The Bill of Rights: what Puerto Rico’s Constitution guarantees you

The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico establishes how the Government is organized, defines the responsibilities of each of the three branches, and includes the Bill of Rights, the part of the constitutional text listing the rights everyone in Puerto Rico holds against the State or Government; that is, rights protecting them from acts of government institutions that could be arbitrary or abusive. Being constitutional rights, no statute, procedure or court action may be contrary to them. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico’s main function is to interpret the Constitution and the laws, and to analyse the constitutional validity of statutes passed by the Legislative Assembly.

The Bill of Rights covers everyone in Puerto Rico as against the State. Beyond the Constitution, the Legislature has passed statutes protecting populations in greater vulnerability, and the Judiciary names three statutory bills of rights: Ley 338-1998, the Children’s Bill of Rights, recognizing protection from abuse and neglect, adequate medical care for physical, mental and emotional health, education fostering their personality and abilities, leisure hours and participation in social, cultural and extracurricular activities, and being heard and duly recognized in court proceedings; Ley 121-2019, for older adults, recognizing physical and social protection from abuse, exploitation and isolation, preferential, dignified and appropriate treatment, comprehensive quality medical care, access to recreational, sporting and cultural programmes, and benefits from social assistance and decent housing programmes; and Ley 238-2004, the Bill of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, recognizing access to recreational, sporting, educational and cultural programmes, protection from neglect, abuse, prejudice or disregard, medical care to protect their health and wellbeing, confidentiality of the information in their medical records, and employment free of discrimination.

• The Constitution is the supreme law and prevails over Puerto Rico’s other statutes: no law may be contrary to it.Verified against the official source
• Being constitutional rights, no statute, procedure or court action may be contrary to the rights in the Bill of Rights.Verified against the official source
• On labour, the ordinary working day shall not exceed eight hours, and work beyond that daily limit is only permitted with extraordinary compensation that shall never be less than one and a half times the ordinary wage rate, as provided by law.Verified against the official source

• This guide is an orientation on rights, not a procedure: the Judiciary’s page publishes no document list.

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   Step 1: What the Bill of Rights is, and why it governs

   The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico establishes how the Government is organized, defines the responsibilities of the three branches and includes the Bill of Rights: the part listing the rights everyone holds against the State, that is, those protecting people from arbitrary or abusive government action. Being constitutional, no statute, procedure or court action may be contrary to them.

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   Step 2: Dignity, equality and prohibited discrimination

   The Bill of Rights opens with the dignity and equality of the human being and the prohibition of discrimination. Alongside it sit suffrage or the electoral franchise, freedom of worship, freedom of speech and the press together with peaceful assembly and petition for redress of grievances, freedom of association, and protection against attacks on honour, reputation and private life.

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   Step 3: Searches, seizures and communications

   The Bill of Rights includes a section on searches and seizures, interception of telephone communications, and warrants. It is the section that governs when the State wants to enter, search, seize property or listen to communications.

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   Step 4: Life, liberty and property

   One section gathers the right to life, liberty and the enjoyment of property; establishes that the death penalty shall not exist; and carries due process, equal protection of the laws, the prohibition on impairing contracts, and property exempt from attachment. Separately, the Bill guarantees just compensation when private property is taken, which is the basis of eminent-domain proceedings.

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   Step 5: The guarantees in a criminal proceeding

   A single section of the Bill gathers the criminal-process guarantees: jury trial, protection against self-incrimination, the bar on double jeopardy for the same offence, bail, and matters of imprisonment. Beside it sit habeas corpus and the subordination of military authority, and the prohibition of slavery, involuntary servitude, cruel and unusual punishment, ex post facto laws, and bills of attainder. Each of those guarantees is developed in this site’s criminal-process, jury and bail guides.

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   Step 6: Work: eight hours, and overtime at one and a half

   The employees’ rights section states, verbatim, that every worker is recognized the right to freely choose their occupation and to resign from it, to receive equal pay for equal work, to a reasonable minimum wage, to protection against risks to their health or personal integrity at work, and to an ordinary working day not exceeding eight hours; and that work beyond that daily limit is only permitted with extraordinary compensation that shall never be less than one and a half times the ordinary wage rate, as provided by law. Protection against risks places on the employer the responsibility of safeguarding their employees’ safety.

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   Step 7: Organizing, bargaining, striking and picketing

   The Constitution recognizes for workers of private enterprises, businesses and employers, and of government agencies or instrumentalities operating as private enterprises or businesses, the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers through representatives of their own free choosing. And, to secure that right, it recognizes for them, in their direct relations with their own employers, the right to strike, to picket and to carry out other lawful concerted activities. The section itself adds that nothing in it shall impair the Legislative Assembly’s power to enact laws for cases of grave emergency when public health or safety, or essential public services, are clearly in danger.

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   Step 8: The three bills of rights that live in statutes, not the Constitution

   The Legislature has passed statutes protecting more vulnerable populations. Ley 338-1998, the Children’s Bill of Rights, recognizes protection from abuse and neglect, adequate medical care, education fostering the development of their personality and physical and mental abilities, leisure hours and participation in social, cultural and extracurricular activities, and being heard and duly recognized in court proceedings. Ley 121-2019 recognizes for older adults physical and social protection from abuse, exploitation and isolation, preferential, dignified and appropriate treatment, comprehensive quality medical care, access to recreational, sporting and cultural programmes, and social assistance and decent housing benefits. Ley 238-2004, the Bill of Rights of Persons with Disabilities, recognizes access to recreational, sporting, educational and cultural programmes, protection from neglect, abuse, prejudice or disregard, medical care, confidentiality of their medical records, and employment free of discrimination.

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   Step 9: Who interprets all of this

   The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico’s main function is to interpret the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth, and to analyse the constitutional validity of statutes passed by the Legislative Assembly, as well as official acts of the other branches. The Bill of Rights also includes a section on the liberal construction of human rights and the powers of the legislative assembly.

Bill of Rights rights are not applied for at an office: they are invoked in whatever proceeding applies. If you are looking to claim a specific one, there is almost always a procedure behind it — a complaint, a lawsuit or a petition — and this site carries guides for those procedures.

• Looking in the Constitution for the rights of minors, older adults or people with disabilities: those bills of rights are in statutes — 338-1998, 121-2019 and 238-2004 — not in the constitutional text.
• Believing the eight-hour limit forbids working longer: it allows working beyond it, but with extraordinary compensation never less than one and a half times the ordinary wage.
• Thinking the right to strike is unlimited: the section itself reserves to the Legislative Assembly the power to enact laws for grave emergencies when public health or safety, or essential public services, are clearly in danger.
• Assuming a constitutional right is claimed at an office: it is invoked within a proceeding, and there is almost always a concrete procedure behind it.
• Forgetting that the Constitution establishes that the death penalty shall not exist in Puerto Rico.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr

• Judiciary — Court system

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr