Provides employees with civil administrative remedies against contractors, subcontractors involved in the contract with joint/severable liability imposed on contractors or subcontractors. Effective 9/1/2025.
H5366 creates a new section of Rhode Island’s wage-payment laws focused on the construction industry. It makes a contractor potentially liable for unpaid wages and related claims arising from work performed by subcontractors at any tier on a construction project, including claims for wages, wage supplements, benefits, penalties, liquidated damages, attorneys’ fees, and other costs. The bill applies to construction contracts entered into, renewed, modified, or amended on or after September 1, 2025.
The bill sets out a notice-and-response process: a wage claimant must give written notice to the contractor within 45 days of the last alleged wage theft, and the contractor can extinguish liability by making a written offer and paying all allegedly owed wages within 45 days after receiving notice. It also limits the contractor’s joint and several liability to 120 consecutive days of alleged wage theft, measured backward from the last violation before notice, while preserving other wage-law remedies. The bill bars waivers of liability by individual agreements, allows civil and administrative enforcement only, preserves attorney general enforcement, and permits limited waiver through a collective bargaining agreement with a bona fide construction trade labor organization.
In practical terms, the bill would expand enforcement tools for workers on construction projects and shift more risk to general contractors and other contractors overseeing subcontracted work. It would also interact with existing Rhode Island wage and labor statutes, including provisions on wage theft, wage claims, and related penalties, by adding contractor-level responsibility for subcontractor nonpayment in the construction context. The measure is framed as a labor-protection and wage-recovery bill rather than a criminal enforcement measure.
The available context shows no recorded committee transcript or vote history, so there is no documented floor or committee sentiment beyond the bill’s text and caption. Based on the structure of the proposal, the bill appears intended to strengthen worker protections and improve wage recovery in construction, while also giving contractors a defined notice period and liability cap. The inclusion of a collective-bargaining waiver suggests an effort to accommodate unionized construction projects and existing labor agreements.
The main points of contention likely concern the expanded liability placed on contractors for subcontractor wage violations, the 45-day notice requirement, and the 120-day cap on damages. Contractors and industry groups may view the bill as increasing compliance burdens and exposure to claims, while labor advocates are likely to support it as a tool to combat wage theft and ensure workers can recover unpaid compensation when subcontractors fail to pay.
The bill would amend Rhode Island’s Payment of Wages law by adding a construction-specific contractor liability regime. It would make contractors jointly and severally liable, under specified conditions, for unpaid wages and related claims caused by subcontractors performing work under a construction contract, and it would authorize civil and administrative enforcement while preserving attorney general actions and certain collective bargaining waivers. It would apply prospectively to construction contracts entered into, renewed, modified, or amended on or after September 1, 2025, affecting contractors, subcontractors, employees, and wage-claim enforcement under existing labor statutes.
No committee transcript or vote record is available, so there is no direct evidence of legislative debate or recorded support/opposition. The bill’s caption and text indicate a pro-worker, anti-wage-theft policy approach, suggesting likely support from labor advocates and employee-protection interests. At the same time, the contractor-liability provisions imply likely concern from construction and business stakeholders about expanded exposure and compliance obligations.
The most likely areas of dispute are the imposition of contractor liability for subcontractor wage theft, the short 45-day notice window for claims, and the scope of joint and several liability despite the 120-day damages limitation. Contractors may argue the bill places them at risk for conduct they do not directly control, while labor organizations may support the measure as necessary to ensure workers can recover unpaid wages in layered subcontracting arrangements. The bill’s allowance for waiver through a bona fide collective bargaining agreement may also be a point of negotiation, as it creates an exception for unionized projects but not for nonunion work.