Ley 52 wage incentives for employers

The Bureau for the Promotion of Employment Opportunities is the DTRH component administering two wage-incentive statutes. Ley Núm. 52 of 1991 creates a special fund whose primary purpose is to channel funds efficiently to help reduce unemployment, aimed principally at Unemployment Insurance beneficiaries and at applicants registered with the Department’s Employment Service; the law also provides for creating a job opportunity and training programme that must include older persons and provide for their training and retraining. Ley Núm. 82 of 3 June 1980 amended Ley Núm. 139 of 1968, on Non-Occupational Disability Benefits, to empower the Secretary of Labor to invest the interest earned annually on the Non-Occupational Disability Benefits Fund’s investments and the programme’s net operating income in creating and strengthening employment, training and retraining programmes in the private sector and the public sector.

DTRH publishes a concrete eligibility test: to take part in the Employment Opportunities Fund’s benefits under these two statutes, all public, private and nonprofit companies authorized to operate in Puerto Rico that are current on Unemployment Insurance, Temporary Non-Occupational Disability Insurance and Chauffeurs’ Social Security contributions, and that have no debts with the Department of Treasury or any other agency; or that, having a pending debt, are complying with a payment plan established by the corresponding official authorities. That last clause matters: a debt does not disqualify you on its own, a debt with no payment plan does.

• Being a public, private or nonprofit company authorized to operate in Puerto Rico.Verified against the official source
• Being current on Unemployment Insurance, Temporary Non-Occupational Disability Insurance and Chauffeurs’ Social Security contributions.Verified against the official source
• Having no debts with the Department of Treasury or any other Government agency; or, having a pending debt, complying with a payment plan established by the corresponding official authorities.Verified against the official source

• The Ley Núm. 52 proposal for the fiscal year, which DTRH publishes on this page alongside the programme presentation.
• The programme forms DTRH publishes: Private Employer Information, Participants Report, Participant Report Change Form, Verification of Hours Worked, Funds Request, Closing Report, Demographic Report, Corporate Resolution, the Ley Núm. 2 of 2018 sworn statement model, and the filing receipts for public entities, private employers, cooperatives or employers with less than a year.
• The Regulation for the Administration and Use of the Employment Opportunities Fund, in the 20 April 2026 version DTRH publishes on this page.

1. 1

   Step 1: Pass the current-account test first

   This is what decides eligibility and there is no way around it. You must be current on Unemployment Insurance, Temporary Non-Occupational Disability Insurance and Chauffeurs’ Social Security contributions, and have no debts with the Department of Treasury or any other Government agency. If you have a pending debt, you still qualify as long as you are complying with a payment plan established by the corresponding official authorities. Before preparing anything, check those three payments and your debts.

2. 2

   Step 2: Understand who the fund is for

   Ley 52’s primary purpose is to channel funds efficiently to help reduce unemployment, and the Department says who the fund is principally aimed at: Unemployment Insurance beneficiaries and applicants registered with the DTRH Employment Service. If you are recruiting, that is the pool the law wants you hiring from. The same law also provides a job opportunity and training programme that must include older persons and provide for their training and retraining.

3. 3

   Step 3: See which activities the ninety percent covers

   Ley 52 provides that ninety percent of the funds must be used to: promote job opportunities in occupations with a future, as defined by the Department of Labor; promote employment in demand in the current market; promote the creation of high-productivity job opportunities; maintain existing jobs in special cases; and modify compensation as a transitional remedial measure in situations that could lead to job losses. That last line is the one that helps when what is at stake is not laying people off.

4. 4

   Step 4: Prepare the fiscal year’s proposal and forms

   On this page DTRH publishes the Ley Núm. 52 Proposal for the fiscal year and a programme presentation, plus the forms: Private Employer Information, Participants Report, Verification of Hours Worked, Funds Request, Closing Report, Demographic Report, Corporate Resolution, the Participant Report Change Form, the Ley Núm. 2 of 2018 sworn statement model, and different filing receipts depending on whether you are a public entity, a private employer, a cooperative or an employer with less than a year. Note which receipt applies to you: it is not the same for everyone.

5. 5

   Step 5: Read the regulation, which was updated

   DTRH publishes the Regulation for the Administration and Use of the Employment Opportunities Fund, and the version it links is dated 20 April 2026. It is the source for the operational detail this guide does not reproduce: how proposals are evaluated, how funds are disbursed and what has to be reported. The Department also offers an Employer Orientation Course on Ley 52 with registration from its own page.

To the Bureau for the Promotion of Employment Opportunities of the Department of Labor and Human Resources, with the fiscal year’s proposal and the forms DTRH publishes on its Employment Promotion page. That same page links the Suppliers Portal, the new ERP System and the direct deposit form to file with Hacienda.

• Preparing the proposal before checking you are current on unemployment, SINOT and chauffeurs’ contributions.
• Writing off eligibility because of a debt, when an active payment plan preserves it.
• Using the wrong filing receipt: there is one for public entities, another for private employers, another for cooperatives and another for employers with less than a year.
• Recruiting outside the pool the fund is aimed at: Unemployment Insurance beneficiaries and applicants registered with the Employment Service.
• Working from an old version of the Regulation, when DTRH publishes the 20 April 2026 one.
• Assuming nonprofits are excluded.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos (DTRH)

  Departamento del Trabajo

  www.trabajo.pr.gov