The Puerto Rico House of Representatives has approved legislation that would explicitly affirm employers’ authority to require employees to work more than eight hours per day or 40 hours per week, provided workers receive overtime compensation and employers comply with penalties established under Puerto Rico labor law.
The vote comes against the backdrop of an existing provision of Law 379 that already allows employers and employees to establish, through a written agreement, alternative work schedules under which an employee may work up to 10 hours per day without triggering overtime pay, provided the employee does not exceed 40 hours in a week. Under that arrangement, any work beyond 10 hours in a day must be compensated at time-and-a-half.
The measure, House Bill 1505, sponsored by Rep. Roberto López Román, chairman of the House Labor and Labor Affairs Committee, seeks to amend Law 379, Puerto Rico’s 1948 law governing work schedules and overtime compensation, by adding language stating that nothing in Article 6 limits an employer’s authority to establish work schedules that exceed eight hours per day or 40 hours per week, so long as overtime compensation and applicable penalties are paid in accordance with law.
The legislation argues that pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical-device and other advanced manufacturing operations increasingly require extended, rotating and continuous shifts to remain competitive.
Why lawmakers say the bill is needed
Supporters contend the bill is intended to provide legal certainty rather than alter existing employee rights. Opponents, however, argue that it could broaden employers’ authority to impose longer workdays and further tilt the balance toward management discretion in scheduling decisions.
According to the measure’s statement of motives, lawmakers believe Puerto Rico’s overtime statute has been interpreted by some as limiting an employer’s ability to organize work schedules, when its principal purpose is to establish compensation requirements once employees exceed statutory thresholds.
The legislation seeks to codify the position that the eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek function as triggers for overtime compensation rather than absolute restrictions on scheduling.
The bill is heavily focused on the needs of Puerto Rico’s manufacturing sector, which lawmakers noted accounts for approximately half of the island’s gross domestic product and roughly 98% of merchandise exports.
The legislation argues that pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical-device and other advanced manufacturing operations increasingly require extended, rotating and continuous shifts to remain competitive.
Supporters also point to demographic and workforce challenges, including Puerto Rico’s declining population, labor shortages and relatively low labor-force participation rate. The measure argues that operational flexibility is necessary to help employers retain existing investments, attract new manufacturing activity and capitalize on “nearshoring” opportunities as companies seek alternatives to more distant supply chains.
Labor Department backs the clarification
The legislation received the endorsement of the Department of Labor and Human Resources, which submitted testimony supporting the bill to the House Labor and Labor Affairs Committee.
According to the committee report, the agency concluded that the proposal does not eliminate overtime pay, reduce overtime rates or relieve employers of penalties for labor-law violations. Instead, the department said the measure serves an important clarifying function by expressly recognizing employers’ authority to establish and administer daily and weekly work schedules while preserving all existing compensation requirements.
The department further argued that modern manufacturing operations frequently depend on integrated production processes and continuous operations that cannot always be organized around traditional eight-hour shifts. As a result, certainty regarding the legality of extended schedules is viewed as an important competitiveness factor.
The agency also maintained that the proposal is consistent with the labor-flexibility policies adopted under Puerto Rico’s 2017 labor reform and emphasized that existing worker protections would remain in force, including mandatory rest periods between shifts and limits applicable to alternative workweek arrangements and make-up time agreements.
Notably, while the committee requested comments from the Department of Economic Development and Commerce and the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association, neither organization had submitted testimony by the time the committee report was issued on Nov. 3.
Committee rejects the worker-rights concerns
In recommending approval, the committee rejected concerns that the bill weakens workers’ rights, stating that the measure “does not reduce overtime compensation, does not eliminate overtime pay and does not relieve employers of strict compliance with applicable penalties.”
The report further states that the traditional eight-hour day and 40-hour workweek remain the legal thresholds that trigger overtime obligations and that the legislation merely clarifies they are not an absolute prohibition on extended work schedules.
The bill would take effect immediately upon becoming law.
