P.R. Laws tit. 29, § 686

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 686. Total and permanent physical disability pension

For total permanent disability which has occurred before the age of sixty-five (65) years, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources shall grant one single payment to each insured person who has paid to the Fund the assessments corresponding to forty (40) weeks or more in the period comprising the four (4) contribution quarters which end immediately preceding the date of the occurrence of said disability.

Said payment shall be granted on the basis of the following schedule:

Dues paid in the basic period Age at the time of disability Less than More than 61 62 63 64 65 240 weeks or more $3,600 $2,880 $2,160 $1,440 $720 Nothing 200 to 239 weeks $3,200 $2,560 $1,920 $1,280 $640 Nothing 150 to 199 weeks $2,800 $2,240 $1,680 $1,120 $560 Nothing 100 to 149 weeks $2,300 $1,840 $1,380 $920 $460 Nothing Less than 100 weeks $1,800 $1,400 $1,080 $720 $360 Nothing

The term “basic period” shall mean the twenty (20) contributing quarters comprised in the five (5) calendar years before the first day of March preceding the date of the occurrence of said disability; Provided, however, That all pension payments received under § 683 of this title from the date of the occurrence of the disability and during the year preceding said date shall be subtracted from the sole payment mentioned above. For the purposes of this chapter, permanent total disability shall mean any sickness, injury or condition resulting in the permanent disability of the insured to operate a motor vehicle.

For the purposes of this chapter, it shall be necessary to present a certificate as proof of permanent total disability, issued by the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works, stating that the insured applicant’s drivers license, heavy motor vehicle and motorcycle operator’s license has been canceled due to a permanent total disability according to a certificate filed to that effect in said secretariat, a copy of which shall be furnished by the applicant to the Director. Acceptance by the insured of benefit payments for permanent total disability, shall deprive him/her of the right to apply in the future to the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works to be issued a license as chauffeur, a heavy motor vehicle and motorcycle license authorizing him/her to drive, under the contention that a physician has certified that he/she is physically able to drive it, unless the applicant reimburses the amount he/she received when he/she was declared totally and permanently disabled, to the Fund. Provided, That said Director may submit the applicant for the benefit payment to a medical examination, and the latter shall be bound to allow and facilitate that said examination be made to determine if the permanent total disability exists. Provided, That the insured shall not be entitled to this benefit when said permanent total disability is the result of a fight in which the insured initiated the aggression; or is due to gross negligence or reckless imprudence of the insured in the operation of his/her vehicle; or has been contracted as a direct result of the violation of a law; or a fraudulent action of the insured.

When an insured has received pension payments for sickness according to § 683 of this title and has not been able to return to work since he was taken sick because he continued sick uninterruptedly and became totally and permanently disabled due to the same sickness within the thirty (30) weeks following the date in which the last week for which pension was granted according to said section expired, he shall be entitled to participate in the permanent total disability benefits as provided in this section, but in computing the amount to be paid it shall be fixed as if the disability had occurred on the date the last payment of pension for sickness expired.

History —May 15, 1950, No. 428, p. 1038, added as § 5(A) on May 14, 1952, No. 454, p. 924, § 6; June 11, 1954, No. 59, p. 332; June 14, 1957, No. 59, p. 137; renumbered as § 5 and amended on 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, § 5; June 18, 1980, No. 149, p. 663, § 6; Dec. 30, 1995, No. 262, § 8.