§ 28-29-2. Definitions.
In chapters 29 — 38 of this title, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Department� means the department of labor and training.
(2) "Director� means the director of labor and training or the director's designee unless
specifically stated otherwise.
(3)(i) "Earnings capacity� means the weekly straight-time earnings that an employee could
receive if the employee accepted an actual offer of suitable alternative employment.
Earnings capacity can also be established by the court based on evidence of ability
to earn, including, but not limited to, a determination of the degree of functional
impairment and/or disability, that an employee is capable of employment. The court
may, in its discretion, take into consideration the performance of the employee's
duty to actively seek employment in scheduling the implementation of the reduction.
The employer need not identify particular employment before the court can direct an
earnings capacity adjustment. In the event that an employee returns to light-duty
employment while partially disabled, an earnings capacity shall not be set based upon
actual wages earned until the employee has successfully worked at light duty for a
period of at least thirteen (13) weeks.
(ii) As used under the provisions of this title, "functional impairment� means an anatomical
or functional abnormality existing after the date of maximum medical improvement as
determined by a medically or scientifically demonstrable finding and based upon the
sixth (6th) edition of the American Medical Association's Guide to the Evaluation
of Permanent Impairment or comparable publications of the American Medical Association.
(iii) In the event that an employee returns to employment at an average weekly wage equal
to the employee's pre-injury earnings exclusive of overtime, the employee will be
presumed to have regained their earning capacity.
(4)(i) "Employee� means any person who has entered into the employment of or works under
contract of service or apprenticeship with any employer, except that in the case of
a city or town other than the city of Providence it shall only mean that class or
those classes of employees as may be designated by a city, town, or regional school
district in a manner provided in this chapter to receive compensation under chapters
29 — 38 of this title.
(ii) Any person employed by the state of Rhode Island, or by the Rhode Island airport corporation,
except for sworn employees of the Rhode Island state police, who is otherwise entitled
to the benefits of chapter 19 of title 45 shall be subject to the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title for case management
procedures and dispute resolution by the workers' compensation court for all petitions
filed on or after July 1, 2025, for the following benefit and disability determinations:
(A) The nature and status of disability of the injured employee;
(B) The nature and location of injury relative to the work incident;
(C) Maximum medical improvement (MMI), as it is defined under § 28-33-2(9);
(D) All issues of legal and/or medical causation;
(E) Suitable alternative employment; and
(F) The assignment of fees and costs pursuant to the provisions of § 28-35-32. The court may in its discretion appoint an impartial medical examiner in accordance
with § 28-33-35. The court shall hereby be empowered to enforce all of its orders, decrees, and consent
agreements of the parties.
(iii) The term "employee� does not include any individual who is a shareholder or director
in a corporation, general or limited partners in a general partnership, a registered
limited liability partnership, a limited partnership, or partners in a registered
limited liability limited partnership, or any individual who is a member in a limited
liability company. These exclusions do not apply to shareholders, directors, and members
who have entered into the employment of or who work under a contract of service or
apprenticeship within a corporation or a limited liability company.
(iv) The term "employee� also does not include a sole proprietor, independent contractor,
or a person whose employment is of a casual nature, and who is employed other than
for the purpose of the employer's trade or business, or a person whose services are
voluntary or who performs charitable acts, nor shall it include the members of the
regularly organized fire and police departments of any town or city except for appeals
from an order of the retirement board filed pursuant to the provisions of § 45-21.2-9; provided, however, that it shall include the members of the police and aircraft
rescue and firefighting (ARFF) units of the Rhode Island airport corporation.
(v) Whenever a contractor has contracted with the state, a city, town, or regional school
district, any person employed by that contractor in work under contract shall not
be deemed an employee of the state, city, town, or regional school district as the
case may be.
(vi) Any person who on or after January 1, 1999, was an employee and became a corporate
officer shall remain an employee, for purposes of these chapters, unless and until
coverage under this act is waived pursuant to § 28-29-8(b) or § 28-29-17. Any person who is appointed a corporate officer between January 1, 1999, and December
31, 2001, and was not previously an employee of the corporation, will not be considered
an employee, for purposes of these chapters, unless that corporate officer has filed
a notice pursuant to § 28-29-19(c).
(vii) In the case of a person whose services are voluntary or who performs charitable acts,
any benefit received, in the form of monetary remuneration or otherwise, shall be
reportable to the appropriate taxation authority but shall not be deemed to be wages
earned under contract of hire for purposes of qualifying for benefits under chapters
29 — 38 of this title.
(viii) Any reference to an employee who had been injured shall, where the employee is dead,
include a reference to the employee's dependents as defined in this section, or to
the employee's legal representatives, or, where the employee is a minor or incompetent,
to the employee's conservator or guardian.
(ix) A "seasonal occupation� means those occupations in which work is performed on a seasonal
basis of not more than sixteen (16) weeks.
(5) "Employer� includes any person, partnership, corporation, or voluntary association,
and the legal representative of a deceased employer; it includes the state, and the
city of Providence. It also includes each city, town, and regional school district
in the state that votes or accepts the provisions of chapters 29 — 38 of this title
in the manner provided in this chapter or is a party to an appeal from an order of
the retirement board filed pursuant to the provisions of § 45-21.2-9.
(6) "General or special employer�:
(i) "General employer� includes but is not limited to temporary help companies and employee
leasing companies and means a person who for consideration and as the regular course
of its business supplies an employee with or without vehicle to another person.
(ii) "Special employer� means a person who contracts for services with a general employer
for the use of an employee, a vehicle, or both.
(iii) Whenever there is a general employer and special employer wherein the general employer
supplies to the special employer an employee and the general employer pays or is obligated
to pay the wages or salaries of the supplied employee, then, notwithstanding the fact
that direction and control is in the special employer and not the general employer,
the general employer, if it is subject to the provisions of the workers' compensation
act or has accepted that act, shall be deemed to be the employer as set forth in subsection
(5) of this section and both the general and special employer shall be the employer
for purposes of §§ 28-29-17 and 28-29-18.
(iv) Effective January 1, 2003, whenever a general employer enters into a contract or arrangement
with a special employer to supply an employee or employees for work, the special employer
shall require an insurer generated insurance coverage certification, on a form prescribed
by the department, demonstrating Rhode Island workers' compensation and employer's
liability coverage evidencing that the general employer carries workers' compensation
insurance with that insurer with no indebtedness for its employees for the term of
the contract or arrangement. In the event that the special employer fails to obtain
and maintain at policy renewal and thereafter this insurer generated insurance coverage
certification demonstrating Rhode Island workers' compensation and employer's liability
coverage from the general employer, the special employer is deemed to be the employer
pursuant to the provisions of this section. Upon the cancellation or failure to renew,
the insurer having written the workers' compensation and employer's liability policy
shall notify the certificate holders and the department of the cancellation or failure
to renew and upon notice, the certificate holders shall be deemed to be the employer
for the term of the contract or arrangement unless or until a new certification is
obtained.
(7) "Independent contractor� means a person who has filed a notice of designation as independent
contractor with the director pursuant to § 28-29-17.1 or as otherwise found by the workers' compensation court.
(8)(i) "Injury� means and refers to personal injury to an employee arising out of and in
the course of the employee's employment, connected and referable to the employment.
(ii) An injury to an employee while voluntarily participating in a private, group, or employer-sponsored
carpool, vanpool, commuter bus service, or other rideshare program, having as its
sole purpose the mass transportation of employees to and from work shall not be deemed
to have arisen out of and in the course of employment. Nothing in the foregoing provision
shall be held to deny benefits under chapters 29 — 38 and chapter 47 of this title
to employees such as drivers, mechanics, and others who receive remuneration for their
participation in the rideshare program. Provided, that the foregoing provision shall
not bar the right of an employee to recover against an employer and/or driver for
tortious misconduct.
(9) "Maximum medical improvement� means a point in time when any medically determinable
physical or mental impairment as a result of injury has become stable and when no
further treatment is reasonably expected to materially improve the condition. Neither
the need for future medical maintenance nor the possibility of improvement or deterioration
resulting from the passage of time and not from the ordinary course of the disabling
condition, nor the continuation of a preexisting condition precludes a finding of
maximum medical improvement. A finding of maximum medical improvement by the workers'
compensation court may be reviewed only where it is established that an employee's
condition has substantially deteriorated or improved.
(10) "Physician� means medical doctor, surgeon, dentist, licensed psychologist, chiropractor,
osteopath, podiatrist, or optometrist, as the case may be.
(11) "Suitable alternative employment� means employment or an actual offer of employment
that the employee is physically able to perform and will not exacerbate the employee's
health condition and that bears a reasonable relationship to the employee's qualifications,
background, education, and training. The employee's age alone shall not be considered
in determining the suitableness of the alternative employment.