Appealing an unemployment or SINOT determination

The Appeals Division handles appeals filed by claimants and employers against the determinations and redeterminations of the Unemployment Insurance Bureau. Services are provided through arbitrators, who hold telephone or in-person hearings after the appeal is filed. The hearing gives the parties the chance to be heard; having weighed the evidence and arguments, the arbitrator decides and notifies the determination. Above it sits the Office of Appeals Before the Secretary, which adjudicates appeals under Puerto Rico’s Employment Security Act and the Non-Occupational Disability Insurance Act (SINOT). Its cases are heard by Administrative Judges under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act and the applicable federal regulation. It is a quasi-judicial administrative forum, and its determinations are reviewable by the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals.

Claimant and employer have an equal right to appeal any determination they disagree with. The Appeals Division handles both sides’ appeals against determinations and redeterminations of the Unemployment Insurance Bureau. The Office of Appeals Before the Secretary additionally covers SINOT, so if your determination is about non-occupational disability rather than unemployment, it too has a forum.

• Requesting reconsideration or appeal within 15 days, counted from the date the determination was delivered or mailed.Verified against the official source
• Continuing to file your claims every two weeks while you are in the appeal process.Verified against the official source
• Accompanying the appeal with the determination being appealed, or having it contain the claimant’s case number.Verified against the official source

• The determination you are appealing. If you do not attach it, the appeal must contain your claimant case number.
• Form PR-SD 512, “Solicitud de Audiencia”, which the Department publishes on its Unemployment Insurance page.
• For the second level, the “Solicitud de Apelación Ante el Secretario”, published by the Office of Appeals Before the Secretary.

1. 1

   Step 1: Count the 15 days from the determination’s date

   The Department says it plainly: no determination is final, and you have 15 days to request reconsideration or appeal, counted from the date the determination was delivered or mailed. Note where the clock starts: not from when you read it, but from when it was delivered or sent. Dig out the letter and check the date before anything else.

2. 2

   Step 2: Keep claiming every two weeks

   This is the step people skip and the one that costs the most. The Department states that while you are in the appeal process you must keep filing your claims every two weeks. If you stop claiming because you were denied, the weeks you did not claim do not reappear later even if you win the appeal.

3. 3

   Step 3: Send the appeal to the Appeals Division

   There are three routes and all of them count. By email to dad@trabajo.pr.gov. By post to Piso 8, PO Box 195540, San Juan, PR 00919-5540. Or at your local office. The appeal must be accompanied by the determination being appealed, or contain your claimant case number; without one of the two they cannot identify your case. The phones are 787-754-5353, extensions 12317, 12322, 12328 and 12339.

4. 4

   Step 4: Wait for the letter with your hearing date

   The Appeals Division staff handle appeals in filing order and assign each one a number. Once your hearing date is set, they will send you a letter or email stating the date and time. The hearing can be by telephone or in person, and it is your chance to be heard: there you present your evidence and arguments to the arbitrator, who then decides and notifies the determination.

5. 5

   Step 5: If the arbitrator does not agree either: the Secretary

   The second level is the Office of Appeals Before the Secretary, which adjudicates appeals under Puerto Rico’s Employment Security Act and also under the SINOT Act. Cases are heard by Administrative Judges under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act and the federal regulation applicable to unemployment insurance benefits. It is a quasi-judicial forum. It publishes its own “Solicitud de Apelación Ante el Secretario” and its email is oas@trabajo.pr.gov.

6. 6

   Step 6: And the court is still there

   The Department lists three forums for appeal: the Arbitrator, the Secretary and the Court. Determinations of the Office of Appeals Before the Secretary are reviewable by the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals. The Department does not publish on these pages the deadline for going to the Court of Appeals, so if you get that far, ask about it before it lapses.

First level, Appeals Division: email dad@trabajo.pr.gov; post to Piso 8, PO Box 195540, San Juan, PR 00919-5540; or your local office. Phone 787-754-5353, extensions 12317, 12322, 12328 and 12339. Second level, Office of Appeals Before the Secretary: oas@trabajo.pr.gov.

• Letting the 15 days from delivery or mailing of the determination lapse.
• Counting the deadline from when you opened the letter rather than from the delivery or mailing date.
• Stopping your every-two-weeks claims while the appeal is pending.
• Sending the appeal without the determination being appealed and without the case number.
• Believing the Bureau’s denial is the last word: there is an arbitrator, a Secretary and a court.
• Not showing up for the telephone hearing: it is the chance to be heard and to present evidence.
• Thinking only the claimant can appeal: the employer has the same right.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)

  Departamento del Trabajo

  www.trabajo.pr.gov

• DTRH — Office of Appeals Before the Secretary

  DTRH

  www.trabajo.pr.gov

• DTRH — Unemployment Insurance (the 15-day deadline and form PR-SD 512)

  DTRH

  www.trabajo.pr.gov