Written by: Janine Guzmán, Leonardo Nuñez
On August 14, 2026, Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González Colón signed into law Act No. 185-2026 (Act 185), amending Section 15 of the Summary Labor Claims Procedure Act, Act No. 2 of October 17, 1961, as amended (Act 2). Effective immediately, Act 185 addresses cost recovery and court-stamp exemptions in summary labor proceedings while preserving the compressed procedural deadlines that have long characterized this mechanism.
Background: Act 2 at a glance
Act 2 establishes a summary judicial procedure through which employees may bring claims against employers concerning workplace rights, wages, benefits, compensation, and unjust dismissal. Designed to promote the rapid and fair adjudication of labor disputes, Act 2 features notably compressed timelines: respondent employers must answer within 10 days of service within the judicial district or within 15 days of out-of-district service; extensions require a timely sworn motion demonstrating just cause; a single responsive pleading must assert all defenses; discovery is restricted; and judgments are intended to be issued promptly. Certain review periods under Act 2 are jurisdictional. These procedural features remain unchanged by Act 185.
Prior Section 15 of Act 2 provided that “all costs incurred” in summary labor cases would be “satisfied ex officio” and required a respondent employer to pay private counsel’s attorney’s fees when judgment favored the claimant. In Class Fernández v. Metro Health Care Management System, Inc., 214 DPR 348 (2024), the Puerto Rico Supreme Court interpreted the prior Section 15 language as displacing Rule 44.1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and held that a prevailing employee could not recover litigation costs under that provision.
What Act 185 changes:
Act 185 replaces the text of Section 15 in its entirety. The key changes are:
- Stamp exemption clarified. The prior statement that all costs would be “satisfied ex officio” is replaced with a provision clarifying that cases filed under Act 2 are exempt from the cancellation or payment of required court stamps.
- Attorney’s fees preserved. The statute continues to provide that when judgment is entered in favor of the claimant and the claimant is represented by private counsel, attorney’s fees shall be awarded. See “Outstanding questions” below regarding an apparent anomaly in the enacted Spanish text of this provision.
- Litigation cost recovery authorized for prevailing claimants. Act 185 adds a new sentence providing that a judgment in favor of the claimant shall award recovery of litigation costs only to that claimant.
- Rule 44.1 procedure incorporated. Requests for, and awards of, litigation costs must follow the procedure established in Rule 44.1 of the Puerto Rico Rules of Civil Procedure.
Practical implications
For employers
Prevailing claimants may now seek reimbursement of allowable litigation costs under Rule 44.1 in addition to statutory attorney’s fees. Employers may wish to account for this additional exposure when evaluating settlements, offers of judgment, and litigation reserves.
For employees and their counsel
Claimants now have an explicit statutory basis to recover allowable litigation costs. Counsel may wish to maintain detailed, itemized records of litigation costs from the outset of the proceeding.
Outstanding questions
- Scope. The statute provides that litigation costs are recoverable only by the prevailing claimant. It is unclear whether this language categorically bars an employer from recovering costs under other independent authority, such as general civil-procedure provisions or contractual fee-shifting clauses, or only restricts recovery under Act 2 itself.
- Anomalous attorney-fee wording. The enacted Spanish text of the attorney-fee provision states that fees will be granted to the respondent employer, providing that “se concederá al querellado el pago de honorarios de abogados.” The act’s title, statement of motives, legislative history, and the prior statute appear to indicate that the intended result is that the respondent employer pay attorney’s fees, rather than receive them. This apparent drafting anomaly may require legislative correction or judicial clarification to avoid confusion in practice.
Key takeaways
In light of Act 185, organizations and practitioners may wish to consider the following:
- Reviewing litigation reserves and settlement strategy. Employers facing pending or anticipated Act 2 claims may wish to update cost-exposure assessments to account for the new cost-recovery provision.
- Preserving existing Act 2 defense protocols. The compressed procedural deadlines under Act 2 remain unchanged. Service of an Act 2 complaint continues to require immediate escalation, case preparation, and strict compliance with answer and discovery timelines.
- Monitoring judicial developments. Organizations may wish to monitor court decisions interpreting the scope of cost recovery, retroactive application, and the anomalous attorney-fee wording.
For more information about Act 185 and its potential implications for employment litigation in Puerto Rico, please contact the authors or your usual DLA Piper contact.
