P.R. Laws tit. 4, § 1531
(A) Work accident compensation to participants. —
(1) The provisions of §§ 1 et seq. of Title 11, known as “Work Accident Compensation Act”, are hereby extended to accidents and occupational diseases suffered by the Corporation’s employees, which are compensable under said Act, shall also be applicable to the participants assigned to works or projects that are carried out under the Corporation itself.
The entity that uses the client shall prepare the accident reports in duplicate, within the term indicated by §§ 1 et seq. of Title 11, and shall send a copy to the State Insurance Fund Administrator. In case of injuries that require any type of specialized treatment that cannot be given conveniently in the institution itself, the Administrator shall authorize the hospitalization of the injured person in a hospital designated by the State Insurance Fund Administrator, or that is selected by common accord by the State Insurance Fund Administrator, and the Correctional Administrator, or the Juvenile Institutions Administrator, as the case may be.
The responsibility of the custody of the participant while he/she receives treatment shall correspond to the Correctional Administration or Juvenile Institutions Administration, as the case may be.
No compensation shall be paid for temporary disability to the participants for the duration of their confinement. These stipends may only be received by those who are released before their disability has ceased and until they are discharged. Compensation payments for partial or total permanent disability shall be made in behalf of the participant but they shall be remitted to the Correctional Administration or the Juvenile Institutions Administration for the corresponding legal purposes, for the duration of their confinement.
(2) Participant’s service; base pay. — Those entitities that use the services of the participants shall include them in their payroll for the purposes of this chapter, on the basis of the wage they receive, which for the purposes of the payroll report to be rendered annually to the State Insurance Fund Administrator, shall not be less than eight dollars ($8) a week, or whichever is established in the future by the State Insurance Fund Administrator as authorized by law. These entities shall be bound by law to include in their annual expense budget, sufficient funds to cover the payment of the corresponding premiums for the use of the clients.
(3) The Executive Director shall keep a detailed report of the accidents and occupational diseases suffered by the participants while they are engaged in the activities indicated in this chapter, and of their claims, and shall intervene in the designation of a legal representative to represent the client in any action or appearance that may be needed before the State Insurance Fund Administrator or the Industrial Commission, or the courts, related to any claim the client may be entitled to under the provisions of §§ 1 et seq. of Title 11. The term to appeal the Administrator’s decisions or the resolutions of the Industrial Commission shall be counted from the date the injured person is served there with through the Executive Director.
(4) The same norms that apply in the case of other workers or employees shall be used in order to determine who the beneficiaries of a participant who died from a work-related injury are. In the absence of persons who, in fact, depend on the participant at the time of death, those relatives who depended on the decedent before he/she began to serve his/her sentence shall be deemed as dependents, if they qualify in all other concepts and are needy persons. If there are none, those persons who at the moment of his/her death are indigents, shall be entitled even though they never depended on the deceased client.
(5) The State Insurance Fund Administrator is hereby authorized to promulgate the needed regulations to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
(B) Work accident compensation to minors in the Juvenile Institutions Administration employed in contravention of the laws in effect. — The compensation which workers who are less than eighteen (18) years of age, who are employed in contravention of the laws in effect on the date of employment, who suffer injuries or occupational diseases pursuant to the terms of this chapter, are entitled to in case of disability, or to which their beneficiaries are entitled in case of death, shall be twice the amount that corresponds to a worker who is eighteen (18) years of age and legally employed; Provided, That the employer shall pay the additional compensation provided herein, the sum of which shall constitute a lien on the employer’s total assets and shall be effective in the manner provided in this chapter for the collection of compensation in the case of uninsured employers; and Provided, further, That the State Insurance Fund Administrator, prior to collecting said additional compensation from the employer, as well as the worker, shall have the opportunity to be heard in their defense.
(C) Work accident compensation to volunteer workers, ex-convicts, pardoned Ccnvicts, and those under suspended sentence, parole, supervised release, rehabilitation treatment, and half-way programs. —
(1) The State Insurance Fund Administrator is hereby empowered and directed to extend benefits under §§ 1 et seq. of Title 11, to convicted adults and transgressing minors who are in the free community under any suspended sentence, parole, supervised release, rehabilitation treatment, half-way house programs, pardoned convicts, and those adults and minors who are participating in a prevention, treatment or rehabilitation program of the Administration of Mental Health and Addiction Services; and their dependents in case of death, in cases of accidents that cause death or injury, or occupational disease, and which occur in the course of and as a result of their work in the Corporation’s programs, or during the course of and as a result of training.
(2) For the purposes of this chapter, it shall be deemed that an adult or a minor under training who receives no cash compensation of services rendered to the Corporation, or who receives a minimum compensation, shall receive at the time of the accident the weekly wage earned by him/her in his/her regular employment or office; Provided, That with regard to the unemployed, the weekly salary received on the date of having ceased his/her employment shall rule. When it is not possible to determine the salary, the benefits shall be figured on the basis of the minimum provided by law.
(3) By request of the Corporation, the State Insurance Fund Administrator shall extend insurance coverage to convicted adults, transgressing minors and participants of the Administration of Mental Health and Addiction Services, subject to the conditions established in this chapter, and shall liquidate the insurance annually, based on the expenses incurred.
(4) At the close of the fiscal year, the Administrator shall present an invoice, to the Director of the Corporation for reimbursement, and the Corporation shall reimburse the amount shown thereon to the State Insurance Fund from the funds appropriated for such purposes, and in case the Corporation has no appropriation, or the appropriation available is insufficient, the State Insurance Fund’s claim shall be paid from any unencumbered funds in the Treasury of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(5) Insurance of adults and minors exempted from the provisions of the Merit Classification System and the experience with regard to accidents and the cost of this insurance, shall be kept apart from the general experience of the other insured, for statistical and actuarial purposes.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person whose right to receive benefits under §§ 1 et seq. of Title 11 can be established other than from the provisions of this chapter.
History —Aug. 6, 1991, No. 47, § 12.