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) › § 681 - Definitions

The following terms, as used in this chapter, shall have the meaning expressed herein:
(a) Chauffeur.— Every natural person authorized, pursuant to law, to drive motor vehicles under a driver’s, chauffeur’s, heavy motor vehicle or motorcycle operator’s license, who usually and regularly, and not in a casual or sporadic manner, drives a motor vehicle as an inherent part of his work, for compensation, salary, wages, pay, or any other type of compensation, whether it be obtained on the basis of a percentage, or a combination of wages and other facilities or services; or the person who operates a rented vehicle and drives said vehicle upon public highways, roads or private properties as part of his/her occupation or as a means of livelihood.
The following shall also be included in this definition:
(1) A person who owns a motor vehicle engaged by authority of law in the transportation of persons, animals or things and who operates it to render said public service.
(2) A person employed by another, by a private enterprise, or by the municipal or State Government, its instrumentalities, public corporations or authorities, to work in any occupation in which said employer requires or allows him to operate a motor vehicle, in a usual and regular way, and not in a casual and sporadic manner, as an inherent part of this work, being authorized to do so by a driver’s, chauffeur’s or heavy motor vehicle operator’s license.
(3) The following shall be excluded from the application of this chapter:
(A) Administrators, executives and professionals, as such terms are defined by the Minimum Wage Board of Puerto Rico.
(B) Employees of the federal government.
(C) Any insured who has received a bonus, as provided by § 686a of this title.
(b) Employer.— Every natural or juridical person who owns, possesses, exploits, leases, or administers one or more motor vehicles, or employs one or more individuals (excluding the persons indicated in subsection (a)(3) of this section), whom he requires or permits to operate a motor vehicle usually and regularly, and not casually or sporadically, as an inherent part of their work, being authorized to do so by a driver’s, chauffeur’s, or heavy motor vehicle operator’s license. The owner of a motor vehicle leased with a chauffeur, and the owner of a motor vehicle authorized by law for the public transport service of persons, animals or things, which is leased to a chauffeur who operates it as defined in subsection (a)(1) of this section, [remains included within this definition].
(c) Motor vehicle.— Means any motor-propelled vehicle driven on public highways, roads and/or private properties, but excluding those which are driven on railways, water or air.
(d) Contributing quarter.— Means the thirteen (13)- or fourteen (14)-week period, as the case may be, ending the last Saturday of each calendar quarter, so that each period includes all weeks whose Saturday falls within said quarter, considering that the week starts on Sunday. A calendar quarter consists of a period of three (3) consecutive calendar months ending on March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31.
(e) Director.— Means the Director of the Chauffeurs and Persons with Non-Occupational Disabilities Benefits Bureau.
(f) Owner of a motor vehicle.— Means any natural or [juridical] person who has registered in his name in the Motor Vehicle Bureau of the Department of Transportation and Public Works a motor vehicle whose license has been issued in his name, or who owns a motor vehicle which he operates on private property or public roads.
(g) Motor vehicle engaged in the service of the public transportation of persons, animals or things.— Means any motor vehicle legally authorized to engage in the public transportation of persons, animals or things.
(h) Proper employer.— Means the authorized chauffeur who is the owner of a motor vehicle and which he drives in the authorized service of public transportation of persons, animals or things and whose license in force is in his name.
(i) Assessment or contribution.— Means the amount that must be paid by both the chauffeur or employee as well as the employer as provided in § 690 of this title.
(j) Insured.— Means the chauffeur or employee defined in clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (a) of this section who have become members of the insurance plan created thereunder.
(k) Fund.— Means the Fund for the Social Security of Chauffeurs and Other Employees.
(l) Illness.— Means any physical or mental condition which prevents the insured from carrying out the essential functions of his/her position, which requires maintaining a driver’s, chauffeur’s, or heavy motor vehicle or motorcycle operator’s license, working, and driving a motor vehicle. It also includes the inability to work and drive a motor vehicle due to or related to a pregnancy and childbirth.
For the purposes of this chapter, it shall be understood that a woman is unable to work during the eight (8) weeks of pregnancy leave provided by §§ 467 et seq. of this title.
(m) Motor vehicle drivers license.— Means any of the following categories of licenses: motorcycle, driver’s, chauffeur’s, and heavy motor vehicle operator’s.
History —May 15, 1950, No. 428, p. 1038, § 1; Sept. 15, 1950, No. 32, p. 250, § 1; June 14, 1960, No. 85, p. 165, § 1; June 21, 1968, No. 111, p. 227; June 21, 1971, No. 48, p. 136; Nov. 23, 1975, No. 8, p. 934, § 1; June 3, 1976, No. 146, p. 437, § 1; June 24, 1977, No. 109, p. 275; July 20, 1979, No. 172, p. 450, § 2; June 18, 1980, No. 149, p. 663, § 2; Dec. 30, 1995, No. 262, § 7.