Industrial Commission: appealing the Fund within 30 days
What the Industrial Commission is
When the State Insurance Fund decides something about your case and you disagree, you do not go to court: you go to the **Industrial Commission of Puerto Rico**. It is a separate forum, created by the same **Act 45 of 1935** that creates the Fund, and its role is precisely defined: it has **exclusively quasi-judicial and quasi-guardianship functions** to investigate and resolve **all accident cases where the Administrator and the injured worker, or their beneficiaries, do not reach agreement** on compensation.
The Commission consists of **seven (7) Commissioners**, appointed by the Governor with the Senate's advice and consent for a term of **six (6) years**, and **all must be attorneys** admitted to practice in Puerto Rico. Its principal seat is in San Juan, but the statute empowers it to sit or act anywhere in Puerto Rico and to establish **regional seats**.
There is a phrase in the statute worth keeping in mind before you go in: **"in the exercise of its functions it shall represent only the public interest"**. The Commission is not your lawyer or the Fund's. It is an adjudicator. That is why the appellant may (and usually should) **be assisted by counsel**, which the statute expressly mentions.
One detail that says a lot about how it is designed: **the Commission's sessions shall be public**, and resolutions must contain **a summary of all evidence presented, the evidence weighed, findings of fact and conclusions of law**. It is not a "denied" with no explanation.
The deadline: thirty days from notice
**Article 9** says it plainly: if the worker or employee, or their beneficiaries, do not agree with the decision issued by the Administrator of the State Insurance Fund Corporation on their case, they **may appeal to the Industrial Commission within a term of thirty (30) days after being served with a copy of the decision**.
Note when it starts: **from being served with a copy of the decision**, not from having it explained at a counter or from the date it was signed. The notice date is what counts, so keep the envelope, the receipt or the email with its date.
Once filed, **the case is referred to a hearing officer**. That body of officers is designated by the Commission's Chair, they hold **career positions**, and they have authority to administer oaths, **issue subpoenas** requiring reports, books, papers and documents, receive and rule on evidence, take depositions, hold and preside over public hearings, hold **preliminary conferences** to clarify and simplify the controversy, and recommend decisions to the Commission.
There is another thirty-day term for a particular case. When the Administrator **declares an employer uninsured**, both the worker and the employer may go to the Commission, and **the employer has a term of thirty (30) days** to appeal that decision. The same applies when the Administrator imposes additional compensation on the employer: thirty days from notice.
The medical hearing: who examines you and who pays your doctor
If your appeal involves a **medical controversy** (which is most cases: the disability rating, whether you need more treatment, whether you were discharged too soon) the statute requires a **medical hearing** first. Its purpose is written down: to determine whether the appellant **needs additional medical treatment**, should **be evaluated by a specialist**, or whether the **disability determination must be reviewed**.
Who conducts it matters, because it is not just the Fund. The hearing is conducted **jointly by physicians of the State Insurance Fund Corporation and of the Industrial Commission**, plus **the physician the worker may see fit to bring**. It is in the charge and under the control of **the Commission's representative physician**, not the Fund's.
And here is the fact almost nobody knows and that changes decisions: **if you bring your own physician, their fees and travel expenses are compensated by the Industrial Commission**, in the manner set by regulation. The statute says it twice in the same article. Many people go without their own doctor believing they cannot afford one, and they are not the ones paying.
Once the hearing ends, the physicians prepare **a report to the Commission** on the evaluation, measures taken, treatment and disability determinations, if any. With that **the Commission issues the corresponding resolution and notifies you**.
If you are still not satisfied: another thirty days for a public hearing
This is the second clock and the one most people let lapse, believing the resolution after the medical hearing is the end of the road. It is not: **if the appellant is not satisfied with the Commission's resolution, they may request a public hearing within a term of thirty (30) days**.
The public hearing is a different and fuller proceeding. A hearing officer presides, it is governed by the regulation the Commission adopts under the **Uniform Administrative Procedure Act**, and **minutes are taken**. That is where evidence is presented, witnesses are examined and the record is built.
As the name says, **public hearings shall be public**, with one exception the statute reserves for the appellant: they may not be **in cases where the appellant has shown the existence of irreparable harm**, as the regulation provides. If your case involves medical or personal information whose disclosure would harm you, that is the route to request it not be public.
In short, two chained thirty-day deadlines: thirty to appeal the Administrator's decision, and thirty more, after the resolution following the medical hearing, to request the public hearing. Write both dates down the day each notice arrives.
After the Commission: judicial review, no filing fees
When the Commission issues its final resolution, courts do come in. Act 45 provides that **final resolutions of the Industrial Commission may be reviewed by the courts of justice** under the applicable judiciary act.
And it adds a short sentence worth money: **"The review petition shall be exempt from payment of filing fees."** Filing for review of an Industrial Commission resolution costs you no stamps. It is one of those lines nobody mentions that removes a real barrier.
It is worth understanding the design's logic, because it explains why the deadlines are so short. The Fund decides; the Commission reviews in two stages (medical hearing and public hearing) with a record and a reasoned resolution; and only then does the court review **on that record**. What was not raised before the Commission is very hard to make exist for the court later.
That is why the practical advice is always the same, in the same order: appeal within the thirty days even if you do not yet have all your evidence, bring your own physician to the medical hearing (the Commission pays), and if the resolution does not satisfy you, request the public hearing within the next thirty days. Every stage you skip is evidence that will not be there later.
Another door to the Commission: when adequate care is not provided
Not everything taken to the Industrial Commission is an appeal from a final decision. **Article 5** opens a different and less known route, for a very concrete problem: not being properly cared for.
During the period of incapacity you submit to treatment and examination by a competent physician designated by the Administrator. But the statute adds: **if the Administrator fails to provide adequate care to the worker or employee, they may go to the Industrial Commission**, and it, **after investigation by a physician designated for the purpose, shall order the care the case requires**, and **the Administrator shall comply with the Commission's order**.
Read that again: the Commission can **order** the treatment, and the Administrator **must comply**. If you have gone months without a referral to the specialist you need, that is not a complaint solved by insisting at the counter: it is a claim with a forum and a written remedy.
The same article also recognizes that **the injured worker shall have the right to designate a physician at their own expense**. Having your own doctor following the case early is what makes it possible, when the medical hearing arrives, to have something to set against the Fund's file.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do I have to appeal a Fund decision?
Thirty (30) days after being served with a copy of the Administrator's decision, under Article 9 of Act 45 of 1935. The term runs from service of the copy, not from when it is explained to you, so keep the document with its date. Once filed, the case is referred to a hearing officer.
Can I bring my own doctor to the hearing? Who pays?
Yes, and the Commission pays. Article 9 provides that the medical hearing is conducted jointly by Fund and Industrial Commission physicians and the physician the worker may see fit to bring, and that when the appellant worker designates their own physician, that physician's fees and travel expenses shall be compensated by the Commission in the manner set by regulation.
The Commission ruled and I disagree. Is that the end?
No. After the resolution following the medical hearing, a dissatisfied appellant may request a public hearing within a term of thirty (30) days. And the Commission's final resolutions may be reviewed by the courts, with a review petition the statute exempts from filing fees.
The Fund is not giving me the treatment I need. Must I wait for a decision?
You need not wait for a final decision. Article 5 of Act 45 provides that if the Administrator fails to provide adequate care, the worker may go to the Industrial Commission, and it, after investigation by a physician designated for the purpose, shall order the care the case requires, and the Administrator shall comply with that order.
Do I need a lawyer to go to the Industrial Commission?
The statute does not require it, but it does expressly say the appellant may be assisted by counsel. It is worth bearing in mind for a reason in the text itself: the Commission, in exercising its functions, shall represent only the public interest. It is not your representative or the Fund's.
Official sources
- Ley 45 de 18 de abril de 1935, «Ley del Sistema de Compensaciones por Accidentes del Trabajo», Artículos 5, 6 y 9 (11 L.P.R.A. §§ 6, 8 y 11), compilación rev. 28 de mayo de 2026
- Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos de Puerto Rico
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