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

Last reviewed: August 15, 2026 — VerifiedDepartamento del Trabajo

In short

In Puerto Rico, vacation and sick leave accrual does not always come from Ley Núm. 180 of 1998. The Labor Department administers forty-two mandatory decrees, one per industry, and publishes the rules for deciding which governs. If your industry’s decree provides benefits superior to Ley 180’s, its rates apply as long as you were hired before 1 August 1995, remain with the same employer and work the minimum of 130 hours Ley 180 requires. If the decree provides benefits inferior to Ley 180, its rates apply regardless of your hiring date. Twenty-three of the forty-two decrees carry the note that they apply to employees hired before 1 August 1995. This guide tells you your industry’s decree number; the accrual rate is not published on that page and has to be requested from the Labor Standards Bureau.

External link

Go to the official site

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www.trabajo.pr.gov

What is it?

Mandatory decrees are industry-by-industry rules that set, among other things, vacation and sick leave accrual rates. They predate Ley 180 of 1998 and remain in force: the Department of Labor and Human Resources administers forty-two of them and publishes the parameters for determining which benefits each worker is entitled to. Each decree is identified by number and by the industry it applies to, and the page also gives the revision and its year — from the 1967 Third Revision for the sugar industry in its agricultural phase to the 2002 Third Revision for the manufacture and assembly of transportation vehicles.

Who can do it?

DTRH publishes two parameters. First: the vacation and sick leave accrual rates set by mandatory decrees providing benefits superior to those required by Ley Núm. 180 will apply, as long as the employee was hired before 1 August 1995, remains working for the same employer, and works the minimum of 130 hours Ley Núm. 180 requires. Second: the rates set in mandatory decrees providing benefits inferior to what Ley Núm. 180 requires will apply regardless of the employee’s hiring date in the industry to which the rule applies.

Requirements

Documents you need

Information pending verification.

Cost

Check the current cost with the official agency.

Step by step

  1. Step 1: First: were you hired before 1 August 1995?

    This is the question that decides almost everything. If you were hired before that date and are still working for the same employer, you may be entitled to the accrual rates of a decree that gives more than Ley 180 — as long as you work the minimum of 130 hours Ley 180 itself requires. If you were hired later, that door is closed; but note that decrees giving less than Ley 180 apply anyway, regardless of when you started.

  2. Step 2: Find your industry in the list with the 1995 note

    These twenty-three decrees carry the note that they apply to employees hired by the employer before 1 August 1995. No. 25, wood and its products, furniture, metal doors and windows, and straw, hair and related products (Eleventh Revision, 1991). No. 27, milk and cattle (Fourth Revision, 1968). No. 28, bread, biscuits, pastry and flour pasta (Twelfth Revision, 1993). No. 37, laundry and dry cleaning (Ninth Revision, 2000). No. 38, transportation (Eighth Revision, 1989). No. 41, hospitals, clinics and related services (Ninth Revision, 1996). No. 42, retail trade (Tenth Revision, 1991). No. 46, hotel industry (Eighth Revision, 2000). No. 47, restaurants, bars and soda fountains (Tenth Revision, 1988). No. 48, theatres and cinemas (Eleventh Revision, 1994). No. 60, banking, insurance and finance (Sixth Revision, 1991). No. 67, stone, clay, glass, cement and related products (Seventh Revision, 1994). No. 68, wholesale trade and warehousing (Fourth Revision, 1989). No. 70, miscellaneous activities (Eighth Revision, 1995). No. 72, alcoholic beverages and industrial alcohol (Fifth Revision, 1991). No. 73, communications (Sixth Revision, 1993). No. 79, educational or instructional services (Third Revision, 1993). No. 86, recreational, sporting or entertainment services (Fourth Revision, 1996). No. 87, milk in its manufacturing phase (Third Revision, 1991). No. 88, personal services (Fourth Revision, 1997). No. 89, commercial services (Third Revision, 1991). No. 90, professional services (Third Revision, 1995). No. 91, manufacture and assembly of transportation vehicles (Third Revision, 2002).

  3. Step 3: The ones without that note

    Seventeen decrees appear in the table without the hiring-date note. No. 32, chemical, petroleum, rubber and related products (Ninth Revision, 1992). No. 33, food and related products (Ninth Revision, 1990). No. 35, needlework manufacturing (Seventh Revision, 1992). No. 44, construction (Seventh Revision, 1994). No. 57, agricultural activities in general (Fifth Revision, 1999). No. 69, tobacco and food crops (Second Revision, 1968). No. 74, surveillance and protection services (Fifth Revision, 1991). No. 75, corsets, brassieres and related products (Fourth Revision, 1994). No. 76, leather, leather goods and related products (Fourth Revision, 1990). No. 77, textiles and textile products (Third Revision, 1989). No. 78, jewellery, cutting and polishing of precious stones, buttons, artificial flowers, and party decorations and gifts (Fifth Revision, 1999). No. 80, plastic products (Fourth Revision, 1996). No. 81, metals, machinery, electrical products, instruments and related products (Fourth Revision, 1992). No. 82, motor vehicle repair, electrical appliances and other services (Sixth Revision, 1997). No. 83, paper, paper products, printing and publishing (Fourth Revision, 1994). No. 84, footwear and related products (Third Edition, 1994). No. 85, tobacco in its manufacturing phase (Second Revision, 1990).

  4. Step 4: Two decrees that set no rates

    DTRH itself flags two with a different warning: No. 50, sugar industry in its agricultural phase (Third Revision, 1967), and No. 58, coffee industry in its agricultural phase (Fourth Revision, 1967), establish no vacation and sick leave accrual rates. If you work in either of those two, finding “your” decree will not answer the question.

  5. Step 5: Ask the Labor Standards Bureau for the rate

    This is where this guide stops on purpose. The DTRH page publishes which decree applies to each industry, but does not publish how many days each accrues; of the forty-two, only two are linked as documents — No. 33 and No. 35. With the decree number in hand, write to normas@trabajo.pr.gov or call your Labor Standards Bureau Area Office and ask for that decree’s vacation and sick leave accrual rates. If it turns out you have been accruing less than you are owed, that is a vacation and sick leave claim, and it has its own route.

Where to do it

There is no application to file: this is an enquiry. You ask the Labor Standards Bureau, by email to normas@trabajo.pr.gov or at the Area Office covering your municipality — San Juan, Arecibo, Mayagüez, Ponce, Caguas or Humacao. If the answer reveals a difference in your favour, the claim is brought before that same Bureau or before the Mediation and Adjudication Office.

How long it takes

Check the current processing time with the official agency.

What to do if something goes wrong

If your industry does not appear on the list, No. 70 for miscellaneous activities may apply, but that is for the Bureau to determine, not this guide. If you changed employers after 1 August 1995, the requirement of remaining with the same employer is no longer met, even if you have decades in the same industry. If you work fewer than 130 hours a month, Ley 180 itself sets that minimum and DTRH repeats it as a condition. This guide does not say how many days any decree accrues: DTRH does not publish the rates on this page and PRFácil will not estimate them, because that number is precisely the one a worker would use to decide whether they are owed money. Nor does it say whether your collective agreement or contract gives you more: your agreement or contract says that, and what they give above this is not taken away by any decree.

Common mistakes

  • Assuming Ley 180 is always the ceiling: if you were hired before 1 August 1995 and your industry’s decree gives more, you may be owed more.
  • Assuming Ley 180 is always the floor: decrees with inferior benefits apply regardless of your hiring date.
  • Counting seniority in the industry instead of with the same employer: the condition is remaining with the same employer.
  • Forgetting the 130-hour minimum Ley 180 requires.
  • Looking for the accrual rate on the decrees page: it is not there, only the number and the industry.
  • Looking for “your” decree if you are in the agricultural phase of sugar or coffee: No. 50 and No. 58 set no rates.

Frequently asked questions

Why does 1 August 1995 matter?

Because the accrual rates of a mandatory decree providing benefits superior to Ley Núm. 180 apply as long as the employee was hired before that date and remains working for the same employer, in addition to working the minimum of 130 hours Ley 180 requires.

What if the decree gives less than the law?

They apply anyway. DTRH provides that rates set in mandatory decrees with benefits inferior to what Ley Núm. 180 requires apply regardless of the employee’s hiring date in the industry to which the rule applies.

How many vacation days does my decree accrue?

DTRH’s mandatory decrees page does not publish the rates; only the decree number, the industry, the revision and the year. Of the forty-two decrees, only No. 33 and No. 35 are linked as documents. With the number in hand, ask the Labor Standards Bureau for the rate at normas@trabajo.pr.gov or at your Area Office.

How many decrees are there?

DTRH publishes forty-two mandatory decrees administered by the Department. Twenty-three carry the note that they apply to employees hired before 1 August 1995, and two — No. 50 and No. 58 — establish no vacation or sick leave accrual rates.

Official sources

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

Last verified

August 15, 2026

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