2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 15 - Department of Labor and Human Resources (§§ 301 — 328) › § 308 - Enforcement of labor protection laws

It shall be the duty of the Secretary to enforce the labor protecting laws.
The Secretary or any employee of the Department of Labor and Human Resources designated by him, shall investigate every complaint alleging the violation of any of the labor protecting laws now in force or hereafter enacted.
It shall also be the duty of the Secretary to make, personally or through any employee of the Department of Labor and Human Resources designated by him, the proper investigation, when he may have reason to believe that in any industry, business or occupation, or in the specific case of any workmen, any of the labor protecting laws now in force or hereafter enacted is being violated.
In the discharge of such duty to investigate, or of any other duties imposed on him by §§ 304—322 and 324—328 of this title, or hereafter imposed on him by any act, and in the exercise of the faculties thereby vested or which may be vested in him, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources, or his duly authorized agents, may hear testimony, take oaths, issue summonses to compel the appearance of witnesses and the production of any evidence, documentary or otherwise, which the said Secretary of Labor and Human Resources may deem necessary, including payrolls, accounting books, records of wages and working hours, and pay lists.
If a summons issued by the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his agents is not duly obeyed, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources may appear before any part of Court of First Instance and apply for an order demanding obedience to said summons. The Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction to enter judicial orders compelling the appearance of witnesses or the production of any evidence, documentary or otherwise, that the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his agents may have previously required. The Court of First Instance shall have power to punish for contempt the disobedience to such orders.
No natural or [juridical] person may refuse to obey a summons of the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his duly authorized agents, or a judicial order so entered, on the allegation that the testimony or evidence required of him may tend to incriminate him or give cause for the imposition of a penalty on him. But in no criminal proceedings against a natural person who may have testified or presented documentary or other evidence before the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his duly authorized agent, in obedience to a summons of the said Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his agents, or in compliance with a judicial order, may such testimony or evidence by used or introduced in evidence; Provided, That any natural person may be prosecuted and punished for perjury committed in giving testimony before the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or his duly authorized agent, or in compliance with a judicial order.
Furthermore, in the performance of such duties, the Secretary, or any employee of the Department of Labor and Human Resources designated by him, is hereby authorized to visit and examine buildings, factories, mills, shops, machinery, farms, agricultural properties and other establishments and premises of any kind where any sort of labor of a commercial, agricultural or industrial nature is performed, and may examine the payrolls, pay lists, records of wages and working hours, and account books of any employer for the purpose of making the proper investigation or of obtaining data and information for the statistics required by §§ 304—322 and 324—328 of this title; and he may, further, use in connection with summonses and investigations, the services of the justices of the peace, of the District judges, of the prosecuting attorneys, of the marshals of the Court of First Instance, and of the police force.
Any employer, administrator or operator of any industry, factory, shop, farm, mill, machinery, agricultural property and any other establishment or premises of any kind where any sort of labor of a commercial, agricultural, or industrial nature is done, or the agent thereof, who refuses to permit the entry of the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources or of any employee duly authorized by him, or who refuses to furnish such information as may be required from him, or who hinders the examination of his payrolls, pay lists, records of wages and working hours, and account books, in the manner herein prescribed, shall be guilty of a misdeameanor and shall be subject to a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50) or to imprisonment in jail for a maximum term of one (1) month, or to both penalties, in the discretion of the court.
History —Apr. 14, 1931, No. 15, p. 168, § 5; Apr. 27, 1949, No. 122, p. 310, § 1; Sept. 21, 1949, No. 24, p. 50, § 1.