(a) The claim of farm workers regarding the rights granted by this chapter, shall be investigated by the Department of Agriculture; Provided, That every farm worker who does not receive the annual bonus in December, may claim the payment thereof until March 31 of the following year.
(b) Neither the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico nor the Department of Agriculture shall be liable for the payment of claims of agricultural workers motivated by the unfulfillment on the part of the farmers of any of the provisions of this chapter or by information which has not been supplied.
(c) If the claimant is eligible to the payment of the bonus provided by this chapter and he failed to receive same because of noncompliance of one or more of the farmers who were his employers with any of the duties imposed by this chapter or of the regulations adopted thereunder, the worker shall be entitled to claim from such employer or employers double the amount corresponding to him for said bonus, likewise, if such violations have had the effect of reducing the amount of the bonus to which the agricultural worker was entitled, the latter may claim from said employer or employers an amount equivalent to double the difference which he failed to receive.
When the responsibility of the sustained damage should fall on more than one employer, the amount of the penalty imposed in the preceding paragraph shall be distributed among said employers in proportion to the incomes derived by the agricultural worker from each one of them.
History —June 19, 1971, No. 42, p. 121, § 6; Dec. 1, 2001, No. 168, § 3, retroactive to July 1, 2001.