P.R. Laws tit. 29, § 197
(a) It shall be the duty of the contractor to pay weekly and in cash all the wages of the laborers employed in the work under construction.
(b) The salaries earned by the workers employed in the work shall enjoy absolute preference, as to payment, over all other debts of the contractor, with the exception of mortgage credits on certain real or personal property or property rights of the debtor, recorded in the registry of property prior to the date on which the salary has been earned, and with the exception of any taxes which the contractor may owe to the Commonwealth or its municipalities.
(c) Any person who has been employed in any work, building or construction as to which the bond required by this chapter has been posted and to whom his salary has not been paid in whole or in part, as required by this chapter, in the form and terms established by law, shall be entitled to bring judicial action, without previous notice or demand, against the contractor, the bond of the contractor, the sureties of the contractor, or against any of them, to recover the sum due him for such reason. Any person having a direct contractual relation with a subcontractor, regardless of whether or not he has any express or implicit contractual relation with the contractor of the work, shall have a chose in action against the contractor, the bond of the contractor, the sureties of the contractor, or against any of them, to recover in full or in part any sum due him by the subcontractor of the work for salaries earned as employee of the subcontractor of the work. The workers or employees of the subcontractor may bring said action against the contractor at any time without notice or previous demand of their claim to the subcontractor.
(d) Any judicial action brought under this chapter may be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 10, approved Nov. 14, 1917, as amended, and there may be a joinder in one sole complaint of all claims for wages in connection with the same work.
History —June 22, 1961, No. 111, p. 223, §§ 3—6, eff. 90 days after June 22, 1961.