The debate regarding minimum wage continues at the State House.
The AFL-CIO has declared a hike in the minimum wage its top legislative priority this year. The labor organization is promoting a 50-cent increase from $5.15 to $5.65 an hour in July 1999 and another 50-cent increase, to $6.15 in July 2000. The legislation would also directly link the minimum wage to the cost-of-living index in July 2001.
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The House Labor Committee heard debate on the issue in mid-March and has yet to take action. A Senate Labor Committee is expected to continue discussion of the proposal, S.0801, later this week.
Such a hike would give Rhode Island the highest minimum wage in New England, along with Connecticut. The current minimum wage in Massachusetts is $5.25 per hour, though Bay State legislators are also considering raising it.
In other business related legislation, H.5921, An Act Relating to Holidays and Days of Special Observance, was scheduled to be heard in the House Labor Committee this past week. Submitted by the governor, the bill would allow employers to pay the normal rate of pay to employees who work on Sundays as part of their usual 40-hour work week.
Another matter scheduled before the House Labor Committee is H.5270, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Parental and Family Medical Leave. The bill would allow employees who have been employed by the same employer for 12 consecutive months to take a total of 24 hours of unpaid leave during any 12 month period to attend school conferences or other school related activities.
Today, April 5, the Senate Corporations Committee is expected to debate S.0019, An Act Relating to Health and Safety – Health Care Liability. The bill would allow individuals to sue their health insurance provider. Currently, under federal law those injured can only sue for the cost of the unpaid benefits, not for lost wages, compensatory damages, pain and suffering, or punitive damages. Rhode Island does have an appeals process called the Utilization Review Process which gives any individual the right to challenge the decision of the health insurance provider.
Lawmakers also continue to debate H.5386, an act that would allow employers to pay hourly workers biweekly.
Rhode Island remains one of only a handful of states in the country to require employers to pay hourly workers every week.
In recent legislative sessions, attempts to establish biweekly pay have been embraced in the Senate, but have died at the House.
This year, the bill — sponsored by Sen. Roger Badeau, a Democrat from Woonsocket and Rep. Joseph Faria, a Democrat from Central Falls – includes a provision that would a require the employer to bargain for the right to pay biweekly, if a labor union is in place.
