Like federal law, Rhode Island law requires that employees be paid one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in any given workweek. Anyone who is not covered by the minimum wage requirements (see below) is not covered by the overtime requirements. 

In addition, the following employees who are covered by the minimum wage requirements are not covered by the overtime requirement:

• Employees of summer camps not open more than six months per year
• Police officers, firefighters, and rescue service personnel employed by cities and towns
• State and city employees who elect through collective bargaining agreements or otherwise to receive comp time instead of overtime
• Executive, administrative, or professional employees receiving at least $200 per week in salary
• Salaried employees of nonprofit national voluntary health agencies (to whom comp time applies)
• Drivers, drivers’ helpers, mechanics and loaders of motor carriers
• Under certain conditions, salespersons, part persons, or mechanics primarily engaged in the sale and/or servicing of automobiles, trucks, or farm implements and employed by a non-manufacturing employer primarily engaged in the business of selling vehicles or farm implements

The minimum wage in Rhode Island is $15.00 per hour, which is higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

All employees have a right to a 20-minute break for a meal for a six-hour shift, and a 30-minute meal break for an eight-hour shift. Employers do not have to pay employees while they are on these breaks. This doesn’t apply to health care employees, or employers with less than three people on shift.

If your employer owes you wages, you can file a complaint with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training Division of Labor Standards. Before submitting the form, however, you must formally ask your employer for the wages (s)he owes you. The Department will attempt to help resolve the situation, and if this is unsuccessful may bring a complaint in court on your behalf. If the court case is successful, the court may award you whatever wages you are owed as well as any other benefits you are owed; in some circumstances, the court may also award that you be reinstated at your job.

Do not delay in contacting the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. There are strict time deadlines in which charges of wage-and-hour violations must be filed. In order for the Department to act on your behalf, you must file your claim within three years. However, as you might have other legal claims with shorter deadlines, do not wait to file your claim until your time limit is close to expiring. It may be helpful to consult with an attorney prior to filing your claim, but it is not necessary to have an attorney to file your claim with the Department.

Instead of filing a claim with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, you may file a claim in court to collect your unpaid wages. You must nonetheless at least inform the Department of the violation. There is a one-year statute of limitations for such a claim. The court may order that you be reinstated in your job and may order your employer pay you back wages and benefits owed. The court may also require your employer to pay your litigation costs.