Compliance Stuff

  Rhode Island employers must keep up with new workplace laws enacted this year, including some that have already taken effect. The state not only joined a growing number of states that prohibit so-called “captive audience” meetings and became the first to provide explicit protections for employees managing the menopausal transition, it also added new onboarding notice requirements and hiked the minimum wage for 2026 . Here’s a quick guide to help you keep track of it all and prepare for the changes. Accommodations for Menopause-Related Conditions  (Effective June 24, 2025) Rhode Island just became the first state to explicitly enact workplace protections for women experiencing the menopausal transition . Gov. Dan McKee signed a  bill into law  on June 24 that extends the state’s existing law requiring workplace accommodations for pregnancy- and childbirth-related conditions to also cover menopause-related conditions. Under the new law, employers in the state wi...

At a Glance Rhode Island law bans mandatory employer-sponsored meetings on “political” matters, which includes an employer’s position on unionization. The new law creates a private right of action for aggrieved employees. On July 2, 2025, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee signed into law House Bill No. 5506 SUB A.    With the stroke of a pen, Rhode Island joined the growing list of states to ban mandatory employer-sponsored meetings regarding religious and “political matters.” The New Law Based on its seemingly innocuous title, the new Section 28-7-50 of the Rhode Island General Laws is intended to promote and protect “[e]mployee rights of free speech in the workplace.”   However, a closer reading of the new law’s definitions section reveals its true purpose: to impose a sweeping—and likely unconstitutional—ban on “captive audience” meetings. The law defines “political matters” as “topics that are unrelated to the employer’s business or business activities, such as subje...