Get ready for new TCI benefits

Employers across Rhode Island should begin to revise their employment manuals, policies and information brochures in preparation for new statewide employee-leave requirements going into effect on Jan. 1.
Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee in July signed into law the Temporary Caregiver Insurance program (TCI), which expands the temporary-disability benefits provided to Rhode Island employees. Rhode Island joins New Jersey and California in mandating that employers provide all employees with temporary caregiver insurance, defined as wage-replacement benefits to workers who take time off from work to care for or bond with statutorily identified family members.
Under the TCI, all Rhode Island employers, regardless of the number of their employees, must provide temporary-caregiver benefits to employees who properly request leave. Employers will not bear any additional costs by providing this leave because employees will contribute to a disability-benefits pool from their paychecks, similar to the funding mechanism currently in place for the state’s Temporary Disability Insurance program.
Under the TCI, employers must provide each employee with up to four weeks of leave per benefit year, paid through the Temporary Disability Insurance benefits program, so that an employee can:
• Bond with his/her newborn child or a child newly placed for adoption or foster care with the employee or domestic partner.
• Care for a child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, spouse or domestic partner who has a serious health condition.
In addition to providing paid leave, employers must restore the employee to his/her position, under the same terms and conditions of employment, that he/she held prior to taking temporary-caregiver leave. Among other things, this includes paying the employee’s health benefits, subject to employee contribution, while the employee takes his/her temporary caregiver leave. The TCI fills gaps in benefits created by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Rhode Island Paternal and Family Medical Leave Act (RIPFMLA).
Under the TCI, all Rhode Island employers will be required to provide paid caregiver leave to all employees regardless of how long an employee has worked for the employer.
Although the Department of Labor and Training has not yet issued regulations implementing the TCI, employers should know that they are required to provide leave under the TCI only if employees properly request such leave.
Ultimately, the department will approve or deny an employee’s request. The department will not begin to accept TCI claims until Jan. 5, 2014.
All employee requests should be maintained in the respective employee’s confidential personnel file.
In addition, each employee is required to complete a certificate of eligibility with the department explaining the necessity of the caregiver leave. Employers should request from each employee a copy of the application filed with the department and maintain it in the employee’s personnel file.
TCI leave interacts with other leave benefits available to employees. Employers must be aware that employees are not permitted to concurrently file for both TCI leave and temporary-disability benefits for the same purpose.
In addition, if an employee requesting leave under the TCI is also eligible to take leave under FMLA and/or RIPFMLA, employers are entitled to require those employees to take their temporary caregiver leave concurrently with FMLA and/or RIPFMLA leave.
Lastly, employers must permit valid FMLA, RIPFMLA, and/or temporary disability benefits to an employee for serious health conditions experienced by the employee himself/herself, in addition to granting TCI benefits. All employers will be required to physically provide employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2014 with notice of the TCI program and their disability-insurance rights and benefits under the new statute. Likewise, employers should provide notice of the TCI to all employees hired before Jan. 1.
Further, every employer must post information concerning employees’ rights under the TCI in conspicuous locations in their offices. This will require drafting documents that clearly explain TCI benefits available to employees. It is further recommended that employers draft and provide the notices in the primary languages spoken by their employees.
Employers should also begin to train managers and supervisors concerning the TCI program to ensure that employee questions can be answered today and employee requests are properly handled. Where appropriate, employers should draft new policies to ensure that employee TCI request and applications with the department are timely received, reviewed and filed confidentially.
Careful planning now will save valuable time and resources in the future.
Employers should closely review existing policies in conjunction with new TCI law. Employers should then identify gaps in their existing policies and remedy any shortcomings in those existing plans and procedures.
Taking these steps today, rather than after the first employee request is submitted, will ensure that employers remain ahead of the curve, and are best prepared to address potential complaints from employees. •


Sheri L. Pizzi and Greg Vanden-Eykel are attorneys at Barton Gilman LLP with offices in Providence and Boston.

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