Bill > S1072

Introduced Session

This bill establishes a partial return to work program which permits the payment of temporary disability insurance (TDI) benefits on reduced basis to temporarily disabled workers who are otherwise eligible for TDI benefits but only able to return to work on a reduced basis while recovering from disability. The bill permits such partial benefits only after a worker has been completely unable to work due to disability and receiving full TDI benefits for at least seven days. Currently, the TDI law provides for benefits only during the time that the worker is completely unable to work due to the disability. The bill provides that the amount of the part-time TDI benefit is the full-time TDI benefit amount minus the wages paid to the worker during a week. The bill sets a maximum duration of eight weeks for partial benefits, unless the division, after a review of medical documentation, approves an extension beyond eight weeks, but not more than 12 weeks in any case. Employers are not required to permit a worker to return to work on a reduced basis, but if a worker is able to return to work on a reduced basis but the employer does not permit the worker to do so, the worker will remain eligible for benefits until fully recovered from the disability and able to perform the duties of employment. The bill does not, in any case, increase the total number of weeks of disability benefits for a worker. The purpose of the bill is to allow workers to transition back to work by initially working on a part time basis, and to provide cost savings to the TDI fund by reducing TDI benefit costs during those transitions. The bill is based on a partial TDI benefit program implemented in Rhode Island in 2007. It is reported that the program resulted in savings every year the program has been operational.

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Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D)*,  Shirley Turner (D)*, 

Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee (on 12/07/2017)