2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 51A - Labor Relations; Public Service (§§ 1451 — 1454a) › § 1452t - Public Service Labor Relations Commission—Powers, duties, responsibilities, faculties and functions

The Commission shall have the following powers, duties, responsibilities, faculties and functions:
(a) Implement, apply and enforce the provisions of this chapter in everything regarding the processes of organization, certification, de-certification of labor organizations; in the procedures related to conciliation and arbitration in negotiations of collective bargaining agreements, in the procedures related to unfair practices, and in all those aspects through which this chapter delegates any particular action to it.
(b) Resolve controversies regarding the application of this chapter.
(c) Adopt the regulations needed to ensure an effective and adequate operation in order to comply with the provisions of this chapter.
(d) Conduct, by petition of a party or by its own initiative, the investigations, studies, surveys, proceedings and public hearings that are necessary or convenient to perform and discharge the powers and responsibilities entrusted by this chapter.
(e) Examine and obtain a copy of all the evidence related to any matter that is being investigated or studied, or in litigation before it.
(f) Issue summons requiring the appearance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence.
(g) Grant such remedies and issue such orders as are necessary and convenient to fulfill the purposes of this chapter. This includes, among others, provisional or permanent cease and desist orders; orders to reinstate suspended or dismissed employees, with or without compensating the payment which they failed to receive and the granting of all fringe benefits to which the employees would have been entitled to during the suspension or period in which they were dismissed; and orders imposing sanctions on agencies, labor organizations or exclusive representatives, including their decertification.
(h) Impose, at its discretion, a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500), nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for each violation incurred, on any person who disobeys, prevents, obstructs or impedes the serving of any of its summons or orders.
(i) Impose on any agency, labor organization, exclusive representative or person who disobeys, prevents, obstructs or hinders the serving of any of its summons or orders, or attempts to coerce any member of the Commission or incurs any of the unfair practices listed in §§ 1452a and 1452b of this chapter, a fine not less than five hundred dollars ($500), nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), for each day in which it incurs said violation, after holding an administrative hearing in which it shall be given the opportunity to challenge the facts and present evidence in its favor. When a labor organization is found to have incurred a violation of § 1452b of this title repeatedly, the Commission may decertify the same, after holding a hearing to show cause for which it should not be decertified.
(j) Designate a panel of conciliators and arbitrators who shall be in charge of all that concerns the handling of controversies regarding the application of collective bargaining agreements and when there are impasses in the process of negotiating agreements.
(k) Intervene and grant the remedies that it deems fair when any employee who is a member of an exclusive representative files a complaint alleging the violation of the rights established in § 1453 of this title.
(l) Appoint examining officials who can conduct investigations, chair hearings and carry out any other task assigned by the Commission.
(n) Resort to the Court of First Instance to enforce or execute any of its final orders, including resolutions imposing fines. The Court of Appeals, in the case of imposition of fines, upon an ex-parte motion of the Commission, shall issue an order to freeze a sum of money equal to the amount of the fine imposed from the funds of the labor organization. The freezing of the funds of the union organization shall remain in effect until the fine is paid or the order is rendered ineffective.
(ñ) Require and receive annual reports prepared, audited and certified by a certified public accountant, or an accountant or by the Labor Union Services Bureau of the Department of Labor and Human Resources. Should an accountant or the Bureau be chosen, said report shall be accompanied by a certification issued by the Exclusive Representative Board of Directors so as to confirm that said report faithfully reflects the financial transactions.
(o) Penalize any person for contempt who disturbs the peace or incurs disorderly, disrespectful or insolent conduct before the Commission constituted in full, or before any of its members or examining officials, when said conduct tends to interrupt the proceedings, with a fine that shall not be greater than five hundred dollars ($500). Every time that an act punishable for contempt is incurred, it shall be deemed as a separate violation, and to such effects separate fines may be imposed.
(p) Submit a report of its activities to the Governor and the Legislature at the end of each fiscal year.
(q) The neutrality of the officials and employees of the Commission must be guaranteed during all processes over which they have jurisdiction.
(r) The Commission shall also have broad powers to file any legal remedies that may be necessary to execute the purposes of this chapter and to enforce its rules, regulations and orders, resolutions and decisions.
(m) Supervise the election procedures of the exclusive representatives.
(s) The neutrality of the officials and employees of the Commission must be guaranteed during all processes over which they have jurisdiction.
History —Feb. 25, 1998, No. 45, § 11.15; Aug. 7, 2001, No. 96, § 6; Aug. 15, 2007, No. 112, § 6.