R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-46-8: Employee claims.

The director shall maintain a separate record of each employee of an employer taxed under this chapter who had completed fifteen (15) years of covered service under the pension plan of the employer and whose employment was terminated because of the employer’s ceasing to operate a place of employment within this state and whose nonvested pension benefits were forfeited by that termination of employment and were not compromised or settled. Each employee shall be entitled to make a claim, in the form and manner prescribed by the director, for an immediate payment of the current value of his or her nonvested pension benefits or a deferred pension benefit, and to receive that payment or benefit in accordance with the rules and regulations promulgated by the director.