If you are a boss that relies on disciplinary memos to improve employees’ attitudes or performance you should know by now, it rarely works. Written warnings are often crafted too late when the supervisor no longer wants to deal with the employee. Fearing legal issues, you begin crafting memos to reprimand the employee on every possible violation. You go from no confrontation to major confrontation. At this point the corrective nature of the memo is…
Firing an employee in Puerto Rico for misconduct has legal consequences. The discharge may be deemed wrongful, discriminatory, retaliatory or in violation of some other law. You need to consider both local and federal labor & employment issues. Fines can be steep and in some cases may require job reinstatement. Before you discharge an individual, reflect on the following issues (and get an employment attorney). This self-audit may avoid future wrongful discharge claims. Why are…
Puerto Rico’s Act No. 115, P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 29, § 194a, prohibits retaliation against certain defined whistleblowers, namely, against employees who provide testimony “before a legislative, administrative or judicial forum”. This broad purpose has served claimants to file a wide variety of lawsuits under numerous circumstances including attempts to bolster simple wrongful discharge claims. The statute at issue, provides in relevant part that: “No employer may discharge, threaten, or discriminate against an employee regarding…
An individual sued his employer claiming constructive discharge. The court ruled in his favor and ordered the employer to pay $436,634.62 under Puerto Rico’s Wrongful Discharge Act 80. This is what happened in the recent case of Garrote v Airequipo ( KLAN201200956 – Bayamon Court Appeals Panel ). The company was a family-run business . In Puerto Rico all terminations are presumed unjustified under Act 80 . However when a person avers that he/she has…
In Puerto Rico, wages and overtime compensation is regulated by both federal (F.L.S.A.) and state law. Under Article II, Section 16 of the Constitution, workers in the Island are guaranteed among other things a regular work day which shall not exceed eight (8) hours. Under Puerto Rico’s Act No. 379 of May 15, 1948, 29 L.P.R.A. 271 et seq. and applicable caselaw, jobs governed by the FLSA must be paid an overtime rate of time and…
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