Domestic work: written contract, overtime and vacation

This is the law that gave domestic work formal employment conditions. It serves both the worker and the household: for the employee it is their list of rights; for the family hiring it is the list of obligations the law imposes, with fines for non-compliance. The law distinguishes two situations and treats them differently: the employee who comes and goes, and the one who sleeps at the employer’s home, who gets their own chapter with additional protections.

Domestic service employees. The law expressly excludes three groups: persons performing domestic service functions as independent contractors; members of religious orders whose ecclesiastical authorities have assigned them those functions as part of their ecclesial role; and members of religious, educational, cultural, recreational, social or community institutions, for profit or not, who as part of their work plan perform charitable labor. To accrue vacation and sick leave there is an additional threshold: working full time for the same employer with whom one works one hundred fifteen (115) hours or more a month.

• A written domestic employment contract, with the ten items the law lists, signed in two copies.Verified against the official source
• To accrue vacation and sick leave: working full time for the same employer with whom one works 115 hours or more a month.Verified against the official source
• Not falling under one of the three exclusions: independent contractor, member of a religious order in an ecclesial role, or member of an institution performing charitable labor as part of its work plan.Verified against the official source

• Your copy of the contract: the employer keeps the original and gives you a copy. It is the document that fixes schedule, pay, type of work and probationary period.
• The pay stubs or receipts. The law sets their minimum content: employer’s and employee’s full names, the employee’s mailing address, total regular hours worked, gross wages, number of overtime hours, pay for those overtime hours, a breakdown of permitted deductions and net wages.

1. 1

   Step 1: Demand the written contract

   The law lists what it must say: the employee’s full name, their address, the employer’s full name, the address or addresses of the habitual workplace or workplaces, the start date and — if for a fixed period — its duration, the type of work to be done, the pay with its calculation method and payment frequency, the normal working hours specifying the start and end of the workday, the provision of meals and lodging where applicable, and the probationary period if any. The employer issues and signs two copies: keeping the original and giving you a copy.

2. 2

   Step 2: If there is no contract, the law gives you two advantages

   The first is a presumption: absent a written contract, the contract is presumed to be for an indefinite term and full time when its duration extends beyond four (4) weeks, unless proven otherwise. The second is evidentiary, and it is this law’s strongest: if in any legal proceeding an employer does not produce a written employment contract, the burden of proving or refuting the existence of an employment condition falls on them. The same rule repeats for payroll: if the employer does not produce the payroll evidence, they bear the burden of proving or refuting what is alleged against them.

3. 3

   Step 3: Count the hours and the meal period

   The workday starts when you begin the first task or are first called that day, and ends when you finish the last task or when you are no longer available to perform tasks at the employer’s request. The ordinary day is no more than eight (8) hours, and forty (40) hours make the week. Overtime is any hours beyond eight in any twenty-four consecutive hour period, beyond forty in the week, worked during the meal period, and worked on your rest day or days. The meal period must begin after the third consecutive hour but before the sixth begins, and at no time may you be required to work more than five (5) consecutive hours without a break to eat. That period is ordinarily one (1) hour; by mutual convenience and written stipulation of both a shorter one may be set, never less than twenty (20) minutes.

4. 4

   Step 4: Overtime is time and a half, and cannot be waived

   The employer must pay for each overtime hour a wage rate at least equal to one and a half (1½) times the rate agreed for regular hours. And the law closes the door: any clause or stipulation by which the employee agrees to waive the additional overtime compensation is void. You are also entitled to at least one (1) rest day per week for every six (6) days worked, and if your weekly schedule exceeds forty hours, the excess is compensated as overtime.

5. 5

   Step 5: Accrue vacation and sick leave

   With one hundred fifteen (115) hours or more a month for the same employer, you accrue vacation at one and a quarter (1¼) days per month up to a maximum of fifteen (15) days a year, and sick leave at one (1) day per month up to a maximum of twelve (12) days a year. Vacation cannot be demanded until accrued over a calendar year, is taken consecutively unless there is a written agreement to split it — and even then with at least five (5) consecutive working days in the year — and there is a penalty if it is not granted: an employer who does not grant vacation after the fifteen-day maximum accrues must grant the total accrued and pay you twice (2×) the corresponding wage for the period in excess of that maximum.

6. 6

   Step 6: Uniforms and tools are paid by the employer

   Every employer requiring uniforms must bear the full cost of acquiring them and may not deduct it from wages. And the employer must provide the materials and tools to do the tasks, including any necessary personal protective equipment — gloves, safety glasses, rubber boots — to safeguard your health and integrity. It may be agreed that you make the purchase, with the money handed to you, and that time counts as worked. The law closes it: under no circumstance may the employee be required to contribute, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, to uniform or tool costs.

7. 7

   Step 7: If you sleep at the house, you have your own chapter

   The employer must provide you a separate, private room, conveniently furnished and ventilated, available to occupy full time; access to sanitary facilities, shared or private, in good condition; sufficient lighting and, as needed, heating and a fan or air conditioning according to the home’s prevailing conditions; and meals of good quality and sufficient quantity, adapted where applicable and reasonably to your cultural and religious needs. And on rest: a nightly rest of nine (9) consecutive hours minimum, interruptible only for grave or urgent causes that admit no delay, with the interrupted hours paid at double the regular wage plus compensatory rest; twelve (12) free hours per 24-hour period; and twenty-four (24) consecutive hours of rest for every six (6) days worked. Two more rights the law names: you are not obliged to remain in the home or to accompany household members during daily or weekly rest periods or during your annual vacation; and you have the right to keep possession of your own travel and identity documents.

8. 8

   Step 8: Claim at the Labor Standards Bureau

   Every employee who suffers a grievance under this law may file a claim with the Department of Labor and Human Resources, and claims about wages, vacation, working hours and employment conditions are handled by the Labor Standards Bureau. Those claims are without prejudice to any other you are entitled to before the General Court of Justice or another agency. A judicial claim may be brought by one or several employees on their own behalf and on behalf of others in similar circumstances. And there is a prescription rule different from other labour statutes: the rights this law grants prescribe upon the passage of three (3) years counted from when the employee ceased employment with the employer, and that term is interrupted and starts running again upon notice of the wage debt to the employer, judicially or extrajudicially, and upon any act of acknowledgment of the debt by the employer.

The Department of Labor and Human Resources receives the claims, and the Labor Standards Bureau handles those about wages, vacation, hours and employment conditions. The law also charges the Secretary with adopting the regulation, preparing model forms, overseeing compliance and running an orientation campaign. Once a claim has been filed judicially, it may be settled between the parties with the intervention of the Secretary or of any Department attorney they designate, and with the Court’s approval; the Secretary determines administratively which settlements require their personal intervention.

• Working without a written contract without knowing its absence shifts the burden of proof to the employer.
• Accepting a waiver of overtime: any waiver clause is void.
• Not counting as overtime the hours worked during the meal period or on the rest day.
• Working more than five consecutive hours with no break to eat.
• Paying or charging for uniforms and tools, which are entirely the employer’s cost.
• Accepting deductions for fines, penalties or damages, which the law expressly prohibits.
• If you live in: handing over your travel and identity documents, which you have the right to keep.
• Counting the three-year prescription from the violation rather than from when you ceased employment.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)

  Departamento del Trabajo

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Labor Standards Bureau — DTRH

  DTRH

  www.trabajo.pr.gov