I was fired and I am in a union: Act 80 does not apply

The word that leaves you out of Act 80

Act 80 of 1976 protects **employees** against unjust dismissal, and since the 2017 Labor Reform the act itself defines that word. **Article 14(e)** says "employee" means any person who works for an employer and receives compensation for their services, and then clarifies what it does **not** include: independent contractors, **government employees**, **employees covered by a live collective bargaining agreement**, and employees under a temporary, term or project employment contract.

If you work under a live collective agreement, that phrase takes you out of Act 80. It is not a minor technicality: it means the severance payment, the deadline to claim it and the whole framework of that act are not your route. Claiming there wastes time that is in fact running where you do have a remedy.

Article 14(g) closes the other side: "employer" also excludes the Government of Puerto Rico, its three branches, departments, agencies, instrumentalities, public corporations and municipalities, and the Government of the United States. A unionized public employee falls outside Act 80 twice over.

Worth knowing where this definition came from: Article 14 was **added by Article 4.14 of Act 4-2017**. That is why a lot of old information about Act 80 does not mention it, and why you should distrust advice that does not distinguish before and after that reform.

Where your remedy is: in the contract

Act 80 not covering you does not leave you unprotected; it moves the protection elsewhere. Your remedy comes from the **collective bargaining agreement** and its **grievance and arbitration procedure**. That document sets who files the grievance, with whom, within how many days and in how many steps.

Here is the trap that costs cases: **those deadlines are usually much shorter** than a court claim's and start running from the day of dismissal or from notice. The law does not set them (your contract does) so nobody can quote them from memory. The first move after a dismissal is not finding a lawyer: it is **getting a copy of the current agreement and reading the grievance clause**, and notifying your shop steward or representative that same day.

If you do not have the agreement, the union is required to have it, and Article 6 of Act 130 of 1945 further requires certified copies of collective agreements to be filed with the Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board. It is not a secret document: it is as much yours as the employer's.

In the public sector the route is also different and has its own statute: Act 45-1998 governs unionization in government, with its own forum. If you are a unionized public employee, the agreement and that act govern your case, not Act 80.

The contract has teeth: what if the employer ignores it

A collective bargaining agreement in Puerto Rico is not just any private contract. **Article 1(5)** of Act 130 of 1945 declares that all live and future collective agreements are instruments of public policy and are **clothed with a public interest**, and that the parties' exercise of rights and performance of obligations are subject to the reasonable regulation needed to achieve that policy.

The practical consequence follows. **Article 8(1)(f)** makes it an **unfair labor practice** for the employer to violate the terms of a collective agreement, **including an agreement to accept an arbitration award**, whether or not that agreement is inside the contract. The symmetry exists: Article 8(2)(a) makes exactly the same conduct unlawful when it is the labor organization violating the agreement.

And there is a mechanism to enforce the award once you have won it and they will not comply. **Article 9** empowers the Labor Relations Board, in its discretion, to help enforce arbitration awards issued by competent bodies designated under a collective agreement. After the award is issued, **at either party's request**, the Board may advise or, if asked, **bring an action on behalf of the requesting party before the Court of Appeals** to have the award enforced.

That is the real difference between the two routes. Under Act 80 you fight the employer yourself. Under the agreement, if the employer breaches the contract or the award, the breach is also an unfair labor practice before a body created by statute, the Puerto Rico Labor Relations Board, established by Article 3 of Act 130.

What to do the day you are dismissed

The order matters more than the rush, because the clock that runs is the contract's, not the statute's.

• **Notify your steward or union representative today**, even by message, and keep dated proof of that notice.
• **Request a copy of the current agreement** and go straight to the grievance clause: who files, with whom, within how many days, and how many steps before arbitration.
• **Request the dismissal letter in writing** with the reason the employer alleges. It serves in the grievance procedure and in any later claim alike.
• **Save everything documenting your record**: evaluations, warnings, emails, schedules, commendation letters. Evidence is assembled before it is requested.
• **Check whether your agreement is live or expired.** Article 14(e) of Act 80 speaks of a **live** collective agreement, so if yours expired, the question of which law covers you changes and must be analyzed with someone who knows your case.