2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART I - Labor Provisions Generally (§§ 1 — 510k) › Chapter 3 - Labor Relations (§§ 41 — 100e) › Subchapter II - Labor Relations Law (§§ 61 — 76) › § 70 - Unfair labor practices—Power of Board to prevent; Supreme Court proceedings

(1) Charges of the existence of an unfair labor practice may be submitted to the Board for its action in the manner and for the purposes provided by this subchapter.
(a) Whenever it is charged that any person, employer, or labor organization has engaged in or is engaging in any unfair labor practice, the Board, or any agent or agency designated by the Board for such purposes, shall have the power to investigate such charge and cause to be served upon such person, employer or labor organization a complaint in the name of the Board stating the charges in that respect, and containing a notice of hearing before the Board or a member thereof, or before a designated agent or agency, at a place therein fixed, not less than five (5) days after service of the said complaint. Any such complaint may be amended by the member of the Board, agent or agency conducting the hearing, or by the Board, in its discretion, at any time prior to the issuance of an order based thereon. The person so complained of shall have the right to file an answer to the original or amended complaint and to appear in person or otherwise and give testimony at the time and place [set] in the notice of hearing. All allegations of any complaint so issued which are not denied shall be deemed admitted and the Board may thereupon make findings of fact and conclusions of law with respect to such undenied portions of the complaint. At the discretion of the member of the Board, agent, or the agency conducting the hearing, or of the Board, any other person may be allowed to intervene and to present testimony in said proceedings. In any such proceedings the rules of evidence prevailing in the courts of law or equity need not be controlling.
(b) The testimony taken by said member, agent or agency, or by the Board in the hearings shall be [put in] writing and shall be filed with the Board. The Board may, in its discretion, afterwards take additional evidence or hear further argument. If, according to all the testimony taken, the Board is of the opinion that any person, employer or labor organization named in the complaint has engaged in or is engaging in an unfair labor practice, then the Board shall make its findings of fact and of law and issue its order, and shall cause the same to be served upon such person, employer or labor organization, requiring it to cease and desist from said unfair labor practice and to take such affirmative action as shall effectuate the purpose of this subchapter, including, but not limited to, reinstatement of employees with or without back pay, the posting or transmittal by mail of appropriate notices, and the termination of collective bargaining contracts in whole or in part; or make any other order against such person, employer, party, or labor organization, that shall effectuate the purposes of this subchapter. The order may likewise require such person, employer or labor organization to submit a report from time to time showing the extent to which he has complied with the same. If, according to the testimony taken, the Board is of the opinion that none of the persons mentioned in the complaint has engaged in or is engaging in an unfair labor practice, then the Board shall make its findings of fact and shall issue an order dismissing the complaint.
(2)
(a) The Board may petition the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, or, if the Supreme Court is in vacation, the judge sitting in vacation [sic], for the enforcement of the order of the Board, and may also ask the said court to make any other appropriate temporary relief or restraining orders, and it shall certify and file in the court a transcript of the entire record in the proceedings, including the pleading and testimony upon which such order was entered, and the findings and order of the Board. Upon such filing, the court shall cause notice thereof to be served upon the person to whom the order is addressed, and thereupon shall have jurisdiction of the proceedings and of the question to be determined therein, and it shall have power to grant such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper, and shall make and enter upon the pleading, testimony and proceedings set forth in the transcript, a decree enforcing, modifying and enforcing as so modified, or setting aside in whole or in part, the order of the Board. No objection that has not been raised before the Board or any of its members, agent or agency, shall be considered by the court, unless the failure or neglect to raise such objection be excused because of extraordinary circumstances. The findings of the Board as to the facts, if supported by evidence, shall be conclusive. If either party shall apply to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence and shall show to the satisfaction of the court that such additional evidence is material and that there were reasonable grounds for the failure to adduce such evidence in the hearing held before the Board or any of its members, agent, or agency, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken before the Board or any of its members, agent, or agency and to be made a part of the transcript. The Board may modify its findings as to the facts, or make new findings by reason of additional evidence so taken and filed, and it shall file such modified or new findings, which, if supported by evidence, shall be conclusive, and shall file its recommendations, if any, for the modification or setting aside of its original order. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico shall be exclusive and its judgment shall be final, except that the same shall be subject to review by the full membership of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico if application was made to a judge of said court sitting in vacation as hereinabove provided.
(b) Any person aggrieved by a final order of the Board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought may obtain a review of such order in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, by filing in such court a written petition praying [sic] that the order of the Board be modified or set aside. A copy of such petition shall be forthwith served upon the Board, and thereupon the aggrieved party shall file in the court a transcript of the entire record in the proceedings certified by the Board, including the pleading and testimony upon which the order complained of was entered, and the findings and order of the Board. The Board shall issue the certified transcript of the proceedings free of all charge or fees when the petitioner is insolvent. Upon such filing, the court shall proceed in the same manner as in the case of an application by the Board under clause (2)(a) of this subsection, and shall have the same exclusive jurisdiction to grant to the Board such temporary relief or restraining order as it deems just and proper, and in like manner to make and enter a decree enforcing, modifying and enforcing as modified, or setting aside in whole or in part the order of the Board; and the findings of the Board as to the facts, if supported by the evidence, shall in like manner be conclusive.
(c) In order to promote collective bargaining, the Board may, in the exercise of its discretion, aid in the enforcement of arbitration awards issued by competent arbitration agencies, whether designated according to the terms of any collective bargaining contract executed between an employer and a labor organization or by virtue of any agreement signed by a labor organization and an employer. Upon the issuance of an arbitration award, the Board may give advice at the request of any party to such award or may, if requested to do so, file in the name of the party so requesting, the proper judicial proceeding in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico to enforce such award or arbitration.
(d) The commencement of proceedings under clause (2)(a) or (b) of this subsection shall not, unless specifically so ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the Board’s order.
(e) Until a transcription of the record of the case is filed in court, the Board may at any time, upon reasonable notice and in the manner it deems proper, modify or revoke in whole or in part any findings made or order issued by it.
(f) Petitions filed in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico under this subchapter to enforce the orders of the Board shall have preference over any civil cause of a different nature pending before said court, and shall be heard expeditiously and if possible within ten (10) days after the filing of the petition.
(g) A substantial compliance with the procedure provided for by this subchapter shall be sufficient to give effect to the orders of the Board, and they shall not be declared inapplicable, illegal or void for any omission of a technical nature.
History —May 8, 1945, No. 130, p. 407, § 9; Mar. 7, 1946, No. 6, p. 19, § 1.