P.R. Laws tit. 29, § 690
(a) All the insured employees of Puerto Rico covered by § 681 of this title shall pay to the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund hereby established weekly dues of fifty cents ($.50) for each week or fraction thereof worked, paying their dues through their respective employers as determined in subsection (c) of this section.
Every insured who is self-employed shall pay weekly to the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund the herein established dues of eighty cents ($.80) weekly for each week or fraction thereof worked, paying his own dues as determined in subsection (d) of § 681 of this title.
Any insured may voluntarily continue to pay the dues corresponding to the weeks in which he is not working since he has been laid off in his employment or has discontinued his occupation and is performing other work for the same or any other employer. That payment may be made if said layoff or other work is not due to the insured’s not being able to work as such, but in no case shall payments be accepted in excess of six (6) months, which period shall be reckoned from the date he ceases in his job or from the date the insured starts to do other work not properly [related to] that which he was doing. When the insured is self-employed he may also continue to pay the dues during the aforesaid term if his vehicle is not in condition to render services and the Director is so notified. The insureds with driver’s licenses suspended by the Department of Transportation and Public Works cannot pay their dues corresponding to such period. In such case, the dues to be paid shall be eighty cents ($.80) weekly for each week or fraction thereof worked in other kind of labor or for each week or fraction thereof which has elapsed since he ceased his employment.
(b) Any employer who employs one or more persons covered by the definitions of § 681 of this title shall pay weekly to the fund established in this chapter dues of thirty cents ($.30) for each person he may have working. He shall also remit the dues of fifty cents ($.50) imposed under subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Every employer who hires one or more persons covered by the definitions of § 681 of this title, shall immediately notify the Director of the Chauffeurs and Persons with Non-Occupational Disabilities Benefits Bureau, giving the names, license numbers, social security numbers and residential addresses, and shall withhold dues in the amount of fifty cents ($.50) imposed on each employee by subsection (a) of this section, each week from the salary or compensation of each person employed by him/her during each week or fraction thereof, and shall pay said amount for each taxable quarter, within sixty (60) days following the end of said quarter, including with the sum, a list of the names and two surnames, their respective motor vehicle operator’s license numbers, their respective social security [numbers] and the number of weeks of dues covered by the payment for each employee together with the dues imposed by subsection (b) of this section, to the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Spanish Fund established herein, in the form provided by the regulations of this chapter, a Secretary of the Treasury for the collection of the dues imposed hereby. Self-employed chauffeurs shall also pay the dues imposed by this chapter for each taxable quarter, within sixty (60) days following the end of said quarter, including with the amount, their name and two surnames, their chauffeur’s license number and that of the motor vehicle they operate, on the form provided in said regulations.
Every natural or [juridical] person who leases one or more motor vehicles for business purposes or for service to another natural or artificial person not operating same as a chauffeur shall notify the Director within five (5) days from the beginning of the lease, giving the motor vehicle registration numbers and the names and addresses of the lessees, as well as their respective social security numbers, or employers’ numbers, as the case may be. Provided, That for the purposes of this chapter, any natural or artificial person who leases a motor vehicle authorized by law to give public transportation services as defined in § 681(b) of this title to a chauffeur who is going to operate it to provide said services as defined in § 681(a)(1) of this title shall pay dues of thirty cents ($.30) for each motor vehicle leased for each week or fraction thereof for the duration of the lease; he shall also pay the dues assessed by subsection (a) of this section on each chauffeur.
Any lessee of a motor vehicle employing a chauffeur or a driver to operate it shall comply with the provisions of subsections (a), (b) and (c) hereof.
In no case shall the dues herein fixed be paid or credited for weeks in which the insured is sick or enjoying leave due to accident or sickness, while not otherwise provided in this chapter.
The Secretary of Labor and Human Resources may deny the benefits granted in this chapter to any insured person or his/her beneficiaries when he/she determines through an investigation, that the dues accredited which would entitle them to such benefit were not paid according to the provisions that govern the payment procedure, or that the payment of dues was made after the insured person acquired the illness or attained the age of fifteen (15) years. In such cases, the dues thus paid shall be reimbursed.
Any employer who fails to pay the dues he is legally bound to pay pursuant to this chapter may be sued before a competent court by any aggrieved person or his beneficiaries for the amount of the benefits due him or his beneficiaries plus an equal sum as additional compensation for liquidated damages, for which the claim procedure established in §§ 3118—3132 of Title 32, may be used.
The aggrieved person, or his beneficiaries who may bring such action shall have the right, without bond, to attach property of the employer for the amount of the claim, including the additional compensation, provided the court, after examining the complaint, which shall be under oath, finds that there is a just cause of action. Said attachment shall insure payment of the judgment which may eventually be entered on the case and which shall include costs, expenses and attorney’s fees. In this action the fact that the insured or employee refused to deliver the corresponding weekly dues or to permit that they be retained from his salary or compensation shall not constitute a defense for the employer.
The Secretary of the Treasury shall be empowered to provide by regulation all the necessary measures for levying and collecting the dues or contributions imposed herein. The regulations which the Secretary of the Treasury may issue to such effect shall not run counter to the rules and regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources. The Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his authorized representatives have the duty to see to the enforcement of this chapter and of the rules and regulations mentioned above and to that end power is hereby granted to them to request chauffeurs and other employees to produce the license which authorizes them to operate a motor vehicle as well as the registration of the motor vehicle they operate, both of which shall be shown to the satisfaction of said officials. Likewise, it shall be the duty of every employer to allow the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his authorized representatives to examine and/or copy his payrolls, under penalty of incurring a crime pursuant to what is indicated hereinbelow.
History —May 15, 1950, No. 428, p. 1038, § 9; Sept. 15, 1950, No. 32, p. 250, § 1; May 14, 1952, No. 454, p. 924, § 9; June 14, 1957, No. 59, p. 137; June 18, 1959, No. 51, p. 152, § 1; June 14, 1960, No. 85, p. 151, § 1; June 21, 1968, No. 111, p. 227; June 21, 1971, No. 48, p. 136; Nov. 23, 1975, No. 8, p. 934, § 8; June 3, 1976, No. 146, p. 437, § 2; July 20, 1979, No. 172, p. 450, § 4; renumbered as § 12 and amended on June 18, 1980, No. 149, p. 663, § 13; Dec. 30, 1995, No. 262, § 12.