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) › § 361u - Judicial review

(a) Any person adversely affected or aggrieved by a final order of the Secretary issued under subsection (c) of § 361s of this title may obtain a review of such order in the Court of First Instance, San Juan Part, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or in the Court of First Instance corresponding to the jurisdiction in which the violation is alleged to have occurred, by filing in said court, within thirty (30) days following the date in which the decision of the examiner becomes the final order of the Secretary, or after notice of the Secretary’s final order, a written petition praying that the order be modified or revoked. A copy of such petition shall be transmitted by the petitioner to the Secretary and to the other parties and thereupon the Secretary shall file with the court the record of the proceedings. Upon such filing, the court shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding and of the question determined therein and shall have power to grant such temporary remedy or such injunction as it may deem just and proper, and to make and enter, upon the pleadings, testimony and proceedings set forth in such record, a decree affirming, modifying or revoking, in whole or in part, the order of the Secretary.
The commencement of the proceedings under this subsection shall not, unless ordered by the court, operate as a stay of the order of the Secretary; and Provided [,That] the petitioner posts bond securing full payment of any fine involved in each action, as the case may be. No objection that has not been raised before the Secretary shall be considered by the court, unless the failure or neglect to raise such objection may be excused because of extraordinary circumstances. The determinations of the Secretary with respect to findings of fact shall be conclusive, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole. If any 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 at the hearing before the Secretary, the court may order such additional evidence to be taken by the Secretary and to be made part of the record. The Secretary may modify his determinations as to the facts, or make new determinations, by reason of additional evidence so taken and filed, and he shall file such modified or new determinations, which determinations with respect to findings of fact, if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole, shall be conclusive, and his recommendations, if any, for the modification or revocation of the original order.
(b) The Secretary may also obtain enforcement of any final order by filing a petition for such remedy in the Court of First Instance, San Juan Part, of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or in the Court of First Instance Part corresponding to the jurisdiction in which the violation is alleged to have occurred. If no petition for review is filed within thirty (30) days after the date in which the examiner’s decision becomes the final order of the Secretary, or after service of the final order of the Secretary, said order shall be conclusive with respect to any petition for enforcement which is filed by the Secretary after the expiration of such thirty (30) day period. In that case, as well as in the case of a non contested citation or notification by the Secretary which has become his final order under subsection (a) or (b) of § 361s of this title, the Clerk of the Court of First Instance, unless otherwise ordered by the court, shall forthwith enter a judgment enforcing the order and shall transmit a copy of said judgment to the employer named in the petition.
(c) It is hereby provided that the petition for judicial review or enforcement provided in this section shall be exclusive and shall be given priority by the Court of First Instance. The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may, at its discretion and through writ of certiorari, review the judgments entered by the Court of First Instance in proceedings instituted under this section.
History —Aug. 5, 1975, No. 16, p. 605, § 22.