2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE ELEVEN - Workmen’s Compensation (§§ 1 — 268) › Chapter 9 - Temporary Disability Benefits (§§ 201 — 212) › § 208 - Contributions and reports

(a) Payment of contributions by employers.—
(1) From July 1, 1969, each employer subject to the provisions of this chapter shall contribute toward the Fund the difference between:
(A) One percent (1%) of the wages paid to his workers in insured work, without taking into consideration those wages paid to a worker which exceed seven thousand eight hundred dollars ($7,800) in any calendar year, and
(B) the contributions made by his workers as specified in subsection (b) of this section. During the period from July 1, 1969, to December 31, 1969, said contributions shall be made with relation to the wages paid in payrolls during all the periods ending between July 1 and December 31, 1969.
(2) From July 1, 1972 the employers covered by this chapter shall contribute toward the Fund one-half of one percent (1/2 of 1%) of the wages paid to his workers for the services specified in subsection (j)(1)(A) or (B) of § 202 of this title, without taking into consideration those wages paid to a worker which exceed nine thousand dollars ($9,000) in any calendar year.
Said contributions shall not be deducted, either in whole or in part, from the persons employed by him.
(b) Payment of contributions by workers.—
(1) Each worker employed in insured work shall contribute toward the Fund one-half of one percent ( 1 / 2 of 1%) of his wages on account of services specified in subsection (j)(1)(A) or (B) of § 202 of this title, without taking into consideration those wages which exceed nine thousand dollars ($9,000) in any calendar year. Each employer shall retain, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, that amount of contribution from the wages of his workers at the time they are paid; he shall annotate such deduction in the payroll reports; furnish evidence to his workers as provided by the Secretary, and shall remit all such contributions, together with his own, to the Secretary of the Treasury of Puerto Rico for the Fund in accordance with the regulations that the Secretary may prescribe. The employers who may establish a private plan authorized by the Secretary, as provided in § 205(b) of this title, and their employees covered under said private plan shall not pay the contributions imposed hereunder. If an employer fails to deduct contributions from any of his workers at the time of paying their wages, he shall be subject to the payment of such contributions, and for the purposes of § 209 of this title, said contributions shall be deemed as contributions to be paid by the employer. For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise clearly deduced from its context, the term “contributions” shall include the contributions made by the workers in accordance with this section.
Nothing provided herein shall render illegal that the employer assume payment in whole or in part of the contributions otherwise required from his workers.
(2) Financing of the benefits paid to agricultural workers.— As of fiscal year 1997-98 the funds needed to cover the cost of the benefits paid to workers for services included in § 202(j)(1)(C) shall be paid from the Special Commonwealth Funds of the Department of Labor and Human Resources to the Disability Fund created by § 210 of this title. The payment shall be in an amount equal to the benefits paid, plus twenty-five percent (25%) for administrative expenses. Any of the government departments, agencies or instrumentalities may contribute funds to carry out all or part of the purposes sought by this chapter.
(c) Payment of contributions.— Contributions shall accrue and shall be payable by each employer as the Secretary may prescribe by regulation.
(d) Penalty and surcharges.— Each employer shall render those reports that the Secretary may require by regulations, norms and/or procedures to guarantee payment of contributions and the administration of this chapter.
(1) Penalty for failure to render reports to determine the contribution.— Any employer who fails to render a report or statement to determine the contribution in the term prescribed by the Secretary pursuant to this chapter shall be bound to pay in addition to the contribution imposed and as part thereof, a penalty equal to five percent (5%) of the contribution due for each calendar month or fraction thereof in which said omission exists up to a maximum of twenty-five percent (25%), unless he shows that such omission is due to circumstances foreign to the employer. These circumstances shall be determined by the Secretary through regulations, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, within sixty (60) days after the effective date of this act. The regulations established for the purposes of this clause shall also be applicable for the purposes of clause (2) of this subsection and of § 209(a) of this title.
(2) Surcharge for not paying the contribution on time.— Any employer who fails to pay the determined contribution within the following sixty (60) days of the date in which payment of same should have been made shall be bound to pay, in addition to the interest and penalties imposed by this chapter, a surcharge of five percent (5%) of the amount of contributions in arrears.
It being Provided, That the penalty and surcharge imposed by this subsection shall be collected as part of the contribution at the same time and in the same manner as the latter, unless the contribution has been paid prior to the discovery of the omission, in which case the amount so added shall be collected in the same manner as the contribution.
(e) Reductions in the amount of contributions.— The Secretary is hereby authorized to reduce the amount of the contributions to be paid by employers and employees, in equal proportion, to be effective in any calendar year after 1970, in that proportion that he may consider, based on an actuarial study showing that the disability benefits program shall continue on a firm economic standing through said reduction in the amount of the contributions. The Secretary is, further, authorized to eliminate the whole or part of said reduction in the manner that he may consider, based on an actuarial study, if so required for the economic security of the disability program. Said elimination of the reduction shall be effective for the calendar year immediately subsequent to such determination.
History —June 26, 1968, No. 139, p. 354, § 8; May 30, 1970, No. 83, p. 205, § 6; May 31, 1972, No. 85, p. 204, § 6; Nov. 12, 1975, No. 24, p. 828, § 7; June 23, 1976, No. 17, p. 729, § 1; July 1, 1988, No. 51, p. 237, § 7; July 23, 1998, No. 159, § 1.