2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART III - Social Security (§§ 611 — 726f) › Chapter 45 - Social Security for Chauffeurs and Other Employees (§§ 681 — 695) › § 689 - Application for pension benefits; determination by Director; appeal before Secretary; court review

(a) Any person who believes he/she is entitled to the benefits provided by this chapter shall file an application therefor in the manner prescribed by the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources. The right person may have to receive the benefits provided in this chapter, is non-transferrable and shall not be assigned in any way.
(b) Written notice shall be remitted to every claimant of his/her eligibility or ineligibility determination after she/he has applied for the benefits. The Director shall remit every determination by certified mail or personal service, to the last known address of the claimant. If the insured person or his/her beneficiaries, or any person who alleges to be entitled to the benefits provided by this chapter, do not agree with the Director’s determination, they may request a reconsideration thereof, in writing, filed within twenty (20) days following the date of the notice. In the absence of said request for reconsideration, the determination shall [be] deemed final and binding.
(c) The determination in reconsideration that is issued by the Director, and is [contrary] to the claimant party, can be appealed through a motion before the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources within a term of twenty (20) days counted from the date the notice of the Director’s determination on reconsideration was filed in the case. The Secretary shall appoint an examining official to hear the appeal. Said appeal shall be considered within fifteen (15) days after the motion has been filed. The Director shall submit to the Secretary a complete record with the investigation and the results thereof, and the conclusions and recommendations in law.
The examining official shall hold a hearing and shall give full recognition of the inherent rights to due process of law in favor of the appellant. In said hearing, the appellant shall have the right to examine and cross-examine witnesses, attend [the hearing] accompanied by his/her counsel or defense and to present the necessary evidence in his/her behalf.
The examining official shall preside over the hearing and shall submit a draft of the report to the Secretary including a statement of the facts and conclusions in law, as well as his/her recommendations in each case.
The Secretary shall issue the final decision from which a reconsideration can be requested within a term of twenty (20) days after the notice of the order or resolution was filed. The Secretary shall consider said motion. If the Secretary rejects the motion forthwith or does not act within the following fifteen (15) days, the term to request a review shall begin again from the date said denial is served, or when such fifteen (15) days expire, as the case may be. If any determination is made in its consideration, the term to request a review shall begin to count on the date a copy of the notice of the resolution definitely resolving the motion is filed in the record of the case, which resolution shall be issued and filed in the record of the case within ninety (90) days following the filing of the motion.
If the Secretary fails to take any action with regard to the motion accepted for reconsideration within ninety (90) days after having filed the motion to be resolved, he/she shall forfeit jurisdiction thereon, and the term to request judicial review shall begin as of the expiration date of said term of ninety (90) days, unless the court, for just cause, authorizes an extension to the Department of Labor and Human Resources to resolve the motion for a reasonable period of time.
The party that is adversely affected by a final order resolution of the Secretary may file a request for review before the Circuit Court of Appeals with jurisdiction within a term of ten (10) days counted from the date a copy of the notice of the order or final resolution of the Secretary has been filed in the record of the case, or within ten (10) days after the term provided in § 2169 of Title 3 has expired.
(d) Any party that is adversely affected by the resolution of the Circuit Court of Appeals can request a revision thereof by filing a writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court.
History —May 15, 1950, No. 428, p. 1038, § 8; Sept. 15, 1950, No. 32, p. 250, § 1; June 21, 1971, No. 48, p. 136; renumbered as § 11 and amended on June 18, 1980, No. 149, p. 663, § 12; Dec. 30, 1995, No. 262, § 11.