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) › § 684 - Eligibility for sickness pensions

The Secretary of Labor and Human Resources shall grant a pension for sickness to every insured who meets the following eligibility requirements:
(1) Who has paid to the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund the dues appertaining to (25) weeks or more in the four (4) contributing quarters which end immediately before the calendar month prior to the day on which the sickness starts.
(2) Who proves to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources, as prescribed by the latter through regulations for the purpose, that he is sick and unable to work driving a motor vehicle, and proves also that he is being attended by a physician, who shall sign the medical certificate required by the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources in his regulations, without which the Secretary may not grant a sickness pension. When the insured is attended by a physician of the municipal or Commonwealth Government, said physician or his superior shall issue the medical certificate concerning the patient free of cost.
(3) Who has filed an application within the ninety (90) days following the onset of the illness, pursuant to the rules and regulations the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources may promulgate for such purpose, and also submits all the information or evidence on the matter, required by said rules and regulations. Nevertheless, the Director of the Bureau may extend said term for filing a claim should there be justified cause; Provided, That no claim filed after a year has elapsed from the date of the onset of the illness shall be considered by the Director or the Secretary to be entitled to benefits.
In determining whether the insured has paid the dues required in subsection (1) of this section, any contributing quarter with days of interruption caused by strike, lockout, or labor dispute, or compensated for accident or sickness by the State Insurance Fund, the municipal or Commonwealth Government or its dependencies, public corporations or authorities, and the dues corresponding to them shall not be considered, unless considering them benefits the insured, because in such period he worked, as a provided by law, and paid dues. The days in which the sick person receives pension for sickness from the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund are excepted from the foregoing provision and shall be considered. When the contributing quarters are not so considered, then there shall be taken into account sufficient contributing quarters immediately preceding up to a total of four (4), to be considered. When computed to determine eligibility or the amount of sickness benefit, a week granted for pension shall not be considered as a week for which dues have been paid, unless the dues have been paid because the insured worked that week.
(4) In cases of labor accidents the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund may pay to the insured the sickness pension corresponding to him as soon as he presents the medical certificate required by the Director, issued by a physician in the State Insurance Fund, without the State Insurance Fund having to make the advance provided by § 3 of Title 11.
The amounts paid to the insured in such cases shall be notified to the Manager of the State Insurance Fund and if said agency determines that the accident is compensable according to the Workmen’s Compensation Act, §§ 1—42 of Title 11, it shall reimburse the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund the compensation advanced by the latter and which the State Insurance Fund was bound to pay.
History —May 15, 1950, No. 428, p. 1038, § 4; Sept. 15, 1950, No. 32, p. 250, § 1; May 14, 1952, No. 454, p. 924, § 5; June 11, 1954, No. 59, p. 322; June 14, 1960, No. 85, p. 151, § 1; June 21, 1968, No. 111, p. 227; June 21, 1971, No. 48, p. 136; Nov. 23, 1975, No. 8, p. 934, § 4; June 18, 1980, No. 149, p. 663, § 5; Dec. 20, 1991, No. 108, § 1.