Companía Popular de Transporte, Inc. v. Unión de Empleados de Transporte

69 P.R. 167
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedJuly 19, 1948
DocketNo. 9553
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 69 P.R. 167 (Companía Popular de Transporte, Inc. v. Unión de Empleados de Transporte) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Companía Popular de Transporte, Inc. v. Unión de Empleados de Transporte, 69 P.R. 167 (prsupreme 1948).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Snyder

delivered the opinion of the Court.

ON RECONSIDERATION

The plaintiff company is a public utility engaged in the business of transporting passengers for compensation. It filed suit against certain of its employees and their Union for a declaratory judgment to resolve the disputes between it and these employees as to whether and in what amounts the company was required to compensate the employees for a day of rest under Act No. 289, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1946. The company has appealed from the judgment of the district court.

I

The first assignment is that the lower court erred in holding that pursuant to Act No. 289 the company must pay its employees compensation for the day of rest established by the Act, even though they do not work on that day. This error will be better understood if we examine the history of our statutes providing for a day of rest.

The Legislature has provided since 1902 that commercial and industrial establishments shall remain closed on Sundays .and at certain other times. Section 553 Penal Code, 1937 -ed. For the various changes in this statute, see Penal Code of 1902, § 553; Act No. 131, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1913, Special Session; Act No. 24, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1914; Act No. 26, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1917, Special Session, Vol II; Act No. 3, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1918; Act No. 18, Laws of [170]*170Puerto Rico, 1925; Act No. 54, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1930; Act No. 110, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1937; Act No. 306, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1938; Act No. 3, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1947, Fifth Special Session.

The Closing Law has always exempted from its provisions a number of industries, including public utilities, which as a matter of public necessity are permitted to remain open continuously. But in view of the fact that some or all of the employees in those exempted industries could be required to work on Sundays, the Legislature, beginning with Act No. 26 of 1917, provided in the aforesaid statutes that in these exempted industries employees “who render services on the basis of an annual, monthly or weekly salary, or in any form other than for wages or piece work at a fixed price, shall be entitled to one day of rest for every six days of work at full salary.” See Parrondo v. L. Rodríguez & Co., 64 P.R.R. 418, for the history of these statutes.

Although the provision for a day of rest for employees in exempted industries was in effect from 1917, apparently no litigation arose thereunder until Compañía Popular v. District Court, 63 P.R.R. 116. In that case an employee of the public utility involved herein had contracted to work seven days a week for a weekly salary. We held that, despite this contract, the employee was entitled to additional pay for working on the seventh day. We reached this result on the ground of public policy as set forth in § 4 of the Civil Code and to avoid unjust enrichment of the employer.

The next step came in Compañía Popular v. District Court, 64 P.R.R. 365. This opinion involved a subsequent incident of the case reported in 63 P.R.R. 116. Here we held that under the aforesaid statutes only employees who were paid annual, monthly or weekly salaries were covered by the statutes, and that employees who were paid hourly or daily wages were not included therein.

Finally, this provision of law, as embodied in § 3 of Act No. 26, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1917, Special Session, Yol. II, [171]*171was held invalid because the subject matter of § 3 was not ■covered by the title of the statute as required by § 34 of the Organic Act. Laboy v. Corporación Azucarera, etc., 65 P.R.R. 397.

The Legislature then enacted Act No. 289, Laws of Puerto Rico, 1946, which reads in part as follows:

“Section 1. — All employees of any commercial or industrial establishment, enterprise, or lucrative business not subject to ■the provisions of Section 553 of the Penal Code of Puerto Rico, .as subsequently amended, relative to the closing to the public, shall be entitled to one day of rest for every six (6) working ■days.
“For the purposes of this Act, one day of rest shall be understood as a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours.
“Section 2. — The provisions of this Act shall not be applicable to occasional or piece work.
“Section 3. — No employer shall deduct any sum from the salary of any employee for the day of rest established by this Act.
“Section 4. — Any employer who employs or permits an employee to work on the day of rest established by this Act, shall he obliged to pay said employee for the hours worked during such day of rest a rate double the salary rate agreed upon for regular working hours.
“Section 5. — For the purposes of this Act, employee shall be understood to mean any employee, laborer, clerk, workman, day '.laborer or person who works for an employer for a salary, wage, or any other compensation.”

Act No. 289 was enacted not only to cure the defective ■title of the previous statute, but also to broaden its provisions to include daily and hourly wage-earners. But the Legislature did not leave intact the provision that employees 'to whom it applied “shall be entitled to one day of rest for every six days of work, at full salary.” The Legislature struck out the phrase “at full salary”. The statute therefore now provides only for one day of rest for six days of work.

[172]*172The conclusion is inescapable that the Legislature gave daily and hourly employees in industries exempt from the Closing Law the same privileges employees have in industries which are required to close on Sunday. Employers in the latter category are compelled to give their daily and hourly employees a day of rest on Sunday; but the-latter receive only the pay they earn on the six days they work. Parrondo v. L. Rodríguez & Co., supra, p. 428. Employees in exempted industries may or may not work on Sunday, depending on the requirements of their particular employers. But whether or not they work on Sunday, under Act No. 289 they are entitled to a day of rest — either Sunday or some other day — after six days of work. However, just as in the case of employees in non-exempt industries who rest on Sunday but receive no additional pay therefor, Act No. 289 provides a day of rest for daily and hourly employees in exempted industries without additional pay for the day of rest.

The district court held that the defendants were entitled to a day of rest with pay. It is difficult to believe that the Legislature intended to discriminate in this manner against industries which because of public necessity are permitted to ■operate on Sundays. This is particularly true where as here some or all the employees in fact take their day of rest on Sunday in the same way as employees do in ordinary industries. To so hold would be to say that under the guise of granting a privilege the Legislature was imposing a penalty, even when the alleged privilege was not exercised. If Act No. 289 so provided specifically, we would have no choice but to enforce it, provided it was constitutional. But we are not compelled to read into the statute words which are not there in order to reach an inequitable result which the Legislature ■did not intend.

Section 4 reinforces this interpretation of § 1 of Act No. 289.

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69 P.R. 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/compania-popular-de-transporte-inc-v-union-de-empleados-de-transporte-prsupreme-1948.