2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART VI - Guaranteed Income (§§ 2001 — 2109) › Chapter 81 - Workers of the Agricultural Phase of the Sugarcane Industry (§§ 2001 — 2009b) › § 2002 - Guaranteed income

(a) Subject to the restrictions imposed by § 2003(c) of this title, there is hereby established for the workers of the sugar industry in its agricultural phase a guaranteed income of not less than eighty cents ($0.80) per hour during fiscal year 1969—70; of not less than ninety cents ($0.90) per hour during fiscal year 1970—71; and of not less than one dollar per hour from July 1 until May 31, of fiscal year 1971—72. On and from June 1, 1972, and during fiscal years 1972—73 and 1973—74, the guaranteed income shall be the sum of one dollar thirty-five cents ($1.35) per hour of work performed in the agricultural phase of said sugar industry by chauffeurs, tractor and other farm-machinery operators and by arts and craft workers, and the amount of one dollar and ten cents ($1.10) per hour of work performed by other workers in the agricultural phase of said industry. On and from fiscal year 1974—75 and subsequent fiscal years, the guaranteed income shall be the amount of one dollar and forty-seven cents ($1.47) per hour of work performed by chauffeurs, tractor and other farm-machinery operators and by arts and craft workers; and of one dollar and thirty-five cents ($1.35) per hour of work performed by other workers in the agricultural phase of said industry.
(b) The guaranteed income established by virtue of this chapter shall not alter any type of existing minimum wage or that might be agreed or decreed after the date of effectiveness of this act for the various classifications of work in the agricultural phase of the sugar industry. However, any raise in wage obtained through a collective agreement or work contract as of June 1, 1972, shall be received by the worker over the guaranteed income, without affecting therefor the income supplements to which the worker was entitled as of the date in which the raise in wage was obtained. The payment of the income supplements shall not be made for work performed during extra hours of work, as defined in §§ 271—288 of this title, nor when the wages per hour corresponding to the worker by virtue of the legislation, mandatory decrees, collective agreements or work contracts in force as of June 1, 1972, for the work performed during regular hours, equals or exceeds the income guaranteed by this chapter.
(c) The hours which entail extra pay in accordance with the legislation, mandatory decrees, collective agreements or work contracts in force, shall be paid at the corresponding extra rate, taking as a basis the existing minimum wage by virtue of the said legislation, decrees, agreements or contracts, whichever is greatest, but without taking into consideration, for any purpose, the income supplement guaranteed by this chapter.
(d) In interpreting this chapter, in regard to claims, it must be taken into account that it has not been the legislative intention of raising the wages per hour, but of guaranteeing that no worker in the agricultural phase of the sugar industry, qualifying as such under the provisions of this chapter, will have an hourly income lower than that therein established. As a consequence, it shall not be construed that the income supplement guaranteed by this chapter shall be a part of the prevailing wages, and any extra pay or penalty to which a worker is entitled under the laws, mandatory decrees, collective agreements or work contracts in force, shall be computed without including or taking into consideration, for any purpose, said income supplement.
History —June 29, 1969, No. 141, p. 462, § 2; June 7, 1972, No. 5, p. 347, § 3; July 24, 1974, No. 245, Part 2, p. 236, § 2, retroactive to July 1, 1974.