About 950 Puerto Rico-based private-sector companies have asked the Department of Labor and Human Resources to be exempted from paying this year’s Christmas bonus, the agency revealed Tuesday.
San Juan-based security guard company Optimus Investigations Corp. and its owner Jorge Rivera-Berríos has been ordered to pay more than $166,000 in back wages and liquidate damages to 243 employees misclassified as independent contractors, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Tuesday.
With an investment of $2.5 million, Applebee’s will inaugurate its fifth restaurant on the island on Dec. 7, becoming the first market to introduce a new architectural design to be adopted by other restaurants nationwide.