Employer of Record in Rhode Island.
America's Oldest Disability Insurance. Mandatory.

Rhode Island's Temporary Disability Insurance program, enacted in 1942, is the oldest mandatory state temporary disability insurance system in the US. It provides partial wage replacement - typically around 60% of the employee's average weekly wage, up to a weekly maximum - when an employee cannot work due to a non-work-related illness, injury, or pregnancy. The program is funded entirely through mandatory employee payroll contributions - there is no employer contribution. Employers are responsible for withholding and remitting the employee's contributions each pay period. WorkGenius handles all TDI withholding and remittance for every Rhode Island employee.

TCI, added in 2014, extended Rhode Island's existing TDI contribution system to fund paid family leave. Legislation signed in 2024 (S 2121) raised it to 7 weeks in 2025 and 8 weeks from January 1, 2026, and lifted the dependent allowance from $10 to $20 a week per dependent under 18. It provides up to 8 weeks of paid leave per year for employees who need to bond with a newly born, adopted, or foster child, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition. Like TDI, TCI is funded through mandatory employee payroll contributions - no separate employer contribution is required. Eligible employees receive approximately 60% of their average weekly wage during TCI leave. WorkGenius withholds TCI contributions as part of the combined TDI/TCI contribution on each paycheck.

Rhode Island's minimum wage is $16.00/hr in 2026. It increases to $17.00/hr on January 1, 2027. Rhode Island has been on a multi-year minimum wage increase schedule and may pursue further increases beyond $15/hr through future legislation. WorkGenius applies the current rate and automatically updates on each effective date.

Rhode Island's Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) covers employers with 4 or more employees - a lower threshold than federal Title VII's 15-employee minimum. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age (40+), disability, and ancestry. Since the 2022 CROWN Act, FEPA also explicitly covers natural hair texture and protective hairstyles as part of race discrimination. The Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights handles administrative complaints.

It does. The Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act, RIGL 28-57, has required sick and safe leave since 2018. Employers with 18 or more employees must provide it paid; employers with 17 or fewer must provide the same accrual unpaid. Employees accrue 1 hour for every 35 hours worked, up to 40 hours a year, and accrual counts all paid hours including holiday, personal, sick and vacation time. That sits alongside the TDI program, which covers disability and pregnancy, and TCI, which covers family bonding and caregiving leave. Rhode Island also has the Parental and Family Medical Leave Act, providing job-protected unpaid leave (up to 13 weeks over a 2-year period) for employers with 50 or more employees. TCI provides the paid leave component for qualifying events covered by that law.

Only for some workers. The Rhode Island Noncompetition Agreement Act, RIGL 28-59, in force since 2020, makes a non-compete unenforceable against an employee who is non-exempt under the FLSA, an undergraduate or graduate student in an internship or short-term role, an employee aged 18 or under, or a low-wage employee. For everyone else, courts apply a reasonableness standard, examining duration, geographic scope, and the type of restricted activity, and may modify overly broad provisions. WorkGenius screens every Rhode Island hire against the RIGL 28-59 categories and drafts only where a covenant is available.