P.R. Laws tit. 29, § 144
In every employment, undertaking, or establishment of whatever nature it may be, such as industrial enterprises, agricultural undertakings and mercantile establishments employing more than ten (10) persons, said enterprises, undertakings, and establishments, or their representatives, are hereby prohibited from maintaining, operating, or having any direct or indirect interest in businesses for the sale of provisions, tools, merchandise, clothing, or similar articles, to their workmen or employees. Cafeterias established by industrial or manufacturing enterprises for the purpose of providing their workmen or employees with facilities for obtaining meals at reasonable prices within the premises of the factory itself, either as part of the activities of the enterprise or through grantees inspected by it, are hereby exempted from this prohibition; Provided, That it shall be optional for said workmen or employees to eat in said cafeterias or provide for themselves in any other manner; Provided, further, That the Minimum Wage Board shall pass upon the reasonableness of the prices of the foods purveyed in cafeterias to which this section refers.
It shall be unlawful for any employer or his representative to make cash advances to his workmen, or to permit or agree that any other natural or artificial person do so in his name, when such advances are made for the purposes of defeating the purposes of this section and § 145 of this title or of furnishing means so that the workmen may spend such advances for the purchase of merchandise in a particular commercial establishment, aside from any hereinabove exempted from the prohibition contained in this section.
History —Apr. 10, 1942, No. 27, p. 400, § 1; Dec. 4, 1947, No. 7, p. 308.