P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4567
Every pregnant employee shall be entitled to request that maternity leave with pay be granted to her. This leave shall include a period of four (4) weeks before and four (4) weeks after childbirth.
In the case of a temporary employee, maternity leave shall not exceed the period of her appointment.
(a) Option to alter leave.— An employee may choose to take only one prenatal week of rest and extend the postnatal rest period up to seven (7) weeks. In these cases, the employee shall submit a medical certificate establishing that she is able to work until one week before child-birth.
(b) Complete salary and accrual of other leave.— An employee shall earn her complete salary during the maternity leave period. This payment shall be made when the employee begins her maternity leave. Employees on maternity leave shall accrue vacation and sick leave while on maternity leave, and until they return to municipal public service at the end of such leave. In these cases, leave credits shall be granted when the employee returns to work.
(c) Extension of leave.— If child-birth occurs before the period chosen by the employee for her prenatal maternity leave, or without it having begun, the post-partum period shall be extended for a period of time equal to that which she failed to use during the prenatal period, and she shall also be paid her full salary. The pregnant employee may also request to return to work before her eight (8) weeks of leave expire, if she presents a medical certificate attesting that she is able to work. In this case, it shall be deemed that the employee has waived the extension of leave to which she is entitled.
When in spite of the medical certificate required in this section, the probable date of child-birth has been miscalculated, and the woman has taken eight (8) weeks of leave without having given birth, her leave at full pay shall be extended until the birth occurs, in which case, the additional term for which the prenatal leave is extended shall be paid in the same way and terms established for the payment of regular salaries, wages or compensation.
(d) Request for leave.— Every request for maternity leave shall include a certificate issued by a physician licensed to practice in Puerto Rico, indicating the approximate date that, in the physician’s judgment the employee shall be able to work.
(e) Complications during pregnancy.— In those cases that the employee has complications during her pregnancy or as a result thereof, and there is a reasonable expectation that the employee shall return to work, she may be granted any vacation and sick leave she is entitled to, pursuant to this subtitle and the municipal regulations in force, in addition to maternity leave. When the employee has not accrued sufficient sick leave, the nominating authority can advance said leave for a reasonable period, as justified by the circumstances and merits of the case, up to a maximum of eighteen (18) working days. She may, likewise, also be granted leave without pay. However, in no case shall the total period that the employee who is on any of these types of leave, is absent, or all of them, exceed one year [sic].
(f) Termination of pregnancy by abortion.— When an employee suffers an abortion, she may claim the same benefits granted to an employee who has a normal child-birth. However, to be entitled to such benefits the abortion shall be of such nature that it produces the same physiological effects that are regularly seen as a result of child-birth, according to the dictates and certification of the physician who attends her during the abortion. In this case, the employee shall be entitled to be granted maternity leave for the term of her disability.
Any employee who starts to use her prenatal leave as provided in this subtitle, and the pregnancy ends due to a premature birth, may claim the same benefits as an employee who has a normal childbirth.
(g) Unjustified dismissal.— A pregnant woman shall not be dismissed without just cause. Lesser productivity due to her pregnancy shall not be understood to be just cause. Any decision that may somehow affect a pregnant woman’s permanence at work, shall be postponed until the end of her maternity leave.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 12.017; Apr. 13, 1995, No. 36, § 46; renumbered as § 11.017 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 3; Nov. 22, 2009, No. 151, § 6.