§ 28-33-17.2 - Employee's affirmative duty to report earnings – Penalties for failure to provide earnings report – Civil and criminal liability.
SECTION 28-33-17.2
§ 28-33-17.2 Employee's affirmative dutyto report earnings – Penalties for failure to provide earnings report– Civil and criminal liability. – (a) It is the intent of the legislature that the costs resulting from fraud andabuse in the workers' compensation system be arrested. In order to discouragepotential abusers, employees must be aware of the affirmative duty to reportearnings and the penalties for any fraud or abuse must be severe and certain.
(b) Any employee entitled to receive weekly workers'compensation benefits shall have an affirmative duty to report those earnings,including wages or salary remuneration paid for personal services, commissions,and bonuses, including the cash value of all remuneration payable in any mediumother than cash, earned from self-employment or from any employer other thanthe employer in whose employ he or she was injured, so that compensationbenefits may be properly computed.
(c) The department of labor and training, employer, orinsurer shall notify any employee receiving weekly workers' compensationbenefits, on forms prescribed by the department, of that employee's affirmativeduty to report earnings and shall specifically notify the employee that afailure to report earnings may subject him or her to civil or criminalliability.
(2) The notice by the employer or insurer may be satisfied byprinting the notice on the employee payee statement (check stub) portion ofindemnity checks sent to the employee.
(d) Any employee entitled to weekly workers' compensationbenefits for any period of time shall, upon written request of the employer orinsurer, provide at reasonable intervals to the employer or insurer an earningsreport, on forms prescribed by the department, advising the employer or insurerof the exact amount of earnings for each week of his or her entitlement tobenefits or advising that no earnings were received for particular weeks, sothat the employer or insurer may properly compute the amount of benefits due tothe employee.
(e) If any employee refuses to submit an earnings report uponrequest by the employer or insurer his or her rights to compensation may besuspended and his or her compensation during that period of suspension may beforfeited.
(f) Where any employee is found to be entitled to benefits inexcess of fifty-two (52) weeks pursuant to a decision resulting in the entry ofan order or decree, he or she shall submit an earnings report as described insubsection (d) of this section. In these cases, the employer or insurer mustpay benefits within seven (7) days of receipt of the earnings report; provided,that no petition to enforce shall be allowed nor any penalty for late paymentawarded unless payments were not made within seven (7) days after the earningsreport has been provided.
(g) The employer or insurer shall be entitled to recoveroverpayments made to any employee as a result of a violation of the employee'sduty to report earnings by any of the following means:
(1) Upon petition and order of the workers' compensationcourt to suspend the employer's obligation to pay weekly benefits.
(2) By civil action in the district or superior court. Costsand counsel fees for the action may be awarded to the employer or insurer.
(h) Any employee who by any fraudulent means obtains orattempts to obtain workers' compensation benefits, whether by failure to reportearnings, falsification of the earnings report document, or intentionalmisrepresentation, may forfeit the right to any future weekly workers'compensation benefits as determined by the workers' compensation court.
(i) Any employee who by any fraudulent means obtains orattempts to obtain workers' compensation benefits to which he or she was notentitled, whether by failure to report earnings, falsification of the earningsreport, or intentional misrepresentation, shall be deemed guilty of larcenypursuant to § 11-41-4 or other pertinent criminal statutes of the state ofRhode Island. Each occurrence shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
(j) The administrator of the workers' compensation court, anyworkers' compensation judge, or any representative of an employer may be theparty complainant to any complaint and warrant brought to invoke the criminalpenalties provided for in this section, and the party complainant shall, exceptfor the representative of the employer, be exempt from giving surety for costsin the action.
(k) All criminal actions for any violation of this sectionshall be prosecuted by the attorney general.
(l) Where any employer or insurer intentionally andunreasonably utilizes the earnings report required by subsection (d) of thissection in order to harass an employee or delay payment of benefits to anemployee, a penalty of twenty percent (20%) shall be added to all amounts ofweekly compensation benefits due and owing.