§ 28-44-12. Availability and registration for work. (a) An individual shall not be eligible for benefits for any week of his or her partial or total unemployment unless during that week he or she is physically able to work full-time and be available for full-time work. To prove availability for work, every individual partially or totally unemployed shall register for work and shall:

(1) File a claim for benefits within any time limits, with any frequency, and in any manner, in person or in writing, as the director may prescribe;

(2) Respond whenever duly called for work through the employment office; and

(3) Make an active, independent search for suitable, full-time work.

(b) If an unemployed individual has been determined to be likely to exhaust regular benefits and to need reemployment services pursuant to a profiling system established by the director, the individual shall be eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week only if the individual participates in reemployment services, such as job search assistance services, unless the director determines that:

(1) The individual has completed those services; or

(2) There is justifiable cause for the individual's failure to participate in those services.

(c) No individual shall be eligible for any benefits for any week in which he or she fails, without good cause, to comply with the requirements as set forth above.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title to the contrary, individuals with a definite return-to-work date that is within twelve (12) weeks of their last day of physical work, as certified by their employer on the employer separation notice provided to the department, shall be exempt from the work search requirements of subsections (a)(2) and (a)(3) of this section.

History of Section. (P.L. 1936, ch. 2333, § 7; P.L. 1937, ch. 2556, § 1; G.L. 1938, ch. 284, § 7; P.L. 1949, ch. 2175, § 1; impl. am. P.L. 1953, ch. 3206, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 28-44-12; P.L. 1973, ch. 180, § 1; P.L. 1995, ch. 98, § 1; P.L. 1997, ch. 71, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch. 101, § 2; P.L. 2015, ch. 113, § 2; P.L. 2016, ch. 207, § 1; P.L. 2016, ch. 209, § 1.)