Rhode Island § 28-41-11 - Temporary Disability Insurance — Benefits

§ 28-41-11. Eligibility.

(a) For benefit years beginning on or after July 1, 1981, and prior to October 7, 1990, an individual shall be deemed eligible for benefits for any given week of his or her unemployment due to sickness only if he or she has, within the base period immediately preceding the benefit year in which that week of unemployment occurs, earned wages amounting to at least twenty (20) times the minimum hourly wage as defined in chapter 12 of this title, in each of at least twenty (20) weeks or, in the alternative, in an amount equal to three (3) times the total minimum amount required in this chapter.

(b) In order to be deemed eligible for benefits, an individual whose benefit year begins on or after October 7, 1990, must have been paid wages in:

(1) Any one calendar quarter of the base period that are at least two hundred (200) times the minimum hourly wage, as defined in chapter 12 of this title, and must have been paid wages in the base period amounting to at least one and one-half (1½) times the wages paid to the individual in that calendar quarter of the base period in which the individual’s wages were highest; provided, that the minimum amount of total base period wages paid to the individual must be at least four hundred (400) times the minimum hourly wage, as defined in chapter 12 of this title. The base period wages must have been paid to the individual for performing services in employment for one or more employers subject to chapters 39 — 41 of this title; or, in the alternative,

(2) The base period for performing services in employment for one or more employers subject to chapters 39 — 41 of this title amounting to at least three (3) times the total minimum amount required in subsection (b)(1) of this section.

(c) In addition to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, for benefit years that begin on or after July 1, 2012, an individual must have been unemployed due to sickness for at least seven (7) consecutive days in order to be eligible for benefits.