Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)

How to apply for SINOT temporary disability in Puerto Rico

Non-occupational disability insurance: requirements, form SI-1, how much it pays and for how long.

Chauffeurs’ Social Security: what the 50¢ deduction is and what it gives you

Not just for taxi drivers. It covers anyone who drives as part of their job, and pays sickness, disability, retirement and death benefits.

Employment discrimination: how to file with the Anti-Discrimination Unit

Which grounds the Labour Department’s UAD covers, where to file, and why mediation and litigation are free of charge.

How to report unemployment insurance fraud

The complaint to the Employment Security Bureau, and why you can file it without giving your name.

How to apply for unemployment insurance in Puerto Rico

What unemployment insurance is, who can apply, what documents are usually requested, and how to reach DTRH’s official claimant portal.

August 12, 2026

Maternity leave in the private sector: 8 weeks at full pay

What Act 3 of 1942 provides: 4 weeks before and 4 after childbirth at full pay, options to shift them, adoption leave, and protection against dismissal.

The Christmas bonus: who is entitled, how much it is, and what happens if unpaid

Act 148’s private-sector Christmas bonus: the hours you must work, the two formulas by hire date, the payment window and the penalties.

Vacation and sick leave: how many days you accrue and how they are used

Act 180-1998 made plain: the 130-hour monthly trigger, the vacation accrual ladder, the monthly sick day, and what you are owed when you leave.

Overtime, the workday and the meal period: what you must be paid

Act 379: the 8-hour day and 40-hour week, overtime at time and a half (pre-2017 hires keep more), and the premium for working through the meal period.

Disability discrimination: reasonable accommodation at work and school

Act 44-1985 bans disability discrimination, requires reasonable accommodation, and presumes discrimination if a job application asks about your condition.

Unjust dismissal: how severance pay is calculated

Three months of salary plus two weeks per full year of service, capped at nine months. One year to claim from the dismissal date.

Workplace harassment: what counts, what does not, and where to claim

Act 90-2020 defines workplace harassment, lists nine qualifying behaviors and seven that do not, and sets double damages. One year to claim.

Sexual harassment at work: the employer answers

For its agents’ or supervisors’ acts the employer answers even if it did not know. The law sets double damages, or no less than $10,000.

Special leave: 15 days to handle a violence situation

Act 83-2019 gives up to 15 working days a year, unpaid and additional to your other leaves, to handle your situation or a family member’s.

Retaliation for speaking up: Act 115 and its three years

No employer may dismiss, threaten or discriminate against you for offering testimony or information, even inside the company itself. Double damages.

Domestic work: written contract, overtime and vacation

The contract must be in writing. If the employer does not produce it, the burden of proving employment terms is theirs. Eight-hour days and time-and-a-half overtime.

Union member: voting, seeing the books and 30 days to claim

Act 333-2004 gives you the right to vote by secret ballot, be consulted before dues rise, and examine the books. The complaint is filed within 30 days.

Your SSN on the employee ID: prohibited, and the waiver cannot be required

Act 207-2006 bars employers from displaying your SSN on employee IDs, directories or general-circulation documents. Fine from $500 to $5,000.

Genetic information discrimination: a felony, and treble damages

Act 107-2013 bars requiring genetic tests for employment and denying coverage for genetic predisposition. It is a felony, and damages are trebled.

Claiming wages, vacation or Christmas bonus from the Labor Department

The Labor Standards Bureau investigates non-unionized employees’ complaints: wages, overtime, vacation, bonus, illegal deductions and unjustified dismissal.

August 27, 2026

Bringing a claim against your employer, free and without a lawyer: the OMA

A free forum with concurrent jurisdiction with the court over wages, unjustified dismissal, vacation and bonus. You may appear on your own.

Work permit for a minor in Puerto Rico

Any minor who wants to work needs a permit from the Labor Standards Bureau. The forms for each case, and why the minor must appear in person.

Licence to operate an employment agency

Ley 417-1947 requires a licence: a $3,000 bond, a $25.00 stamp, a criminal record certificate and a fee list. Operating without one is a crime.

Mandatory decrees: why your vacation may not be the Ley 180 amount

Forty-two industry decrees set vacation and sick leave accrual. If you were hired before 1 August 1995 and are still with the same employer, you may be owed more.

Appealing an unemployment or SINOT determination

15 days from when the determination was delivered or mailed, and you must keep claiming every two weeks while appealing. Three levels: arbitrator, Secretary, court.

A free lawyer to bring a claim against your employer

The DTRH’s Legal Affairs Bureau represents workers at no cost. 65% of its cases are under $5,000 — the ones no private lawyer will take.

Labour arbitration and mediation where there is a union

The Conciliation and Arbitration Bureau resolves union–employer disputes. The service is free of charge and the arbitrator’s award is final and binding.

The Employment Service and the American Job Centers

Job seeker registration, occupational counselling and placement, with priority for veterans, people with disabilities and unemployment claimants. Thirteen offices.

Employer number, quarterly return and new hire reporting

The DTRH Employer Services Portal: employer registration for unemployment and SINOT, wage declaration, quarterly return, online payment and New Hires.

Reporting dangerous working conditions to PR OSHA

You can ask for an inspection and for your employer not to be told who complained. A written, signed complaint is the one that most often produces one.

What PR OSHA requires of an employer

Eight hours to report a death or the hospitalization of three or more employees, and the duty to fix conditions before handing out protective equipment.

Ley 52 wage incentives for employers

The Employment Opportunities Fund finances wage incentives. You must be current on unemployment, SINOT and chauffeurs’ contributions.

Minimum wage: who is covered and how to collect what you are owed

If you were paid below the minimum you can collect the difference plus an equal amount, with costs and attorney fees. No agreement to the contrary defeats it.

You claim against your employer: the law makes them pay the attorney fees

Act 402-1950 orders the employer to pay fees when the worker wins, and forbids the worker paying their own. Losing does not order you to pay them.

Fixed-term employment contract: the clause making you waive rights is void

Act 3-1988 voids any clause in a fixed-term or specific-work contract letting the employer dismiss you without cause or making you waive benefits.

No one under 18 may be used to promote alcohol or tobacco

Act 204-1998 bans employing, contracting or using anyone under 18 in advertising, promotion or marketing of alcohol and tobacco, with fines of $1,000 to $3,000.

Sex discrimination in employment: what Act 69 declares illegal, point by point

Act 69-1985 bans sex discrimination in employment, includes pregnancy and childbirth, and reaches job ads, interview questions and fringe benefits.

Your public employee group: elections, dues, books and discipline

Act 358-2004 requires every bona fide group’s constitution and bylaws to guarantee elections, access to the books and a fair disciplinary procedure.

Act 100: the grounds you cannot be discriminated on at work, and what you can recover

Act 100-1959 bans employment discrimination by age, race, sex, orientation, veteran status, being a violence victim and even hairstyle.

Family

Minors in money-making digital content: the 30% and the 50%

Act 193-2026 requires reserving 30% of income in an account in the minor’s name, or 50% if they appear principally, with rights at age 21.

August 26, 2026

Recovering litigation costs when a worker wins their claim

Act 185-2026 lets a worker who prevails in a summary labor claim recover litigation costs, under Rule 44.1.

August 26, 2026

Selling in a government building: space and power at no cost

Act 140-1976 requires agencies to set aside sales space for severely disabled persons, charging them for neither the space nor the electricity.

Paid work in the Blind Industry Program

Act 139-2014 creates paid-work workshops for blind people and people with disabilities, and requires agencies and municipalities to buy their goods.

Health

Prosthetics and orthopedic devices: free or at the lowest possible cost

Act 106-1958 requires providing orthopedic and prosthetic devices free or at the lowest possible cost to low-income persons with disabilities, of all ages.

Manos Pa’l Campo: labour for the coffee harvest

Act 38-2011 gives priority to local workers in the coffee harvest and allows bringing foreign workers only up to half of the need left uncovered.

Desempleo Digital: the new platform

Since 1 September 2026, Unemployment Insurance and the Employer Portal run on a new system, reached through trabajo.pr.gov.

Remote work for an out-of-state employer

Act 27-2024 decides which employment law applies if you work from Puerto Rico for a company with no nexus here. It turns on domicile and exempt status.

Clocking in with your personal phone

It is not banned, but it is not free either. Refusing is no breach and no grounds for discipline, and permanent tracking just to log attendance is disproportionate.

Equal pay: Act 16-2017

It bans unequal pay by sex for comparable work, bans asking your salary history, and protects talking about your pay. One year to claim.

The equal-pay self-evaluation

The self-evaluation frees an employer from the extra penalty, never from back pay. DTRH’s guidelines say what to review: hiring, classification, bonuses and manuals.

Pay equity certification

DTRH’s programme is voluntary, but to enter the Single Bidders Registry the pay-equity policy certification is not.

The Labor Department’s workplace posters

DTRH publishes eleven posters to download free, from SINOT to PR OSHA, which regulation requires be reproduced at 8½" x 14" minimum.

A lawyer in an unemployment case

They may only charge what the Secretary approves, capped at $1,000 per case, and those fees come out of the Employment Security Administration Fund.

Act 402: when the employer pays the lawyer

The four conditions the Supreme Court requires, and why a public personnel claim does not always count as labour legislation.

The meal period at work

One hour within the workday, between the start of the third and the sixth hour, and the penalty if you are made to work it.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday at work

Which businesses must still close on those two days and why hours worked are paid as extraordinary compensation.

The probationary period: nine months, not three

Act 41-2022 cut it to three months, but was annulled in 2023. The nine or twelve months of Act 4-2017 govern.

The tip credit and your minimum wage

If you receive tips you are owed the full state minimum: the employer puts in at least $2.13 an hour and tips cover the rest.

Is there a cap on overtime?

The law sets no cap on overtime: it sets a price. The only requirement is that they be paid at time and a half.

The 130 hours a month to accrue leave

The threshold applies to every employee, even those hired before 2017, and an employer may give you 129 hours without accrual.

How many employees count for the bonus

The bonus percentage depends on company size, counting those who worked more than 26 weeks, regardless of hire date.

Housing

The construction contractor’s payment bond

Any work over $15,000 requires a bond in favour of the Secretary of Labor, and starting without it is a felony.