Working Woman’s Bill of Rights: what you are owed and where it is written

It is the bill of labor rights for women in Puerto Rico (29 L.P.R.A. §§ 510l-510r). Its purpose, per the law itself, is to serve as a tool to educate women about their rights in the workplace and help eradicate discrimination. It matters to know how it works: Article 7 says the Bill’s content has an informative purpose and does not create substantive rights enforceable before judicial or administrative forums beyond those granted by the protective labor legislation, and that the listed rights are subject to the applicability and exceptions of the corresponding labor statute. In other words: the Bill is the map; the enforceable force lives in each specific law. What the law does create on its own is the duty to post it and, in Article 6, it provides that violations of the obligations it stipulates shall constitute a cause of action for damages.

Every woman employed for wages, salary, day pay or any other form of compensation, in Puerto Rico’s public or private sector, as applicable under the reach and exceptions of the labor statute that recognizes each right.

• Being a woman employed for wages, salary, day pay or any other form of compensation.Verified against the official source
• That the right you claim applies to you under the specific labor statute that recognizes it: the Bill defers to those laws and their exceptions.Verified against the official source

• The notice with the Article 3 rights your employer is required to post: if it is not there, that omission is itself a breach of the law.

1. 1

   Step 1: Look for the notice: your employer must post it

   All offices, government agencies, public corporations, municipalities and private employers with two (2) or more employees must post the Article 3 provisions in a place accessible to all their employees and visitors. The formats are designed by the Office of the Women’s Advocate, which may vary them by public, private or municipal sector, and they will be available on its website. Also, in their dealings with the Department of Labor and Human Resources, private employers must certify full compliance with this law.

2. 2

   Step 2: Count maternity weeks correctly: they are not the same in government

   The law distinguishes. In general: four (4) weeks before childbirth and four (4) after, and at your choice you may take up to one (1) week of prenatal rest and seven (7) of postnatal rest. For pregnant Government employees: four (4) weeks before and eight (8) after, with four (4) additional consecutive weeks for the care and attention of the child; they may opt to take only one (1) prenatal week and extend postpartum weeks to eleven (11), or to fifteen (15) including the four additional care weeks.

3. 3

   Step 3: If you adopt, there is leave too

   When you adopt a preschool-age minor — meaning a child five (5) years old or younger not enrolled in a school — you are entitled to the same maternity leave benefits as an employee who gives birth. If you adopt a child six (6) years or older, you are entitled to maternity leave at full salary for a term of fifteen (15) days.

4. 4

   Step 4: Demand the lactation space and its hour

   You have the right to access a private, safe, hygienic, ventilated area with electricity to breastfeed your baby or express milk, set up for that purpose at your workplace, and the law expressly says that area may not coincide with the area for restrooms. The period is one (1) hour per full workday, which you may split into two (2) periods of thirty (30) minutes or three (3) of twenty (20). If your shift is part-time and exceeds four hours, it is thirty (30) minutes for each four consecutive hours. You may extend the period up to twelve (12) months from your return to work.

5. 5

   Step 5: Know the harassment and retaliation protections

   The Bill recognizes the right to a workplace free of hostile, offensive or intimidating behavior tied to a ground of discrimination; not to receive sexual advances as a condition of being hired or keeping the job; not to tolerate verbal, physical or electronic conduct making explicit or implicit unwanted advances; not to face retaliation for complaining, testifying or participating in an investigation, proceeding or trial over discriminatory practices; to be protected against domestic violence at your workplace; and for the employer to keep the workplace free of sexual harassment and intimidation and to establish an adequate and effective internal procedure to handle those complaints.

6. 6

   Step 6: Claim under the specific law, not only under the Bill

   This is the point to understand before claiming. Article 7 says the Bill’s content has an informative purpose and does not create substantive enforceable rights beyond those granted by the protective labor legislation, and that the listed rights are subject to the reach and exceptions of the corresponding labor statute. So if you are denied the lactation hour, the claim goes under the lactation law; if you were dismissed without just cause, under the severance law; if there is sexual harassment, under the harassment law. The Bill tells you what you are owed and who must post it; each law tells you how to collect it.

The Office of the Women’s Advocate may adopt the regulation implementing this law and designs the formats employers and agencies must post. The Department of Labor and Human Resources, the Office of Human Resources Administration and Transformation (OATRH) and the Office of Management and Budget collaborate in developing that information and may include rights beyond those listed or update the list as legislation is amended. To claim a specific right, the forum is that of the law granting it: the Department of Labor for labor claims, and the Court of First Instance for the damages action Article 6 recognizes.

• Claiming "under the Bill of Rights" alone: its content is informative and defers to the labor statute recognizing each right.
• Using the private-sector maternity weeks if you work for the Government, or the reverse: the numbers differ.
• Accepting the restroom as the lactation area: the law expressly forbids the area coinciding with the restrooms.
• Not knowing the lactation hour can be split into two 30-minute periods or three of 20.
• Letting the extension pass: the lactation period may be extended up to 12 months from your return to work.
• Believing maternity leave does not cover adoption: it does, with different rules by the child’s age.
• Thinking a small employer is outside the posting duty: it applies from two (2) employees on.
• Not reporting retaliation: the Bill expressly recognizes the right not to face it for complaining, testifying or participating in an investigation.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de la Procuradora de las Mujeres (OPM)

  Procuradora de las Mujeres

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov