PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Despite "vigorous'' opposition from the AFL-CIO, the House Finance Committee has approved long-sought legislation to allow private-sector employers to pay their employees every other week.
The legislation is now Number #1 on the House calendar for Thursday.
The AFL-CIO position: "For workers, there is already too much week left at the end of their pay.''
But Rhode Island is the only state that still requires weekly payment of private sector wages, with a handful of exceptions for large employers - such as CVS and Fidelity that have more than 2,500 employees.
The Rhode Island Manufacturers' Association is among those arguing:
"From an overall business competitiveness standpoint, this is an obstacle not only for new companies looking to locate here, but also expansion of current RI businesses is impacted. This policy virtually doubles a company's annual payroll processing costs.
"We understand fully and appreciate the hesitance and reluctance in addressing this issue but believe that the vast majority of companies doing business in RI today are unfairly punished because of an extremely small number of unfortunate occurrences.''