My employer is not paying me: calculate what you are owed

There is a procedure built for you

When an employer does not pay you, the answer you almost always get is «file a complaint». What they rarely explain is which one, and why that complaint does not work like a normal lawsuit. It is called the summary procedure for labor claims, created by Act 2 of October 17, 1961, and it is designed on purpose so a worker can win fast and with no money up front.

You can use it to claim any right or benefit, any sum for work performed, and also compensation if you were dismissed without just cause. That means: unpaid wages, overtime, the Christmas bonus, your final settlement, benefits you were owed.

It is filed in the Superior Court of First Instance, and here is a convenience worth knowing: it can be the one where you did the work or the one where you live on the date of the claim. If you worked in San Juan and moved to Ponce, you do not have to cross the island.

**A currency note, and now we know exactly what changed:** the text explained here is OGP's official compilation **revised to August 31, 2026**, which already incorporates **Act 185 of August 14, 2026**. We obtained that law's original text and the change is a single piece, in Section 15: **it gave the prevailing worker the right to recover litigation costs**, to be requested under Rule 44.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. Its statement of motives says it plainly, denying workers the recovery of costs 'has an inhibiting effect on their access to the courts' and puts them at a disadvantage against the employer, 'which ordinarily has the resources to pay for its defense.'

And a point about who is covered that is almost never mentioned. **Section 2** defines «obrero» as **any manual worker, of any sex**, and expressly includes **persons employed in domestic services or occupations**. «Empleado» is used «in its broadest sense» and comprises, among others, every kind of artisan, employee or clerk of commerce or industry. If you work in a home, this procedure is yours too.

Calculate what the period owes you

Pick how often you are paid, how much you receive and how many days of the period you worked, and see the gross amount you are due. That is the number you bring to the claim, not a guess from memory.

The clock runs against the employer

Here is the real force of this procedure. Once the court clerk serves the complaint, the employer has ten days to answer in writing if served in the same judicial district where the action is brought, and fifteen days otherwise. The notice comes with an explicit warning: if they do not answer, judgment is entered against them granting what you asked for, without summoning or hearing them further.

And it is not a negotiable deadline. The judge may extend it only if the employer files a sworn motion stating its reasons and the judge finds justified cause on the face of that motion. The law says that in no other case does the court have jurisdiction to grant the extension.

There is a second trap for the employer: it must file a single responsive pleading including all its defenses and objections. Whatever it leaves out, it waives. It cannot save arguments for later.

If the employer does not answer in time, the judge enters judgment in your favor granting the remedy sought, and that judgment is final: it **cannot be appealed**. The same happens if the trial day arrives and only you show up. The reverse also applies, **if only the employer appears, your claim is dismissed**. Showing up is not optional.

But «cannot be appealed» does not mean there is no way out, and this part has to be told in full because it affects the worker as much as the employer. **Section 4** provides that the party affected by one of those judgments **may seek certiorari before the Court of Appeals within the jurisdictional term of ten (10) days** following notice, **for the proceedings to be reviewed exclusively**. It is not an appeal on the merits: it is a review of the procedure. And from there to the Supreme Court it is **twenty (20) days**, also jurisdictional.

There is a second valve too, in **Section 6**: the court keeps the discretion of Rule 49.2 of Civil Procedure in cases of **error, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect or fraud**, but the motion invoking it must be filed **within sixty (60) days** of notice of the judgment and state the grounds **under oath**. If it is not filed that way, the statute orders the court to **deny it outright**.

Two shields the statute gives you that almost nobody mentions

The fear that paralyzes most people before filing is this: «if I claim, the employer will sue me». **Section 3** shuts it with a short sentence: **«in no case processed under this statute may the complaining worker or employee be countersued or subjected to a counterclaim on any ground whatsoever»**. On no ground. It is not that it is hard: the statute does not allow it.

The second shield is less known and tilts the litigation your way. That same Section 3 places **limits on pretrial discovery** that apply only to the employer or to both sides, and they are these:

The first limit is the most useful to understand. If the employer is required by the Minimum Wage Act and its regulations to keep records, payrolls and wage lists, it **cannot use discovery against you to obtain that information**: it is information it had a duty to hold. The only exception the statute names is any statement given or document submitted by you in a judicial action.

And there is a third piece protecting the Department of Labor's file: information the Secretary or their authorized agents obtain in investigations under the Minimum Wage Act and the Department's Organic Act is **privileged and confidential**, and is disclosed only with the Secretary's authorization.

• **The employer may not use discovery** to obtain information that must appear in the records, payrolls, wage lists and other records it is required to keep under the Minimum Wage Act.
• **Neither party may submit more than one interrogatory nor take more than one deposition**, absent exceptional circumstances the court finds justify it.
• **A deposition may not be taken after submitting an interrogatory to the other party, nor an interrogatory submitted after taking their deposition**, same exceptional-circumstances caveat.
• **Witness depositions are not allowed without court authorization**, upon a determination that they are needed.

Judgment in 24 hours

Once the trial is held, the judge has twenty-four hours to render judgment granting or denying the claim. If granted, the employer is ordered to give you the right claimed or to pay the compensation or wages you proved.

Two more rules favor the worker. First: no complaint is dismissed for defect of form alone. A formatting error does not sink your case. Second: in presenting evidence the parties are given the widest possible latitude, the court wants to see the proof, not technicalities.

If the employer appeals, it has ten days from notice to go to the Court of Appeals, and they are jurisdictional days: one day late and the appeal is lost. From the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court it is twenty days by certiorari.

What it does not cost you

Every case filed under this procedure is exempt from the cancellation of filing stamps. And if you win having appeared with private counsel, the law orders the employer to be ordered to pay attorney's fees. Litigation costs are awarded only in favor of the complaining party, meaning that even if you lose, the law does not contemplate the employer charging you its costs under this section.

That asymmetry is deliberate: the legislature knew that a worker who is not being paid has no money to fight. That is why another door exists too: the Secretary of Labor may sue on their own initiative or at the request of one or more workers, on behalf of and for the benefit of those in similar circumstances, and may join as complainant or intervenor in any claim already filed.

In fact, the court clerk is required to send a copy of every complaint and of the trial-setting order to the Secretary of Labor, who may intervene through the Department of Labor's attorneys. And if several coworkers are in the same situation with the same employer on a common job, their claims can be joined in a single complaint.

If there was malice, it costs more

The law adds money on top when the employer acts in bad faith. If malice on its part is proven at trial, the judge orders it to pay you, as indemnity or liquidated damages, an additional sum of no less than five hundred dollars, depending on the particulars of the case.

And if the employer appeals only to buy time, the Court of Appeals has the power, on ruling, to order it to pay you a sum of no less than one thousand dollars as indemnity or punishment. Appealing to delay compliance is expensive.

Once you win, the judgment is enforced against any of the employer's property not exempt from attachment or execution, through an execution order issued by the clerk at your request and which the marshal must serve within a term not exceeding twenty days. The judgment does not stay on paper.

What to gather before filing

The law gives you latitude on evidence, but somebody has to put the numbers on the table. Gather this before sitting down to write the complaint:

• Pay stubs for the whole period you are claiming, or the deposits in your account if you were paid by transfer.
• Your hours record: time punches, photos of the clock, messages assigning you shifts, anything with a date.
• Appointment letter, contract or employee handbook, if you have them.
• The messages or emails where you asked for payment and what they answered. This is usually what proves malice.
• The employer's exact legal name and physical address, look it up in the Department of State's corporations registry at rcp.estado.pr.gov, because the store's trade name is almost never the corporation's name.
• Your calculation: how much you are owed and which item each amount comes from.