2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART I - Labor Provisions Generally (§§ 1 — 510k) › Chapter 16 - Occupational Safety and Health (§§ 361 — 362) › § 361x - Penalties

(a) Any employer who wilfully or repeatedly violates the requirements of § 361e of this title, any standard, rule or order in force pursuant to §§ 361g, 361h, 361 l, 361m and 361n of this title or of the regulations promulgated thereunder, may be assessed a civil fine of not more than seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) for each violation but never less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each intentional violation.
(b) Any employer who has received a citation for a serious violation of the requirements of § 361e of this title, of any standard, rule or order in force pursuant to §§ 361g, 361h, 361 l, 361m and 361n of this title, or of any regulations promulgated hereunder, shall be civilly fined not more than seven thousand dollars ($7,000) for each such violation.
(c) Any employer who has received a citation for a violation of the requirements of § 361e of this title or of any standard, rule or order in force pursuant to §§ 361g, 361h, 361 l, 361m and 361n of this title or of the regulations promulgated thereunder and such violation is specifically determined not to be of a serious nature, may be civilly fined not more than seven thousand dollars ($7,000) for each such violation.
(d) Any employer who fails to correct a violation for which a citation has been issued under § 361r(a) within the period allowed for its correction (which period shall not begin until the date of the final order of the Secretary in the case of a review proceeding under § 361s(c) initiated by the employer in good faith and not solely to delay or evade the penalties) may be civilly fined not more than seven thousand dollars ($7,000) for each day during which such failure or violation continues.
(e) Any employer who wilfully violates any standard, rule or order in force pursuant to §§ 361g, 361h, 361 l, 361m and 361n of this title, or of any regulations promulgated thereunder and that violation caused death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or by imprisonment for not more than three (3) years, or both; except that if conviction is for a violation committed after a first conviction of such person, punishment shall be by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or by imprisonment for not more than four and a half (4 1 / 2) years, or both.
(f) Any person who gives advance notice of any inspection to be conducted under §§ 361—361aa of this title, without the authorization of the Secretary or persons designated by the latter, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or by a term of imprisonment of not more than six (6) months, or both penalties.
(g) Whoever knowingly makes a false statement, representation, or certification in any application, record, report, plan or other document filed or required to be kept pursuant to §§ 361—361aa of this title, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or by a term of imprisonment of not more than six (6) months, or both penalties.
(h) Any employer who violates any of the posting requirements, as prescribed under the provisions of §§ 361—361aa of this title, shall be civilly fined not more than seven thousand dollars ($7,000) for each violation.
(i) Any person who willfully resists, prevents or interferes with the Secretary, any examiner or any of his/her agents in the performances of their duties under §§ 361—361aa of this title, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or by a term of imprisonment of not more than three (3) years, or both penalties.
(j) The Secretary shall have authority to assess all civil fines provided in this section, giving due consideration to the appropriateness of the penalty with respect to the size of the business of the employer being charged, the gravity of the violation, the good faith of the employer and the history of previous violations.
(k) The Secretary is hereby empowered to direct the temporary closing for seventy-two (72) hours of a specific workplace for which a corrective action plan has been established for and not complied with, and such noncompliance, according to the Secretary’s judgment, keeps the persons of the specific workplace in imminent danger. The Secretary may take measures to obtain an order from the Court of First Instance to extend the aforementioned term, until the ordered corrective action has been complied with.
(l) A Special Fund for the Promotion of Occupational Health and Safety is hereby created. The Fund shall be administered by a Board constituted by the Administrator of the Corporation of the State Insurance Fund (CFSE, Spanish acronym), who shall preside it; the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Human Resources; the Coordinator of the Industrial Hygiene Program of the Department of Environmental Health of the Public Health School of the University of Puerto Rico; two (2) representatives from of the labor sector, one of which shall be from the public sector and the other from the private sector; and two (2) representatives from the employer’s sector, one of which shall be from the public sector, and the other from the private sector. The representatives from the labor and employer’s sectors shall be appointed by the Governor for a term of five (5) years. The Board shall be governed based upon regulations approved by a majority of at least four (4) of the members of said Board. The Board is hereby empowered to establish, by regulations, the way in which the funds covered into the Fund shall be used. Said funds shall be used for the implementation of the provisions of §§ 361—361aa of this title. Any determination as to the use of the funds shall have the vote of at least five (5) of the seven (7) members of the Board.
(m) For the purposes of this section, a grave violation shall be deemed to exist in a work place if there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from an existing condition, or from one or more practices, means, methods, operations, or processes which have been adopted or are in use in such work place unless the employer did not, and could not, with the exercise of reasonable diligence, know of the presence of the violation.
(n) Civil fines imposed under §§ 361—361aa of this title shall be paid to the Secretary of the Treasury of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to be covered into the Special Fund created by §§ 361—361aa of this title. Any civil penalty owed under §§ 361—361aa of this title may be recovered in a civil action filed on behalf of the Secretary of Justice. The Court of First Instance shall have jurisdiction over all civil actions to recover the civil fines imposed under §§ 361—361aa of this title. The Secretary of Justice may appear as the plaintiff in any judicial action filed to recover any civil fines under §§ 361—361aa of this title, provided the Secretary of Labor does not appear as a plaintiff motu proprio.
(o) The Secretary of Justice shall be responsible for bringing any criminal action under §§ 361—361aa of this title. Any attorney of the Department may act as prosecutor with all the powers and authority granted to special prosecuting attorneys in criminal actions arising from §§ 361—361aa of this title.
History —Aug. 5, 1975, No. 16, p. 605, § 25; June 24, 1977, No. 116, p. 295, § 8; July 26, 1991, No. 32; Dec. 19, 2002, No. 281, § 3, eff. 30 days after Dec. 19, 2002.