P.R. Laws tit. 25, § 285f
It shall be a prerequisite to obtain a license as private detective or for the operation of an agency to present an insurance policy or give a bond in favor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The bond shall be for the sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000), which shall always be kept for said sum. The insurance policy shall be for the minimum limits of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per person, and ten thousand dollars ($10,000) when there are several causes for action. The bond and the policy shall respond for any damages caused to a third person through culpable or negligent action or omission. The bond may be given through deposit in cash, mortgage or by a surety or fidelity company or corporation licensed to do business in Puerto Rico.
The Commissioner of Insurance shall approve said bond as to form and sufficiency of surety.
Nothing provided herein shall relieve any person from any civil liability imposed by law. In every action or proceeding against an agency [charged with liability] for omissions or acts of its officers or employees, it shall be presumed, until otherwise shown, that said acts or omissions were committed in the regular course and fulfillment of the functions inherent to the employment contract.
The furnishing of said bond in favor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall not be construed in the sense that the latter assumes or accepts thereby any civil liability which it would not otherwise have. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall, therefore, be a trustee in respect to said bond.
In addition to the above requirements to obtain a license for the operation of an agency, it shall be a prerequisite to give a payment bond in behalf of the Secretary of Labor and Human Relations.
Said bond shall be given in cash, certified check or with the surety of a surety or fidelity bonding company or corporation licensed to do business in Puerto Rico, and the same shall jointly or severally secure with the agency up to the extent of the bond’s liability, the payment of wages earned and any other right or benefit to which the workers and employees of the agency are legally entitled to through the labor management relationship. The amount of said payment bond shall not be less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for the agency’s first year of operations and of no less than ten percent (10%) of its yearly payroll for the subsequent years it continues in operation. Provided, That in the case of an agency with one (1) to four (4) employees, this payment bond shall be of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each employee for the agency’s first year of operations, and no less than ten percent (10%) of its annual payroll for the subsequent years it continues in operation.
The wages earned by the agency’s workers and employees, as well as any other right or benefit to which they are legally entitled, shall have absolute preference with regard to their payment over any other of the agency’s debts, with the exception of mortgage credits on real or personal property or copyrights registered in the Property Registry prior to the date that the wage, benefit or right shall have accrued, and with the exception of the taxes owed to the Commonwealth or its municipalities by the agency.
Any person who has worked for an agency with regard to which the bond required by this section has been given, and to whom his wages or any right or benefit he is legally entitled to has not been paid in whole or in part, has the right to file suit against the agency without prior notice or requirement, against the agency’s bond or against both to collect the amount thus owed to him.
Any judicial action filed under this section may be prosecuted according to the provisions of §§ 3118—3133 of Title 32, and all claims for wages or any other right or benefit owed may be joined in a single action.
Any cause of action under this section shall be filed in behalf of the interested person or persons, but the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources may also file suit for the payment of any other right or benefit on his own initiative or that of one or more workers with interest in the matter and in representation and for the benefit of one or more of them who are in similar circumstances. The suit may be filed in the Court of First Instance, or District Court Part for the place the work is done or where the employee lives at the time the suit is filed. Every employee shall be entitled to collect, in addition to the unpaid amounts, another like amount for additional compensation besides court costs and expenses and lawyers’ fees in the civil suit established, and the bond shall respond for the payment of the judgment emitted up to the amount of the bond.
If an agency should commence working with workers without first having given the payment bond required by this section, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources through an injunction issued by a court of competent jurisdiction may paralyze the agency’s work until the provisions of this section have been faithfully complied with. Due notice of this procedure shall be given to the Superintendent, who may intervene therein if he so wishes.
History —June 29, 1965, No. 108, p. 289, § 7; June 24, 1968, No. 126, p. 292, § 5; May 29, 1986, No. 30, p. 72, § 1.