They will start investigating private sector employees who do not show up for work

Private sector employees who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and whose employers have called back will have to return to work – if they have no valid reason not to – they risk having their unemployment benefits suspended and being taxed for the money they receive.

This was announced by the secretaries of the Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH), Carlos Rivera Santiago, and of Economic Development and Trade (DDEC), Manuel Cidre. Both said they received complaints from employers in various sectors, such as fast food chains, service companies, pharmaceutical companies and medical device companies, among others, that they do not receive the human resources they need to operate.

Rivera Santiago indicated that unemployment benefits are federal and need to be audited, which is why she announced the start of the Return to Work program, which is required of all states and territories.

He explained that it is an agile and efficient mechanism for the employer to report the names and data of employees who did not report to work. The Minister of Labor stated that he has no figures on how many employees could return to work in the coming weeks, nor how many have already been announced to show up for work.

The employer must access the DTRH portal and request an investigation of those employees who have not returned to work. You must indicate the employee’s information, the date on which they were notified to return and when they did not report their position.

The secretary indicated that those workers unemployment benefits will be suspended as a precaution in the investigation, even the employee may have to return the federal money he received after being notified to return and did not do so. In addition, these employees are at risk of being disqualified from the benefits program for the misuse of these federal benefits.

For his part, Cidre warned that pandemic unemployment benefits – known as the PUA for its acronym in English – as well as other federal aid that was created as a result of the emergence of COVID-19, including wage protection loans ( PPP) will expire this year. “These benefits have an expiration date and end no later than September 2021. And if the vaccination process moves as it has so far, they can end sooner.”

However, DDEC holder acknowledged that an employee who receives a salary of $ 7.25 per hour, receives more money by staying at home and receiving PUA assistance and other benefits. He estimated that the weekly wage of the minimum wage earner is $ 287 – if he works 40-hour days – while at home, without working, he could receive up to $ 540, thanks to all federal aid available during this COVID -19 emergency.

“One of the aims of this secretariat is to increase the workforce,” said Cidre, noting that, together with resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, They will knock on the doors of the federal capital so that Puerto Rico can do justice to the “Social Assistance to Work” program, so that no employee receiving social assistance is penalized for work, as is happening now.

He stated that Washington DC officials are talking about raising the federal minimum wage to $ 8.75 and $ 9.25 per hour. “Even at $ 9.25 is not a fair salary“He said, while urging the private sector to pay more to its workers and not wait for the government to mandate it. “The private sector must commit to raising wages,” the DDEC secretary added.