CRANSTON, R.I. — The Department of Labor and Training (DLT) today announced next year's rates for the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program.
Effective January 1, 2021, the Unemployment Insurance Tax Schedule will go to Schedule H, with tax rates ranging from 1.2 percent to 9.8 percent. The rate for new employers will be 1.16 percent, including the 0.21 percent Job Development Assessment. Tax Schedule F with rates ranging from 0.9 percent to 9.4 percent was in effect in calendar year 2020.
The UI taxable wage base will be $24,600 for most employers and $26,100 for employers at the highest rate. By law, the UI taxable wage base represents 46.5% of the average annual wage in Rhode Island.
DLT also announced that the 2021 Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) taxable wage base will be $74,000 and that the employee contribution rate to the TDI fund will remain 1.3 percent for calendar year 2021. The TDI taxable wage base is set at the annual earnings needed by an individual to qualify for the maximum weekly benefit rate for the maximum duration.
The 2021 UI and TDI Quick Reference sheet is available here.
Unemployment Insurance provides temporary income support to workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and have sufficient wages in the base period to meet the monetary requirements. Worker benefits are funded entirely from state and federal Unemployment Insurance taxes paid by Rhode Island employers.
TDI protects workers against wage loss due to a non-work-related illness or injury, and through Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI), which provides up to four weeks of payments to bond with a new child or to care for a seriously ill family member. TCI is not a separate state program; TCI is part of the TDI program. TDI is paid by employees, not employers, through a payroll tax.
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