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

This is the law that gives the member rights inside their union: how the leadership is elected, how dues are raised, what papers must be handed to you and what you may inspect in the accounts. It is not to be confused with labor-management arbitration, which is a different relationship and a different forum. What makes it usable is that nearly everything it declares comes with a date or a figure: the 20 August financial report, the six-year document retention, the $2,000 above which each expense must be itemized, and above all the thirty days to file the complaint.

Every accredited employee member of a labor organization, as this law defines that term. The definition of "labor organization" or "workers’ organization" is broad — an organization of any kind representing or purporting to represent employees, or a grouping in which employees take part, existing in whole or in part to deal with an employer regarding the protection of employees’ rights or the promotion of their wellbeing, or regarding grievances, job classifications, working hours and employment conditions — but it carries an express limit to check before invoking the law: the covered organizations are those **not** covered by the federal Landrum-Griffin Act. The law expressly includes union organizations operating under Act 45-1998 and Act 130-1945, the "bona fide" organizations and associations of public employees operating under Act 134-1960 and Act 139-1961, and those organizations holding a representative role for public employees by virtue of some special law.

• Being an accredited employee member of a labor organization covered by this law, that is, one not covered by the federal Landrum-Griffin Act.Verified against the official source
• For the complaint: filing it within thirty (30) days of the violation occurring, or of your learning about it.Verified against the official source

• A copy of the organization’s constitution and bylaws, and of the collective bargaining agreements, letters or contractual agreements negotiated with the employer. Right 7 gives them to you, and adds that upon request you shall also receive a copy of any special agreement or stipulation entered into in a negotiation with the employer other than the collective bargaining agreement.
• The annual financial report: signed by the treasurer, with a report certified by a Certified Public Accountant on the organization’s financial condition from the start to the end of the fiscal year, and with an annexed, separate listing of every expense, disbursement or investment exceeding $2,000.00.

1. 1

   Step 1: Start with the clock: thirty days

   Before anything else, the date. Article 4 says employees’ complaints for violation of this law shall be filed within thirty (30) days of the violation of any of the rights set out in this Act occurring, or of the employee learning of the violation. Note the second half, which saves cases: the term also runs from when you find out, not only from when it happens. It is a short deadline for a matter usually discovered late — dues that rose, an expense that does not add up, an assembly not properly convened — so the date you found out is worth writing down the same day.

2. 2

   Step 2: Check which of the two forums is yours

   Filing in the wrong place burns the thirty days, so this step comes before writing anything. Article 4 confers jurisdiction to handle and resolve complaints or violations of this bill on two bodies. On the Labor Relations Board, in cases of public-sector employees and labor organizations under its jurisdiction per Act 130-1945. And on the Public Service Appeals Commission, in cases of employees and labor organizations under its jurisdiction per Act 45-1998, as well as of the labor organizations or so-called "bona fide" associations created under Act 134-1960 and Act 139-1961, and of those other labor organizations not covered by Act 130-1945. The law adds how they are processed: per the procedures established to air and resolve unfair labor practices by workers’ organizations set out in the laws governing those quasi-judicial bodies.

3. 3

   Step 3: The vote: electing, nominating and running

   The first three rights are participatory and precisely written. Number 1: electing by direct, individual and secret ballot the labor organization’s directors at every level of leadership the pertinent constitution and/or bylaws make subject to election by the affiliated membership. Those three words — direct, individual and secret — are what you cite when a vote is taken by show of hands or through delegates when it should not have been. Number 2: nominating candidates to leadership offices and positions, and running for any elective office of the organization if the regulatory requirements demanded by law are met. And number 3: effective participation in the organization’s affairs and activities and the free expression of ideas, arguments and opinions on any matter concerning the labor organization.

4. 4

   Step 4: Dues are not raised without consulting you

   Right 4 is the most used, and worth quoting whole because it covers more than people think. It is the right to be consulted on the setting, raising or modification of the organization’s dues, and also on the deduction of contributions, donations and/or special or extraordinary assessments, whether for fixed or provisional terms. And it says how that consultation must happen: by direct, individual and secret ballot in assemblies and/or a special referendum convened for those purposes, and duly supervised by the Department of Labor. Three elements you can verify one by one: that there was an assembly or referendum convened for that, that the vote was direct, individual and secret, and that the Department of Labor supervised it.

5. 5

   Step 5: Due process in internal discipline, and protection if you complain

   Right 5 requires that the organization’s disciplinary proceedings comply with due process of law, and the law lists what that includes, among other rights: notice of specific charges in writing, the opportunity to defend oneself personally or through a representative, and the opportunity to present witnesses or defense documents at a hearing. Right 6 protects what comes after complaining, and is one of the longest in the bill: being exempt from or protected against sanctions, penalties or acts of undue pressure, coercion, persecution, retaliation or disciplinary measures for bringing or filing any complaint, grievance or legal proceeding against the labor organization or any of its representatives, officers or employees, before any administrative, judicial or legislative forum, over matters, conduct or activities liable to be prosecuted, aired or investigated because they are believed in good faith to have been carried out contrary to the law, rules or regulations applicable to the organization. The same protection covers appearing as a witness in any of those forums when duly summoned. And right 10 covers identity: claiming that the secrecy and confidentiality be maintained and protected of the identity of any affiliated member who provides information leading or potentially leading to a legal, administrative or judicial investigation for violations of this law, for the duration of the investigation.

6. 6

   Step 6: The 20 August financial report

   Right 8 has a date, a signature and a level of detail, which is why it is the most checkable in the bill. It is the right to receive annually, on or before 20 August each year, a financial report of the organization’s economic and financial activities and operations, signed by the treasurer, including a report certified by a Certified Public Accountant on the organization’s financial condition from the start to the end of the fiscal year, which begins 1 July and ends 30 June each year. And it continues with what almost nobody knows they can demand: those reports must contain, annexed and separately, a listing of every expense, disbursement or investment exceeding $2,000.00, describing the purpose or nature of the expense, disbursement or investment, and the salary, per diems, travel allowances or special compensation received by the organization’s officers, employees and advisors or consultants.

7. 7

   Step 7: Examining the books, and the six-year retention

   Right 9 goes beyond the report: it is the right to examine the books, accounts, drafts, checks, documents and reports pertinent to the organization’s economic and financial operation, at a reasonable time and place, upon notice and agreement on the time and place. It also includes the right to obtain a copy of any document of interest, upon payment of a modest and reasonable amount covering the reproduction cost. And it closes with the fact that makes looking back possible: the labor organization shall keep all economic and financial documents of its operations for a minimum term of six (6) years. Article 7 adds a faculty that runs separately: nothing prevents the Board or the Commission from requiring the labor organization or its officers to provide economic or financial condition reports when they deem it necessary to carry out this law’s functions.

8. 8

   Step 8: What can happen to the organization

   Article 5 sets the remedies and its condition must be read carefully. In addition to any other remedy provided in the Board’s or the Commission’s organic laws for unfair labor practice cases — including decertification of the labor organization — if it is found as a proven and substantiated fact that the organization has engaged in a sustained pattern of violations of this Bill of Rights, the Board or the Commission, as applicable, may impose fines of $500.00 to $5,000.00 for each violation incurred. Note the condition: the fine hangs on proving a sustained pattern, not an isolated violation. And note the exit the law leaves open in the same sentence: all of this is without prejudice to any employee’s right to claim judicially for damages suffered as a consequence of the violation of their right recognized by this law, under the civil legal order.

Before one of two bodies, depending on which your organization falls under, and this must be checked before filing because the term is thirty days. The Labor Relations Board handles cases of public-sector employees and labor organizations under its jurisdiction per Act 130-1945. The Public Service Appeals Commission handles cases under its jurisdiction per Act 45-1998, those of the "bona fide" organizations and associations created under Act 134-1960 and Act 139-1961, and those of other labor organizations not covered by Act 130-1945. The Department of Labor appears in another role in this law: it is who supervises the assemblies and referendums on dues and assessments under right 4, and whom Article 6 charged with publishing the public notice to labor organizations about their duty to report their information. What we do not publish: addresses, phone numbers or forms of the Board or the Commission, because Act 333-2004 does not name them and defers to the procedures of their own organic laws, which we did not read.

• Letting the thirty days pass: the term runs from the violation or from when you find out, and it is short.
• Filing before the wrong body: the Board and the Commission have different jurisdictions depending on the law governing your organization.
• Invoking this law in an organization covered by the federal Landrum-Griffin Act, which the definition excludes.
• Accepting a show-of-hands vote to elect leadership: right 1 says direct, individual and secret.
• Accepting a dues increase or an assessment without an assembly or referendum supervised by the Department of Labor.
• Accepting an internal sanction without written notice of specific charges or a hearing.
• Not requesting the 20 August financial report, or the annex of expenses over $2,000.
• Believing you can only look at the current year: the organization keeps the documents for a minimum of six years.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)

  Departamento del Trabajo

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Department of Labor and Human Resources

  DTRH

  www.trabajo.pr.gov