When an employee sustains property damage to eyeglasses, dentures, or artificial prosthesis arising out of and in the course of his or her employment, regardless of whether or not he or she suffered personal injury or loss of time, he or she may file a petition with the workers' compensation court, and he or she shall be paid the reasonable value of the property or the reasonable expense of repairing the property by an employer subject to or who has elected to become subject to the provisions of chapters 29 - 38 of this title. The petition shall be prosecuted in the same manner as other petitions for compensation before the court. In hearings before the court, counsel and witness fees shall be awarded for the successful prosecution of a petition under this section.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-33-43