In Rhode Island, employers must pay employees one and one-half times their regular rate for any hours in excess of 40. The overtime provisions do not apply to (1) employees of summer camps that are open for less than six months per year; (2) police, fire fighters and rescue personnel employed by cities and towns; (3) employees of the state or its political subdivisions who may elect to receive compensatory time off in lieu of overtime compensation; (4) employees employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity who are compensated on a salary basis of not less than $200 per week; (5) salaried employees of a nonprofit national voluntary health agency who may elect to receive compensatory time off in lieu of overtime compensation; (6) employees of a motor carrier whose maximum hours are set under the federal Motor Carriers Act; (7) salespersons, partspersons or mechanics primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks or farm implements who are employed by certain nonmanufacturing employers and whose earnings exceed a certain amount; and (8) agricultural employees. Employees who are exempt from state minimum wage requirements are also exempt from overtime requirements.
Any employee who performs work on a Sunday or holiday and who has an authorized permit from the director of labor to do so must be paid time and one-half. In addition, no employee may be penalized for refusing to work on those days.
Effective March 4, 2008, certain hourly wage employees of public and private hospitals cannot be required to perform overtime work beyond an established maximum workday. There are exceptions for declared national, state or municipal emergencies or disasters.