Morales Cordero v. Industrial Commission
Morales Cordero v. Industrial Commission
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
According to the documentary evidence introduced by appellant at the hearing before the Industrial Commission, eopy of a letter dated March 29, 1961 — appellant’s exhibit No. 1, without objection — appellant’s son José Morales, at his father’s request, talked on the telephone from the office
If this is true, it seems that appellant would only have to pay workmen’s insurance during the second semester of the industrial year 1960-61 for his “hotel” business and his “grass” business, according to the Notice of Collection of the Insurance Premium dated September 23, 1960 sent by the Manager of the Fund, which appears in the record. It is in one of these businesses where the accident of laborer Juan Pérez Torres occurred on March 25, 1961, which gives rise to the testimony of the Fund, that since appellant did not
The testimony of the Industrial Commission is based on paragraph 9 of § 25 of Act No. 45 of .April 18, 1935, as amended by Act No. 96 of June 24, 1960, which provides: “Any employer subject to the provisions of this Act during any part of a semester shall pay the premiums for the whole of said semester, but he shall be entitled to such reimbursement, if any, as is provided in the following section; Provided, That in such cases, reimbursements may be made at the expiration of the semester for which said premiums were paid.”
On the contrary, appellant alleges that on January 1,1961 he was not an “employer subject to the provisions of this Act” in relation to the businesses which he had sold or leased, pursuant to paragraph 8 of the aforementioned § 25, which provides: “Any employer who, prior to July 1 or January 1 of any year, ceases to be subject to the provisions of this Act, may be excused from the payment of premiums for the following semester or semesters by filing the notice and proof required by the Manager of the State Fund that he will not be subject to the provisions hereof.”
What determines whether or not an employer is subject to the provisions of Act No. 45 of 1935, as amended, is whether he is working in a business or businesses in which he must hire laborers. The case covered by paragraph 8 of § 25 is that of an employer who retires wholly from his business prior to the beginning of a new semester while the case covered by paragraph 9 of § 25 is that in which an employer wholly or partially retires from his business after the semester has started. In the former, the employer is not bound to pay any premium whatsoever, and therefore, no reimbursement is produced; in the lattér, as the employer
Now then, in the case of an employer who retires partially from his businesses, as in such case a surplus must be declared and a reimbursement or the application of a surplus to the new readjusted premium ordered, the provision that should be applied is paragraph 9 of § 25, as amended, that is, the employer shall pay the premiums for the whole of said semester and wait for the reimbursement until the expiration of the semester and until the policy be properly transferred to the new acquirer, as provided by § 19-11 of the Regulations of the Manager of the State Insurance Fund, 11 R.&R.P.R. 423.
The decision of the Industrial Commission will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.