Rhode Island § 28-17-1 - Employees’ Trusts

§ 28-17-1. Definitions.

(a) “Employees’ trust” as used in this chapter means any trust created by an employer for the maintenance and regulation of an apprentice training program, and any trust created as part of a stock bonus plan, pension plan, disability or death benefit plan, or profit sharing plan for the exclusive benefit of some or all of his or her employees or their beneficiaries, to which contributions are made by the employer or employees or both, for the purpose of distributing in accordance with the plan to those employees or their beneficiaries the earnings or the principal, or both earnings and principal, of the trust fund, provided that it is impossible under the trust instrument at any time prior to the satisfaction of all liabilities with respect to employees and their beneficiaries under the trust for any part of the corpus or income to be at any time used for or diverted to purposes other than for the exclusive benefit of those employees or their beneficiaries.

(b) “Employer” as used in this chapter includes a group of employers or any combination of employers and a labor union creating a combined plan or trust for the benefit of their apprentices, employees, or the beneficiaries of employees.