R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-3.1-2
The general assembly finds: that new trends in the use of alternative work schedules in the private sector have proven beneficial to employee and employer alike; that the congress of the United States has recently enacted and the president has signed legislation lending permanence to what had been heretofore an experimental program of alternative work schedules for federal employees; that it has been determined that alternative work schedules provide greater employment opportunities for women with young children; that the fastest growing segment of the work force is the "permanent part-time" work force; that alternative work schedules present greater job opportunity for the unemployed; that many of the fifty (50) states now offer alternative work schedules to their state employees and that the use of alternative work schedules result in improvement in service to the public, employee morale, and efficiency of agency operations. The general assembly therefore finds that there should be optional alternate working schedules available to state employees.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-3.1-2