By The Star Staff
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston late last week upheld the ruling that struck down Law 41-2022, known as the Labor Reform, drawing reactions in the Puerto Rico House of Representatives.
“The House of Representatives, in keeping with its commitment to the country, stood up for private sector workers,” House Speaker Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez said Friday in a written statement.
The decision expanded Swain’s power to issues unrelated to the bankruptcy process, Hernández said. The lawmaker also argued that the Financial Oversight and Management Board, which opposed the Labor Reform law, exceeded its authority by trying to impose a perspective of impoverishment on the island’s working class, among other things.
House Labor Affairs Committee Chairman Domingo Torres García added: “In the coming days, we will inform the country about the next steps in our work agenda.”
Minority New Progressive Party (NPP) lawmakers, meanwhile, said that the decision highlights Puerto Rico’s colonial condition.
“A court could not be clearer and more forceful about the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States,” NPP Rep. José Aponte Hernández said. “We are a colony.”
The First Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the oversight board had the right to intervene in any law, even one that concerns the private sector.