House Bill 1505, which proposes amending Puerto Rico’s labor law to allow workdays of up to 10 hours under alternating weekly schedules without employers paying overtime for the extra hours, continues to generate controversy. The measure has already passed the House of Representatives and is now before the Senate. Sectors critical of the bill warn that it could weaken worker protections and allow employers to extend working hours.
The Movimiento Solidario Sindical repudiated the bill’s approval and argued that the legislation legalizes labor exploitation. Representative Roberto López Román, the bill’s author, maintains that it creates no new provisions and merely codifies practices already contemplated in current law.