2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART III - Social Security (§§ 611 — 726f) › Chapter 47 - Employment Security Act (§§ 701 — 717) › § 716b - Addition to the duration of benefits in a special unemployment situation—Agricultural phase of the sugar industry

(a) A special unemployment situation in the agricultural phase of the sugar industry as of the 1964 harvest season is hereby declared.
With respect to other agricultural labor as it is defined in § 702(k)(1)(E)(ii) of this title, the Secretary shall designate as special unemployment situations those resulting from the displacement of workers as a direct or indirect consequence of technological progress, the elimination or reduction of the planted area or for similar reasons of such magnitude as to require that special measures be taken to prevent grave and serious hardships to the affected workers. Said designation shall be based on the provisions of subsection (a) of § 716a of this title.
(1) Maximum potential benefits of the agricultural workers.— An agricultural sugar-cane worker who is permanently displaced during the crop as a direct or indirect result of technological progress in the sugar industry, the elimination or reduction of the area planted in sugar-cane, or for similar reasons, or any other agricultural worker included in a special unemployment situation who meets the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, shall be entitled to an addition to the regular weekly unemployment compensation benefits consigned in § 703(b) of this title. Said addition to the benefits, together with the potential maximum annual benefits payable to an agricultural sugar-cane worker during his last benefit year as established in § 703 of this title, shall not exceed the sum of twenty (20) times the weekly benefit amount payable to the worker during his last benefit year, plus forty-seven (47) times the amount of the weekly benefit assigned in the addition of benefits. Provided, That as of July 1, 1990, and for subsequent fiscal years, the weekly amounts payable as the addition of benefits shall be determined on the basis of the schedule of benefits established by the Secretary for these purposes by regulations. If the worker rendered services under the provisions of § 702(k)(1)(E)(i) of this title, the addition to the benefits shall be based on the provisions of subsection (b)(1) of § 716a of this title. The termination of the worker’s benefit year shall not interrupt the payment of the addition to the benefits, but no additional benefit whatsoever shall be paid after two years have elapsed following the worker’s displacement.
(2) The benefits provided in clause (1) of this subsection shall not be applicable to any worker until he has exhausted all regular unemployment compensation benefits to which he may be entitled under this chapter; Provided, That he may begin to receive those benefits even though his benefit year may not have terminated at the time of the determination of his displacement.
(3) The benefits provided in clause (1) of this subsection shall not be applicable to any worker until he has exhausted all extended benefits to which he may be entitled under any federal unemployment compensation program, and any amount of such extended benefits which the worker has received since the beginning of his latest benefit year under any federal unemployment compensation program to which he is entitled under this section.
(4) In the case of an unemployed worker referred for training or retraining by the Puerto Rico Employment Service under any federal, state or federal-state program which provides allowances, who is also eligible for weekly additional unemployment benefits under this section, only so much of the weekly additional unemployment benefit payment shall be paid as exceeds the weekly allowance under the federal or federal-state training or retraining program, and any amount which the worker receives under any such federal or federal-state program after the beginning of his latest benefit year shall be deducted from the maximum amount of additional benefits to which he is entitled under this section.
(c) Eligibility to receive benefits.— Every agricultural worker permanently displaced, as determined under subsection (b) of this section, shall be eligible to receive the benefits referred to in subsection (b) of this section if said worker meets the requirements of § 704 of this title, and:
(1) Has submitted evidence, as required by the Secretary, that none of the agricultural employers for which he rendered services in the year immediately preceding his displacement has work for him. Provided, That if the worker rendered services for an agricultural employer of the sugar industry, he shall submit evidence that none of the agricultural employers of said industry who hired him during the sugar grinding season preceding that in which his displacement took place has work available for him.
(2) Meets the requirements needed to qualify to receive unemployment benefits as an agricultural worker, as the term is defined in § 702(v) of this title, in at least three (3) of the four (4) years preceding that in which he was displaced; Provided, That one of these three (3) years must be the one immediately preceding the one in which he was displaced.
(3) He has not refused, without a just cause, to submit to training or retraining to which he is referred by the Puerto Rico Employment Service. Provided, That his refusal to submit to such training or retraining shall not continue to affect the eligibility of the worker when he subsequently accepts referral to training or retraining.
(d) The provisions of subsections (d) and (e) of § 716a of this title regarding the establishment of training courses and the transfer of funds, respectively, shall be applicable to the situations of unemployment covered by this section.
History —June 21, 1956, No. 74, p. 328, added as § 22 on June 24, 1964, No. 71, p. 213, § 3; June 24, 1965, No. 78, p. 181; May 28, 1970, No. 48, p. 114, § 2; June 24, 1971, No. 85, p. 257, § 12; June 22, 1981, No. 15, p. 103, § 7; July 13, 1987, No. 2, p. 595, § 2; Aug. 17, 1990, No. 42, p. 171.