2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE ELEVEN - Workmen’s Compensation (§§ 1 — 268) › Chapter 9 - Temporary Disability Benefits (§§ 201 — 212) › § 206 - Administration

(a) Duties and powers of the Secretary.—
(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary to administer this chapter; and he shall have power and authority to adopt, amend or repeal such rules, regulations and/or procedures; and to employ such persons, make such investigations, devise such methods of procedure, and take all such other measures as he deems necessary and suitable to that end. The Secretary shall determine his own organization and he may delegate such power and authority as he deems reasonable and proper for the effective administration of this chapter, and may, in his discretion, require a bond of any person handling money or signing checks. The Secretary shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed.
(2) Not later than November 15 of each year, the Secretary shall submit to the Governor and to the Legislature a report covering the administration and the operation of this chapter during the preceding fiscal year and shall make such recommendations for amendments to this chapter as he deems proper. The Secretary shall state in his annual report to the Governor and to the Legislature the administration expenses during the last fiscal year.
(b) Records and reports of employment units.—
(1) Each employing unit shall keep true and accurate work records covering such periods of time and containing such information as the Secretary may prescribe. Such records shall be open to inspection by the Secretary or his authorized representative and kept available for said officials to copy same at any reasonable time and as often as necessary.
(2) The Director or the Secretary may require any sworn or unsworn reports deemed necessary for the most effective administration of this chapter from any employment unit, with respect to those persons who are rendering or have rendered services for said employment unit.
(3) It shall be understood that any employing unit which fails to keep the records required by clause (1) of this subsection, shall constitute an employer bound to pay the contributions, interest and penalties provided in this chapter, irrespectively of the number of persons employed by said employing unit.
(4) Any employing unit that fails to render any report requested of it in accordance with the regulation approved by the Secretary, except reports for contribution, or fails to report the wages paid to any of its employees, in accordance with said regulation, unless the Director determines that the omission is due to a reasonable cause and not to voluntary negligence of the employing unit, shall be bound to pay a penalty of $ 5.00 for each report not rendered or employee omitted. This penalty shall be collected in the same manner as the contributions, interest and penalties imposed by §§ 208 and 209 of this title.
(c) Confidentiality of reports.— Medical reports connected with benefit claims shall be confidential, except as far as necessary for the effective administration of this chapter, and shall not be published nor shall they be open to public inspection, except to public employees in the discharge of their duties, so as not to disclose the identity of the claimant or the nature or cause of his disability, nor shall they be admissible as evidence in any action or special proceeding, except under this chapter. Any person who violates the provision of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(d) Preservation and destruction of records.—
(1) The Secretary may cause to be made such summaries, compilations, photographs, duplicates, reproductions, and transcripts of any record and report he may deem advisable for the effective and economical preservation of the information contained therein; and such summaries, compilations, photographs, duplicates or reproductions, duly authenticated, shall be admissible in any proceedings under this chapter where the original record or records be admissible.
(2) The Secretary may provide by regulation for the destruction after reasonable periods of time of any records, reports, transcripts, or other documents in his custody or reproduction thereof whose preservation is no longer necessary for the establishment of contribution liability or benefit rights or for any other purpose necessary to the proper administration of this chapter, including the record of any required audit thereof.
(e) Authority to administer oaths and issue subpoenas.—
(1) In the performance of the duties imposed by this chapter, the Secretary or his/her duly authorized representative shall have the power to administer oaths and affirmations, as well as taking depositions, attesting to official acts, and issuing subpoenas to compel the appearance of witnesses and the production of books, documents, correspondence, memoranda, and other records deemed relevant as evidence in connection with a disputed claim and for the administration of this chapter.
(2) In case of contumacy on the part of any person during a hearing or other investigation held under the provisions of this chapter, or in the event that any person disobeys a subpoena issued to him/her hereunder, the Secretary or his/her duly authorized representative may, in their behalf and at their behest, move for a judicial order which may be issued by any court of Puerto Rico within whose jurisdiction the hearing or investigation is being conducted, or within whose jurisdiction the person guilty of contumacy or disobedience to the subpoena is found, resides, or transacts business. The order may enjoin said person to appear before the official who is conducting the hearing or the investigation, and to produce records or other evidence if so ordered by such official, as well as to give testimony regarding the subject matter of the hearing or under investigation. Failure to obey said judicial order may be punished as contempt by the court.
(3) No person shall be excused from attending and testifying or from producing books, documents, correspondence, memoranda, and other records before the Secretary or his/her duly authorized representative, or in obedience to a subpoena issued by any of them, on the grounds that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him/her tends to incriminate him/her or place him/her in jeopardy of penalty or forfeiture; but no person shall be prosecuted or put in jeopardy of penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing with regard to which he/she is compelled to testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, after having claimed his/her privilege against self-incrimination, except that the person who so declares it is not exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in the course of his/her testimony.
(f) Representative of the agency before the courts.—
(1) In any civil action to enforce this chapter and in any proceedings for judicial review under §§ 204(c), 5(f), 206(b)(4), and 209(f) of this title, the Secretary and the Government of Puerto Rico may be represented by any qualified attorney retained and assigned by the Secretary for the purpose; or if the action is brought in the courts of any state, then by an attorney qualified to appear before the courts of that state.
(2) All criminal actions for violations of any provision of this chapter, or of any rules or regulations promulgated hereunder, shall be prosecuted by the Secretary of Justice; or, at his behest and under his direction, by the prosecutor of any jurisdiction where the employing unit has its place of business or where the offender resides.
(g) Adoption, amendment and repeal of general and special rules.— After the holding of public hearings duly advertised and giving the interested parties the opportunity to be heard thereat, the Secretary may adopt general and special rules and amend or repeal same. The general rules shall become effective 10 days after having been filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and published in one or more newspapers of general circulation in Puerto Rico. The special rules shall become effective 10 days after having notified or mailed to the last known address of the persons or employing units affected by them.
History —June 26, 1968, No. 139, p. 354, § 6; May 31, 1972, No. 85, p. 204, § 4; July 23, 1974, No. 220, Part 2, p. 152, § 2; Nov. 12, 1975, No. 24, p. 828, § 5; Dec. 30, 1995, No. 262, § 5.