Establishes an opportunity for employee ownership where the owner notifies all current full-time and part-time employees and provides them with a 30-day window in which to initiate a process to potentially purchase the business as a workers' cooperative.

Rhode Island Opportunity for Employee Ownership Act

This bill would require business owners in Rhode Island who are planning to sell their business to first notify all of their employees — both full-time and part-time — about the upcoming sale. Once notified, employees would have a 30-day window to express interest in purchasing the business themselves and begin exploring whether they could buy it together as a workers' cooperative, which is a type of business owned and operated collectively by the people who work there.

The bill does not force a sale to employees or guarantee they can buy the business. Instead, it simply gives workers a fair chance to explore the option before the owner moves forward with selling to someone else. If employees are interested, they would initiate a process to determine whether a purchase is feasible — for example, by securing financing or organizing themselves as a cooperative. The owner would still ultimately decide whether to accept any offer the employees put together.

This bill would affect any Rhode Island business owner considering a sale, as well as the employees who work for those businesses. For workers, it could mean a meaningful opportunity to keep their jobs and gain ownership of their workplace. For business owners, it would add a required notification step before completing a sale, though it would not prevent them from selling to a buyer of their choosing.

As of now, the bill has been referred to the House Labor Committee, which has recommended holding it for further study, meaning it has not yet advanced through the legislative process.