Firefighter cancer presumption in Rhode Island
Once a firefighter has 2 years of service, Rhode Island presumes any cancer that firefighter develops came from the job.
Rhode Island's law here is R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-19.1-4. This law is used for medical bills, disability pensions, and line-of-duty pay.
Presumed means the law assumes your job caused the cancer, so your employer has to show it came from something else. Rhode Island's cancer law is separate from workers' comp, which is the insurance that pays medical bills and lost pay when work makes you sick.
Conditions under Rhode Island's law
- Your service lasted at least 2 years.
- A disabling cancer that developed or appeared during your service leaves you unable to do your fire department duties.
- The state or a city or town in Rhode Island employs or employed you as a firefighter.
- If your hire date fell after July 22, 2020, you did not use tobacco regularly during the five years before diagnosis.
- No cancer was found on your hiring physical exam, if there was one and your hire date falls after July 22, 2020.
Because the law firmly presumes your cancer is job-related, your employer can't claim another cause.
Questions about your diagnosis, your service record or your deadline go to the claims line: +1 833 853 0496
Cancers Rhode Island covers
Under Rhode Island's law, all cancers qualify.
This includes cancers like:
- Bladder cancer
- Brain cancer
- Breast cancer
- Colon or rectal cancer
- Esophagus cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Leukemia
- Liver cancer
- Lung cancer
- Mesothelioma
- Multiple myeloma
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
- Ovarian, cervical or uterine cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Skin cancer, melanoma included
- Stomach cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Throat or mouth cancer
- Thyroid cancer
In Rhode Island, how do you file a claim for firefighter cancer?
- Ask your department, or the board that runs its pension or benefits, how to apply for medical bills, line-of-duty pay and disability pensions. Name Rhode Island's law (R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-19.1-4). That board is the office that decides retirement and disability pay for your department.
- You can also file a workers' comp claim, which is a second claim with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, Division of Workers' Compensation. Rhode Island's cancer law does not help with that one, so your doctor has to say in writing that your work caused the cancer.
- Collect your diagnosis, the dates you were hired and served, any physical exam results, and your records of fires and exposures.
- Try to start soon, because time limits apply. Ask your department or the board how long you have to apply. A workers' comp claim has its own deadlines.
Look up another cancer · See the states that name each cancer