2014 Rhode Island General Laws
Title 42 - State Affairs and Government
Chapter 42-102 - Rhode Island Human Resource Investment Council [Effective until February 1, 2015]
Section 42-102-11 - State Work Immersion Program. [Effective February 1, 2015.].

§ 42-102-11 State Work Immersion Program. [Effective February 1, 2015.]. – (a)(1) The workforce board ("board") shall develop a state, work-immersion program and a non-trade, apprenticeship program. For the purposes of this section, work-immersion shall mean a temporary, paid, work experience that provides a meaningful learning opportunity and increases the employability of the participant. The programs shall be designed in order to provide post-secondary school students, recent college graduates, and unemployed adults with a meaningful work experience, and to assist employers by training individuals for potential employment.

(2) Funding for the work immersion program will be allocated from the job development fund account and/or from funds appropriated in the annual appropriations act. Appropriated funds will match investments made by employers in providing meaningful work immersion positions and non-trade apprenticeships.

(b) For each participant in the work immersion program, the program shall reimburse eligible employers up to fifty percent (50%) of the cost of not more than four hundred (400) hours of work experience and during a period of ten (10) weeks. If an eligible employer hires a program participant at the completion of such a program, the state may provide reimbursement for a total of seventy-five percent (75%) of the cost of the work-immersion position.

(c) The board shall create a non-trade apprenticeship program and annually award funding on a competitive basis to at least one new initiative proposed and operated by the governor's workforce board industry partnerships. This program shall meet the standards of apprenticeship programs defined pursuant to § 28-45-9. The board shall present the program to the state apprenticeship council, established pursuant to chapter 45 of title 28, for review and consideration.

(d) An eligible participant in programs established in subsections (b) and (c) must be at least eighteen (18) years of age and must be a Rhode Island resident. Provided, however, any non-Rhode Island resident, who is enrolled in a college or university located in Rhode Island, is eligible to participate while enrolled at the college or university.

(e) In order to fully implement the provisions of this section, the board is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations. The rules and regulations shall define eligible employers that can participate in the programs created by this section.

History of Section.
(P.L. 2013, ch. 144, art. 15, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 433, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 461, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 500, § 4; P.L. 2014, ch. 551, § 4.)