P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 50
It shall be the duty of the inspector of the work to make sure that the contractor is, in the abovesaid manner, paying the wages and salaries earned by the workers and employees on the work. In any case in which the payment of the wages and salaries of the employees and workers on the work is not being made in the manner provided under § 49 of this title, the inspector shall notify the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works and the latter, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources. The inspector, together with an officer or official appointed by the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources, shall make the proper investigation. In case it is ascertained through such investigation that there has not been strict compliance with the payment of the salaries and wages of the workers and employees on the work as required by §§ 47—58 of this title, there shall be prepared by the said investigators, on the proper forms, a payroll covering the wages owed, and this payroll shall be sent to the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works for his final approval and payment. After the payroll has been approved by the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works, it shall be paid from the fund appropriated for the work. The Secretary of transportation and Public Works is hereby authorized to deduct the sum total of these payrolls from the amount of the voucher issued monthly to the order of the contractor for the work done, or from the ten percent (10%) withheld by the Department of Transportation and Public Works. With the exception of any taxes which the contractor may owe to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the salaries and wages earned by the workers and employees on the work shall have absolute preference with regard to payment over the rest of the debts of the contractor.
History —May 9, 1951, No. 388, p. 948, § 4.