P.R. Laws tit. 11, § 38
Information acquired by virtue of the provisions of this chapter by the Industrial Commission, by the Manager of the State Insurance Fund, or by any officer or employee to whom the performance of some duty under this chapter has been entrusted, shall be considered as of a private nature when so resolved by the Industrial Commission or the Manager of the State Insurance Fund; and any officer or employee who discloses such information, except by order of a competent authority, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or to imprisonment in jail for not more than six (6) months.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the inspection by the interested party or by his attorney, of the reports and all other documents connected with his case.
The Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico is hereby empowered and authorized to destroy, periodically, all such records of appeals as may have been definitively closed for five (5) or more years by final resolution of the Industrial Commission; Provided, That if a case is set for public hearing and the interested party or parties should fail to appear on account of their not having been located, the Industrial Commission shall issue a summons through an edict once a week during two consecutive weeks, which edict shall be published in one of the newspapers of largest circulation in the Commonwealth, and if, notwithstanding such summons, the said party or parties should fail to appear within a term of sixty (60) days, the Industrial Commission is hereby empowered and authorized to close such case definitively and proceed to destroy same in due time, as provided by this chapter.
In observance of the provisions of other laws concerning document conservation and preservation, it shall be understood that for all legal purposes all cases involving work-related accidents or occupational disease shall be closed after three (3) years as of the definitive closing date of the same.
Those injuries or conditions whose ill effects may become evident after a longer term has elapsed may be excepted from the above provision as mentioned in § 3(a) of this title.
History —Apr. 18, 1935, No. 45, p. 250, § 37; May 2, 1952, No. 185, p. 384, § 2; June 14, 1961, No. 53, § 1; renumbered as § 35 on July 1, 1996, No. 63, § 3; Oct. 16, 1999, No. 314, § 3.