Pay Frequency Change in Rhode Island Effective Immediately

Author: Rena Pirsos, XpertHR Legal Editor

July 31, 2013

Rhode Island employers of all sizes can immediately begin paying certain employees less often than on a weekly basis under a law change that went into effect on July 15.

The current general pay frequency rule in Rhode Island is unchanged. It requires employers to pay employees weekly on regular paydays, except for employees who are paid at a fixed biweekly, semimonthly, monthly or yearly rate. This rule does not apply to state employees and employees of religious, literary or charitable corporations.

However, employers of any size may now pay employees less often than weekly if the following conditions are met:

• The employer pays wages regularly on a pre-designated date at least twice per month and the paydays are two weeks apart, or as close to two weeks apart as possible; and
• The employer provides the director of the Department of Labor and Training with a bond or other type of security in the amount of the employer's highest biweekly payroll in the preceding year for the employees who are paid less often than weekly.

Before this change in the law, only large employers could pay employees less often than weekly, and only if they met the following conditions:

• The employer submitted a written request for a waiver to the director of the Department of Labor and Training;
• The employer and its affiliates had more than 2,500 employees located in Rhode Island;
• The employer's average payroll exceeded 135 percent of the average compensation of all employees in the state;
• The employer made wage payments regularly on a pre-designated date at least twice per month; and
• The employer provided the director with a bond or other type of security in the amount of the employer's highest biweekly payroll in the preceding year for the employees covered by the request.