Rhode Island § 36-4-63 - Merit System

§ 36-4-63. Sick leave and other leave — Effect of discharging upon overtime work and overtime compensation.

(a) For each discharge with pay of three (3) consecutive days of sick leave, an employee’s appointing authority shall require a physician’s certificate or other evidence satisfactory to the appointing authority. Sick leave is hereby defined to mean a necessary absence or absences from duty due to an employee’s illness, injury, or exposure to contagious disease. In the event that the required evidence satisfactory to the appointing authority is not presented by the employee prior to or upon the conclusion of that leave, no payment of any compensation to which the employee would otherwise be entitled shall be made and the employee shall be considered for all purposes as having been absent without leave.

(b) In any given pay period in the event that an employee discharges any sick leave or leave of a type referred to in subsection (a) of this section, either with pay or without pay, he or she shall be permitted to work overtime only after he or she has worked his or her full thirty-five (35) or forty (40) hours, whichever is appropriated for the job classification. This subsection shall also apply to leave without pay which is taken by an employee for purposes other than those purposes referred to in subsection (a) of this section excluding, specifically, planned vacation days, personal days, and leave for death in employee’s immediate family.

(c) Overtime, for purposes of this section, shall mean the performance of hours of work in any work week which are in excess of an employee’s established work week schedule, or when requested by the employer. Hours which are paid for but not actually worked except planned vacation days, personal days, jury duty, and leave for death in the employee’s immediate family shall not be counted as hours worked nor shall they otherwise be used in computing overtime compensation.

(d) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not be applicable to employees in the nonstandard category.

(e) Notwithstanding other subsections of this section, an employee who is granted leave with or without pay for the purpose of fulfilling a military obligation shall be eligible to perform overtime work.

(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, it shall be unlawful for any state agency or any person or persons acting on behalf of the agency, to agree to, or enter into any agreement including a collective bargaining agreement or any amendment, modification, extension, or replacement thereof, whether verbal or written, which contains provisions that are inconsistent with the provisions of this section and the inconsistent provisions shall be null and void, whether the provisions result from agreement or the award of an arbitrator or arbitration panel under the provisions of chapter 11 of this title.