the
employer shall be named as parties to any petition seeking payment of benefits from the fund.
     (c) Where an employee is deemed to be entitled to benefits from the uninsured employers
fund, the fund shall pay benefits for disability and medical expenses as provided pursuant to
chapters 29 to 38 of this title except that the employee shall not be entitled to receive benefits for
loss of function and disfigurement pursuant to the provisions of § 28-33-19.
     (d) The fund shall pay costs, counsel, and witness fees, as provided in § 28-35-32, to any
employee who successfully prosecutes any petitions for compensation; petitions for medical
expenses; petitions to amend a pretrial order or memorandum of agreement; and all other
employee petitions; and to employees who successfully defend, in whole or in part, proceedings
seeking to reduce or terminate any and all workers' compensation benefits; provided, however,
that the attorney's fees awarded to counsel who represents the employee in petitions for lump-sum
commutation filed pursuant to § 28-33-25, or in the settlement of disputed cases pursuant to § 28-
33-25.1, shall be limited to the maximum amount paid to counsel who serve as court-appointed
attorneys in workers' compensation proceedings as established by rule or order of the Rhode
Island supreme court.
     (e) In the event that the uninsured employer makes payment of any monies to the
employee to compensate the employee for lost wages or medical expenses, the fund shall be
entitled to a credit for all such monies received by, or on behalf of, the employee against any
future benefits payable directly to the employee.
     (f) This section shall apply to injuries that occur on or after July 1, 2017 July 1, 2018.
     SECTION 3. The title of Chapter 28-38 of the General Laws entitled "Dr. John E. Donley
Rehabilitation Center" is hereby amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 28-38
Dr. John E. Donley Rehabilitation Center
CHAPTER 28-38
CHIEF JUDGE ROBERT F. ARRIGAN REHABILITATION CENTER
     SECTION 4. Sections 28-38-23 and 28-38-24 of the General Laws in Chapter 28-38
entitled "Dr. John E. Donley Rehabilitation Center" are hereby amended to read as follows:
     28-38-23. Name change.
     The name of the curative centre in the department shall be the Dr. John E. Donley Chief
Judge Robert F. Arrigan rehabilitation center.
     28-38-24. Reference to curative centre.
     Wherever in any existing law reference is made to the curative centre, and wherever in an
existing law the term "state curative centre" or "curative centre" or "the centre," "the Donley
Center" or "the Dr. John E. Donley Rehabilitation Center", as variously used, refers to the
curative centre in the department, that reference and that term shall be deemed to have reference
to the Dr. John E. Donley Chief Judge Robert F. Arrigan rehabilitation center.
     SECTION 5. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC002709/SUB A/2
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