P.R. Laws tit. 29, § 1203
(a) The appointing authorities shall be responsible for compliance [of] the provisions of this chapter and the norms for its implementation. Personnel or human resources directors shall be responsible for advising the corresponding appointing authorities on the provisions of this chapter.
(b) The Commission shall conduct periodic audits to assure compliance of the agencies with this chapter.
(c) If as a result of the audits conducted, irregularities or violations are found, this chapter empowers the Women’s Affairs Commission, Office of the Governor, to impose on the appointing authorities administrative fines of one hundred dollars ($100) and of up to a maximum of five hundred dollars ($500), and fines to the personnel or human resources directors of fifty dollars ($50) and of up to a maximum of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) for each failure to comply detected. The Commission shall also keep the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico informed. In case it is preliminarily determined that the actions constitute a public offense, the evidence shall be referred to the Secretary of Justice for the corresponding action.
(d) On establishing the amount of the fines, certain criteria shall be taken into consideration, such as:
(1) The number of failures to comply with the legislation and with the norms in effect incurred during the evaluated period;
(2) seriousness of the failures to comply;
(3) previous patterns of failure to comply;
(4) official or employee subject to fines.
(e) Extenuating circumstances in the imposition of fines, whether to reduce or eliminate the same shall be the possibility of rapid solutions submitted by the agency in question; the fact that it is the first time in which a statute or norms thereunder are violated and the situation was immediately corrected; or a written agreement from the appointing authority that it shall see to it that there [will] be no further noncompliance instances of this nature. Provided, That should there be additional failures to comply, the fines shall be established to the maximum allowed by legislation, without taking into consideration any extenuating circumstances.
(f) Should there be intent or negligence by the official who authorizes any illegal action regarding this chapter, he/she shall be subject to the penalties established by § 310 of Title 1.
(g) The collection of the fines established in this chapter shall be covered into the General Fund of the Commonwealth Treasury to be appropriated to the Anti-Discrimination Unit of the Department of Labor and Human Resources.
History —Aug. 3, 1999, No. 212, § 4.