State Unemployment Benefits in Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training administers unemployment insurance. Rhode Island has no deceased-claimant rule for unemployment: the Employment Security chapters (R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 28-42 through 28-44) contain no section paying a deceased claimant's benefits to a survivor or estate, and DLT's own regulation carries such a provision only for Temporary Disability Insurance, not for unemployment. The UI Call Center handles the death and any payment owed for weeks certified before it case by case.
Administering agency
Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT)
State Unemployment Benefits in Rhode Island: key facts
- Administering agency
- Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT), Unemployment Insurance.
- UI Call Center
- (401) 415-6772 (Voice Relay 711)
- After a death
- No section of R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 28-42 through 28-44 provides for paying a deceased claimant's unemployment benefits to a survivor or to the estate, and DLT's claims regulation carries an executor-filing rule only for Temporary Disability Insurance (260-RICR-40-05-1, § 1.17(E)) — the parallel unemployment section, § 1.18, has none. Report the death to the UI Call Center at (401) 415-6772 so weekly certification stops, and ask how any payment for weeks certified before the death is handled.
- Weekly certification
- Benefits are paid only for weeks the claimant certified, through UI Online or by phone at (401) 415-6772; a week that is never certified is not paid.
Steps to take when someone dies
- Report the claimant's death to the Rhode Island DLT UI Call Center at (401) 415-6772 so weekly certification and payments stop.
- Ask the UI Call Center how any payment for weeks the claimant certified before death is handled and what documentation it requires — Rhode Island has no statute or regulation setting a rule for this on the unemployment side.
Frequently asked questions
Rhode Island has no rule for it. No section of R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 28-42 through 28-44 pays a deceased claimant's unemployment benefits to a survivor or to the estate, and the Department of Labor and Training's claims regulation gives an executor or administrator the right to file only on the Temporary Disability Insurance side (260-RICR-40-05-1, § 1.17(E)); the parallel unemployment section, § 1.18, has no such provision. Report the death to the UI Call Center at (401) 415-6772 so certification stops, and ask there how any payment for weeks certified before the death is handled.
The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training administers unemployment insurance. The UI Call Center can be reached at (401) 415-6772 (Voice Relay 711).
Sources
Data sourced from State Unemployment Benefits in Rhode Island primary sources (6 pages reviewed). How we research.
Administering agency
Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT)