In short
Act 90-2020 defines workplace harassment as malicious, unwanted, repetitive and abusive conduct; arbitrary, unreasonable and/or capricious; verbal, written and/or physical; carried out repeatedly by the employer, its agents, supervisors or employees, foreign to the company’s legitimate interests, that attacks the employee’s constitutional rights — the inviolability of their dignity, protection against abusive attacks on their honor, reputation and private or family life, and protection against risks to their health or personal integrity at work — and that creates an intimidating, humiliating, hostile or offensive work environment, unfit for a reasonable person to perform their duties normally. Every employer that engages in, encourages or allows workplace harassment is civilly liable to the affected persons, and civil liability is for a sum equal to double the amount of the damages the act caused. The law applies to employees regardless of the nature, category, rank or classification of the job or the duration of the contract, and its definition of employer covers both the private sector and the Government of Puerto Rico in its three branches, public corporations and municipalities. The term to file the cause of action is one (1) year from the moment the employee felt subjected to the alleged harassment.
What is it?
This is the law that named something that previously had to be forced into other legal categories. What is useful about its text is that it does not stop at the definition: Article 8 lists nine behaviors considered workplace harassment and seven that are not. And it establishes that the determination depends on the totality of the circumstances and the facts proven in each case — meaning neither list is automatic. Note one word in the definition: repetitive. The law describes reiterated conduct, not a single incident.
Who can do it?
It applies to employees regardless of the nature of the job, its category, rank or classification, or the duration of the employment contract. The law defines employee as every person who renders services to an employer and receives compensation for it, and adds that for purposes of the protection it confers, the term shall be interpreted as broadly as possible. Employer includes every natural or juridical person, the Government of Puerto Rico — Executive, Legislative and Judicial — its instrumentalities and public corporations, municipal governments, private organizations and companies for profit or not, labor organizations, groups or associations in which employees participate, and employment agencies.
Requirements
- That the conduct be reiterated: the law defines workplace harassment as repetitive conduct carried out repeatedly, not as an isolated incident.Verified against the official source
- That it be foreign to the legitimate interests of the employer’s business.Verified against the official source
- Having reported the situation following the procedure and protocol adopted by your employer, which is the first step Article 10 orders.Verified against the official source
- Having gone to the Judicial Branch’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Bureau if internal efforts were unsuccessful, and being able to prove that mechanism was exhausted.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Compare against the list of what does count
Article 8 lists, without limitation: injurious, defamatory or harmful expressions about the person using foul language; hostile and humiliating comments of professional disqualification made in front of coworkers; unjustified threats of dismissal made in front of coworkers; multiple disciplinary complaints whose recklessness is shown by the outcome of the respective proceedings; humiliating disqualification of work proposals or opinions; public comments or mockery about physical appearance, dress, or protective hairstyles and hair textures regularly associated with particular racial and national-origin identities; public allusion to facts of the employee’s personal and family privacy; imposing duties patently foreign to the job’s obligations, openly disproportionate demands, and abruptly changing the workplace or contracted work with no objective business basis; and the employer’s or other employees’ refusal to provide materials and information pertinent and indispensable to doing your job.
Step 2: And against the list of what does not
The same law clarifies, also without being exhaustive, that the following do not constitute workplace harassment: acts aimed at exercising the disciplinary authority supervisors lawfully have over subordinates; demands for confidentiality in the employer’s services or for the employee’s loyalty; issuing rules or memoranda to direct operations, maximize efficiency and evaluate performance; requesting additional collaboration duties when needed for service continuity or to solve difficult situations; administrative actions aimed at ending an employment contract with just cause or for a fixed period; and the employer’s affirmative actions to enforce human resources rules, contract clauses and obligations imposed by law. Knowing this beforehand saves you a lost claim.
Step 3: Start with your employer’s internal protocol
Article 10 is explicit: every person claiming to be a victim of workplace harassment must report it following the procedure and protocol adopted by their employer. The law required DTRH, OATRH, the Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch to adopt uniform guides for those protocols, and gave each employer 180 days from publication of the guides to adopt and publicize them. In addition, every employer, public or private, must post the content and scope of this law in a place visible to all employees and orient them about the measures and processes adopted.
Step 4: If that does not resolve it, go to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Bureau
If efforts under the employer’s protocol are unsuccessful, the affected employee shall go to the Judicial Branch’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Bureau. If, after being oriented, the parties do not accept mediation, or the mediator does not recommend it, then one may go to the competent court presenting proof that the alternative mechanism was exhausted and file the civil action. That evidence requirement is why skipping this step is a bad idea.
Step 5: Choose the summary procedure if it suits you
In any judicial suit filed for violation of this law, the aggrieved person may choose to process the cause of action through the summary procedure established by Act 2-1961, or through the ordinary procedure of the 2009 Rules of Civil Procedure. It is a strategic decision worth consulting with legal representation.
Step 6: Count the year from when you felt harassed
Every person with a cause of action under this law has a term of one (1) year to file it, from the moment the employee felt subjected to the alleged workplace harassment. Note that the starting point is not the date of a letter or of a dismissal: it is the moment you felt subjected to the conduct.
Where to do it
The order the law describes is: first your employer’s internal protocol; then the Judicial Branch’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Bureau; and then the competent court, with evidence you exhausted the alternative mechanism. The Department of Labor and Human Resources and the Office of Human Resources Administration and Transformation are the ones that issue the uniform guides and this law’s regulation. If beyond the harassment there was retaliation for reporting it, Article 7 expressly refers to Act 115-1991, which has its own term and its own remedy.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
Three provisions that summaries miss and that change who answers. First: the employer is always liable for supervisory personnel’s or other employees’ actions constituting workplace harassment if the employer, its agents or supervisors knew or should have known, unless the employer shows it took immediate and appropriate corrective action and the employee unreasonably failed to use the preventive or corrective measures provided. That defense does not excuse acts committed by the employer itself, and where it does apply, the immunity the employer gains does not shelter the person who committed the harassment in their personal capacity. Second: when harassment occurs between employees of different employers sharing a common workplace — temp agencies, security, maintenance, contractors — all employers involved must investigate, whether or not they are the complainant’s direct employer. And the employer also answers for acts by non-employees if it knew or should have known and did not act. Third, and strongest: Article 6 denies an employer that engages in workplace harassment the employer immunity of the Workmen’s Accident Compensation System Act, because workplace harassment is a culpable action committed with intent to injure. The employee may still receive the Fund’s services, and once the health condition is determined to stem from a pattern of workplace harassment, the CFSE may recover the treatment costs from the employer. What we did not read and therefore do not describe: the uniform guides DTRH and OATRH were to adopt, and your employer’s particular protocol, which is precisely the document the law tells you to use first. Ask human resources for it in writing.
Common mistakes
- Claiming over an isolated incident: the law defines repetitive and reiterated conduct.
- Confusing legitimate discipline with harassment: exercising disciplinary authority is on the list of what does not count.
- Going straight to court without exhausting the internal protocol and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Bureau.
- Not requesting in writing your employer’s workplace harassment protocol, which the law requires it to have and publicize.
- Counting the year from the dismissal instead of from the moment you felt subjected to the harassment.
- Believing only the supervisor answers: the employer answers if it knew or should have known.
- Not claiming double damages, which is what the law sets as civil liability.
Frequently asked questions
What is workplace harassment under the law?
Malicious, unwanted, repetitive and abusive conduct; arbitrary, unreasonable and/or capricious; verbal, written and/or physical; carried out repeatedly by the employer, its agents, supervisors or employees, foreign to the company’s legitimate interests, that attacks your constitutional rights and creates an intimidating, humiliating, hostile or offensive work environment, unfit for a reasonable person to perform their duties normally.
How much can I claim?
Every person responsible for workplace harassment incurs civil liability for a sum equal to double the amount of the damages the act caused the employee, apart from any other liability that could be charged criminally.
Do I have to complain at work first?
Yes. Article 10 provides that the person must report it following the procedure and protocol adopted by their employer. If that is unsuccessful, they shall go to the Judicial Branch’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Bureau, and only afterward may file the civil action presenting evidence that the mechanism was exhausted.
Can they retaliate against me for reporting?
The law prohibits it. Anyone who reports acts of workplace harassment is protected under Act 115-1991. No employer may dismiss, threaten or discriminate against an employee for offering or attempting to offer, verbally or in writing, testimony, statements or information before a union, a human resources office or employer office, or a legislative, administrative or judicial forum in Puerto Rico, when they are not defamatory and do not disclose privileged information.
Does workplace harassment go through the State Insurance Fund?
Article 6 denies an employer that engages in workplace harassment the employer immunity of the Workmen’s Accident Compensation System Act, because harassment is a culpable action committed with intent to injure. The employee may still receive the Fund’s services, and once the health condition is determined to stem from a pattern of workplace harassment, the Fund Corporation may recover the treatment costs from the employer.
Official sources
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
- Alternative dispute resolution — Judicial Branch
Rama Judicial
poderjudicial.pr
Last verified
August 23, 2026
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