SEC. 326. Every person having charge of any steam boiler or Negligence steam engine, or other apparatus for generating or employing causing death. steam used in any manufactory, or on any railroad, or in any vessel, or in any kind of mechanical work, who willfully or from ignorance or neglect, creates, or allows to be created, such an undue quantity of steam as to burst or break the boiler, engine, or apparatus, or to cause any other accident whereby the death of a human being is produced, is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than ten years. SEC. 327. Every captain or other person having charge of any steamboat used for the conveyance of passengers, or of the boilers captain of and engines thereof, who from ignorance or gross neglect, or for the purpose of excelling any other boat in speed, creates, or allows to be created, such an undue quantity of steam as to burst or break the boiler, or any apparatus or machinery connected therewith, by which bursting or breaking human life is endangered, is guilty of a felony. Negligence of steamboat. Negligence of SEC. 328. Every conductor, engineer, brakeman, switchman, or other person having charge, wholly or in part, of any railroad car, employees locomotive, or train, which is used as a common carrier, who railroad. willfully or negligently suffers or causes the same to collide with another car, locomotive, or train, or with any other object or thing whereby the death of a human being is produced is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than ten years. Intoxication of railroad employees, etc. on Intoxicati on SECTION 344. Every person who is intoxicated while in charge of a locomotive engine, or while acting as conductor or driver of engineer, etc. upon any railroad train or car, whether propelled by steam or electricity, or while acting as train dispatcher, or as telegraph operator, receiving or transmitting dispatches in relation to the movement of trains, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Protection of employees as members of labor organizations. SECTION 465. Any person or corporation within Porto Rico, or Restrain ing agent or officer on behalf of such person or corporation, who shall employees from hereafter coerce or compel any person or persons to enter into an joining union. agreement, either written or verbal, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of such person or persons securing employment or continuing in the employment of any such persons or corporation, shall be guilty of a misde meanor. Sunday labor. forbidden. SECTION 553. On every Sunday commercial and industrial estab- Sunday labor lishments, excepting public markets, pharmacies, bakeries, hotels, Exceptions. restaurants, cafes, and places where refreshments only are served, excepting also public and quasi public utilities and works of emergency, necessary to prevent unusual and serious financial loss, shall remain closed and do no business whatever after twelve o'clock noon. This prohibition shall not, however, extend to theaters and other places devoted exclusively to amusements or to charitable purposes; at all such places it shall be lawful to work at any hour on Sunday, but only in aid of such charitable purposes or amusements. SEC. 554. The municipal council of any municipality may, by Stores and ordinance, require commercial and industrial establishments, in- workshops. cluding those excepted in section 553, or any of them, to remain closed at all hours on Sunday, excepting the works of emergency therein mentioned. SEC. 556. Any person, firm or corporation violating the provi- Penalties. sions of this title, or any part thereof, or of an order issued by an alcalde, or ordinance passed by a municipal council under the authority of this title, shall be fined in the police court for the first offense in a sum which shall not be less than five dollars ($5) nor exceed ten dollars ($10); and for a subsequent offense, in a sum which shall not be less than ten dollars, ($10) nor exceed twenty-five dollars ($25). And for this purpose, the police courts shall have jurisdiction to impose the fines herein provided; and in all cases in which the fine imposed shall exceed, excluding costs, the sum of ten dollars ($10), an appeal may be taken to the proper district court in the manner provided by law for other appeals from the police courts. In default of the payment of any fine imposed hereuuder [hereunder] within three days after the judgment shall have been entered or the appeal dismissed, the person convicted shall pay the said fine by imprisonment in the municipal jail, or in any other penal institution, at the rate of one day for each half dollar of said fine remaining unpaid. CIVIL CODE. Earnings of minors. Usufruct be- SECTION 225. Property acquired by an unemancipated child by longs to par- labor or industry, or for any valuable consideration, belongs to ents, when. the said child, but the usufruct thereof belongs to the parents having potestas over him whilst he lives in their company; but if the child, with the consent of his parents, lives independently, he shall be deemed emancipated for all effects as regards the said property, and he shall be the full owner and have the usufruct and administration thereof. Term. Termination. Master to be believed. Special laws. Employees for fixed term. etc. Employment of labor-General provisions. SECTION 1486 (as amended by act, page 35, Acts of 1906). The services of servants and laborers may be contracted for a fixed period of time, or without a fixed period. A hiring for life shall be void. * ** SEC. 1487. A domestic servant hired for a fixed time and to be employed in the personal service of his master, or of the family of the latter, may leave the service or be dismissed before the expiration of the term; but if the master dismisses the servant without sufficient cause, he shall indemnify him by paying him the wages due and those for fifteen additional days. The master shall be believed, unless there is proof to the contrary 1. With regard to the amount of the wages of the domestic servant. 2. With regard to the payment of the wages earned during the current year. SEC. 1488. Besides what is prescribed in the preceding sections with regard to masters and servants, the provisions of special laws and ordinances shall be observed. SEC. 1489. Field hands, mechanics, artisans, and other laborers hired for a certain time and for a certain work can not leave nor be dismissed, without sufficient cause, before the fulfillment of the contract. Dispossession SEC. 1490. The dismissal of the servants, mechanics, artisans, of implements, and other hired laborers to which the preceding sections refer gives the right to dispossess them of the implements and of the buildings which they may occupy by reason of their duties. Contract may SEC. 1491. The execution of a work may be contracted for by include what. agreeing that the person who is to execute the same shall give his labor or industry only, or that he furnish the materials also. Contractor SEC. 1492. If the person who contracted for the work bound liable for de himself to furnish the materials, he shall suffer the loss in case struction of work, when. of the destruction of the work before it is delivered, unless there has been delay in receiving it. Workman SEC. 1493. A person who has bound himself to give his labor or can not recov- industry only can not demand any payment if the work is deer, when. stroyed before it is delivered, unless there should have been delay in receiving the same, or if the destruction should have been due to the bad quality of the materials, provided that he may have given due notice of this circumstance to the owner. SEC. 1495. A person who binds himself to do a work by piece or Work by piece. by measure may demand of the owner that he receive it in installments, and that he pay therefor in proportion. The part paid for shall be presumed as approved and received. SEC. 1498. When a certain work has been intrusted to a person by reason of his personal qualifications, the contract is rescinded by the death of said person. In such case, the owner must pay to the heirs of the constructor [contractor], in proportion to the price agreed upon, the value of the part of the work executed, and that of the prepared materials, provided he may obtain any benefit from such materials. The same shall be understood if the person who contracted for the work can not finish it by reason of any cause independent of his will. Personal contracts. SEC. 1499. A contractor is responsible for the work done by the Liability of persons he employs thereon. contractor. SEC. 1500. Those who furnish their labor and materials in a Recovery on work agreed upon for a lump sum by a contractor have no action entire conagainst the owner, except for the amount the latter may owe the former when the action is brought. tract. SEC. 1501. When it should be agreed that the work is to be done Acceptance of to the satisfaction of the owner, in the absence of his acceptance work. the approval is understood as reserved for the proper expert judgment. If the person who has to approve the work is a third person, his decision shall be final. SEC. 1502. Should there be no agreement or custom to the contrary, the price for the work must be paid upon delivery. Earnings to be paid, when. SEC. 1503. A person who has executed a work on personal prop- Work may erty has the right to retain the same as a pledge until he is paid be retained. therefor. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE-1904. Exemption of wages from execution. What earn SECTION 249 (as amended by act, page 7, Acts of 1904, extraordinary session). In addition to the homestead exempted by the ings exempt. homestead law, the following property belonging to an actual resident of this Island is exempted from execution, except as herein otherwise specially provided: * 7. The earnings of the judgment debtor for personal services rendered at any time within thirty days next preceding the levy of execution, or levy of attachment, when it appears by the debtor's affidavit, or otherwise, that such earnings are necessary for the use of his family residence in this Island, supported wholly or in part by his labor: Provided, This act shall not authorize the garnishment of the fees or salary of any public officer or employee. ACTS OF 1904. Eight-hour day. (Page 81.) hours. SECTION 1. Eight hours shall constitute the maximum length of Limit of eight a working-day for any work performed and paid out of funds from the municipalities, school boards, and all other dependencies of the people of Porto Rico. SEC. 2. In all contracts for work to be paid out of the funds of the people of Porto Rico, municipalities or school boards, each of said contracts shall contain a provision limiting a day's work to eight hours. Contracts. Emergencies. SEC. 3. In works of a public nature, a working-day may be lengthened only in cases where the lives and property of the inhabitants of a municipality or of the insular government would be endangered, if same were not done. This act shall not apply to the insular police force, internal revenue agents, telegraph operators and telegraph messengers, nor to the clerks of the departments of the insular government when, in the opinion of the heads of such departments, work beyond eight hours by them is necessary in the interest of the public service. Age limit of children. SEC. 4. Any person who shall willfully or maliciously violate the provisions of this act, except as specified in section 3 hereof, shall be guilty of misdemeanor. RHODE ISLAND. GENERAL LAWS-1896. CHAPTER 40.-Intelligence offices. SECTION 18. Town councils may license suitable persons as keepers of intelligence offices for the purpose of obtaining or giving information concerning places of employment of domestics, servants or other laborers, except seamen, or for the purpose of procuring or giving information concerning such person for or to employers, or for the purpose of procuring or giving information concerning employment in business; and may fix the amount to be paid for such licenses; and may revoke such licenses at pleasure. And whoever, without a license therefor, establishes or keeps an intelligence office for the purposes named in this section, shall be fined ten dollars for each day such office is so kept. CHAPTER 64 (as amended by, chapter 1009, enacted 1902).—Employment of children. SECTION 4. No minor child who has not completed thirteen years of life shall be employed to labor or at service, or engage in business, except during the vacations of the public schools of the city or town wherein such child resides, or as provided for by section one of this chapter [child's wages needed for support of family, etc.]. SEC. 5. No minor child who has not completed fifteen years of life shall be employed to labor or at service unless he shall present to his employer a certificate made by or under the direction of the school committee of the city or town wherein such child resides; said certificate shall be made on a blank and in a form furnished by the secretary of the State board of education and shall state the name, place and date of birth of said child, the name and residence of the person having control of said child. SEC. 6. Every person, whether principal or agent, who shall employ or permit to be employed or shall aid or abet the employment to labor or at service of any minor child above described in section 4, who has not complied with the provisions above recited in section five, shall for every such offense or neglect of such duty be fined not exceeding twenty dollars. CHAPTER 68.-Factories and workshops-Inspection, etc. SECTION 1 (as amended by chapter 1215, enacted 1905). No child under thirteen years of age shall, on or before the thirty-first day of December, A. D. 1906, and no child under fourteen years of age shall, after said thirty-first day of December, A. D. 1906, be employed or permitted or suffered to work in any factory, manufacturing or business establishment within this State, and no child under sixteen years of age shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work in any factory or manufacturing or business esNight work. tablishment within this State between the hours of eight o'clock in the afternoon of any day and six o'clock in the forenoon of the following day: Provided, however, That this restriction as to hours of work shall not apply to mercantile establishments on Saturdays, or on either of the four days immediately preceding Christmas in each year. No child under sixteen years of age shall be employed or permitted or suffered to work in any factory or manufacturing or business establishment unless said child shall present to the person or corporation employing him or her a certificate, given by or under the direction of the school committee of the city or town in which said child resides, certifying, if said certificate is presented on or before the thirty-first day of December, A. D. 1906, that such child has completed thirteen years of age, and if said certificate is presented after said thirty-first day of December, A. D. 1906, that said child has completed fourteen years of age, and stating the name, date and place of birth of such child, which facts shall be substantiated by a duly attested copy of birth certificate, baptismal certificate, or passport, stating also the name and place of residence of the person having control of such child: Provided, however, That all age certificates in force at the time of the passage of this act shall be valid until the first day of January, A. D. 1906, and no longer. All certificates required by this act relating to the qualification of children employed in any factory or manufacturing or business establishment coming under the provision of this statute shall be kept by the employer at the place where such child is employed, and shall be shown to the factory inspectors provided for in this chapter, or either or any of them, on demand by said inspector or inspectors; and the proprietor or manager of any such factory or manufacturing or business establishment who shall refuse to show to any factory inspector any such certificate when demand is made therefor shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars. When any child employed under the provisions of this section leaves his employment, the person or corporation by whom such child has been employed shall, on demand by said child, deliver to him (or her) the certificate on the authority of which such child has been employed or, if such certificate is not demanded by said child, shall within two weeks after said child has left the employment of said person or corporation send said certificate to the school committee which issued it, or such person as the school committee may designate. The school committee of each town, or such person as the school committee may designate to issue the certificates provided for in this section, shall keep on file a copy of each certificate granted, together with the evidence of the date of birth on the basis of which such certificate is granted. The certificates provided for in this section shall be uniform throughout the State and in the following form or such substantially similar form as may be approved by the secretary of the State board of education. AGE AND SCHOOLING CERTIFICATE. and that (he or she) in the county (name of This certifies that I am the (father, mother, guardian, or custodian) of (name of child) was born at (name of town or city) county, if known) (day and year of birth) and months) and State (or country) of - on the old. (Signature of father, mother, guardian, or custodian.) (Town or city and date.) There personally appeared before me the above-named (name of person signing) certificate by (him or her) her) knowledge and belief. cate of (name of child) eyes (color) —, and made oath that the foregoing Certificates. Form. |