2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART III - Social Security (§§ 611 — 726f) › Chapter 45 - Social Security for Chauffeurs and Other Employees (§§ 681 — 695) › § 688 - Eligibility for benefits and amounts

The single payment provided in § 687 of this title shall be granted only in those cases in which the insured has paid the Fund the dues corresponding to ten (10) weeks or more in the period comprised in the four (4) contributing quarters ending immediately before the date of his death.
Dues Paid (or credited) in the Contributing year DUES PAID IN THE BASIC PERIOD 240 weeks or more 200 to 239 weeks 150 to 199 weeks 100 to 149 weeks Less than 100 weeks 45 weeks or more $6,000 $5,400 $4,800 $4,200 $3,600 40 to 44 weeks $5,400 $4,700 $4,100 $3,400 $2,700 30 to 39 weeks $4,800 $4,100 $3,400 $2,600 $1,900 20 to 29 weeks $4,200 $3,500 $2,800 $2,000 $1,300 10 to 19 weeks $3,600 $2,900 $2,200 $1,500 $ 800 Less than 10 weeks Nothing Nothing Nothing Nothing Nothing
The term “contributing year” means the period comprising the four (4) contributing quarters ending immediately before the date of death; and the term “basic period” means the twenty (20) contributing quarters comprised in the five (5) calendar years preceding the first day of March which precedes the date of death; Provided, That the dues credited for having received sickness pension under § 683 of this title, as hereinafter provided, shall not be used to determine the dues paid in the basic period; Provided, further, That if an insured dies within one year from the date he had a permanent total disability established under § 686 of this title, the amount to be paid for death shall be determined just as if he had died the day the permanent total disability occurred; and Provided, likewise, That from the above amount to be paid there shall be deducted all pension payments received under § 683 of this title, as well as any payment received under § 686 of this title with respect to any sickness or disability occurring within the year preceding the date of his death.
For the purposes of the life insurance granted under §§ 687 and 688 of this title, the weeks during the contributing year already defined, before his death, in which the insured has received sickness pension from the Chauffeurs and Other Employees Social Security Fund, and the week preceding the eighth day indicated in subsection (b) of § 683 of this title, shall be considered paid.
If an insured is taken sick and cannot return to work during one year or less from the last week he worked under the provisions of this chapter and paid his dues to the Fund, and dies within said year on account of said illness, it shall be considered, for the purposes of computing the value of the life insurance granted in the preceding §§ 687 and 688 of this title, that said death occurred in the above-mentioned last week in which the deceased worked and paid his dues to the Fund.
In those cases in which the insured has paid to the Fund the dues corresponding to forty (40) weeks or more in the four (4) contributing quarters which end immediately preceding the date of the occurrence of the death of his spouse or of any of his children up to fifteen (15) years of age, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources shall grant one single payment to help meet expenses incurred on account of the death under the conditions set forth below:
Deceased Amount to be paid Wife or husband $800 Child 6 to 15 years old $500 Child under one year up to 5 years old $300
If both spouses are insured under the insurance plan and one of them dies, his dependents thus acquiring a right to the life insurance payment provided in §§ 687 and 688 of this title, then only the amount of said life insurance shall be paid, eliminating the payment provided in the foregoing paragraph for the death of his spouse.
The right to the payment mentioned above shall prescribe one year after the death has occurred if such benefit is not applied for in writing and diligently pursued by the insured’s beneficiary or his authorized representative within said term, and for which he shall submit to the Director the proof required of him together with a death certificate of the deceased.
History —May 15, 1950, No. 428, p. 1038, § 7; Sept. 15, 1950, No. 32, p. 250, § 1; May 14, 1952, No. 454, p. 924, § 8; June 11, 1954, No. 59, p. 322; June 14, 1957, No. 59, p. 137; June 14, 1960, No. 85, p. 151, § 1; June 24, 1964, No. 72, p. 220; June 21, 1968, No. 111, p. 227; June 21, 1971, No. 48, p. 136; Nov. 23, 1975, No. 8, p. 934, § 7; renumbered as § 8 and amended on June 18, 1980, No. 149, p. 663, § 9.