Employee awarded100K under Puerto Rico’s Whistlerblower Act
The Puerto Rico Supreme Court recently affirmed a lower court ruling awarding plaintiff $100,000. Plaintiff- was a maintenance worker who claimed that his employer had fired him in retaliation for requesting benefits under the local workers’ compensation fund. See, Rivera Menendez v. Action Service, Corp. 2012 TSPR 73 (Date: April 27, 2012). The employer- engaged […]
Faster union elections
If you run a business and receive a petition for elections by a union, run to a lawyer. New representation case procedures effective April 30 2012 may allow a union to enter the workplace within 18 days of the petition. It turns out that if 30% of the workers within a unit area wish to […]
Controversial NLRB poster requirement postponed
On April 17, 2012 the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit paralyzed the requirement of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to set a sign that would inform employees of their rights to organize and form a union, inter alia. The order prohibits the Board to enforce the notification rule until further notice. The […]
Registry of New Employees & Child Support
Under Act No. 5 of December 30, 1996, employers in Puerto Rico must notify the name of all new hires within 20 days of recruitment to the State New Hire Registry division of the the Administration for Child Support Enforcement (“ASUME” in Spanish) .The new hire report must contain the name, address and social security […]
Hours of Work
Regular working hours in Puerto Rico are eight (8) hours during any workday and forty hours (40) during any workweek. Thus eight (8) hours of work constitute the legal workday in Puerto Rico and forty (40) hours of work constitute a workweek. Extra working hours include: hours that an employee works for his employer in […]