P.R. Laws tit. 8, § 561
The Administration shall be constituted as an Individual Administrator for the purposes of Act No. 5 of October 14, 1975.
Notwithstanding the above and in order to ensure the necessary capacity and operational flexibility, the following faculties are hereby granted to it:
(a) The Administration may request the Office of Management and Budget for authority to create and reclassify transitory, fixed duration and career service positions, when an unpostponable need for additional personnel arises to attend to exceptional and unforeseen or emergency situations such as periodic work load increases, short-term special activities, substitution of career employees enjoying some type of paid leave to render services in special projects of a specific duration whether defrayed with Commonwealth or federal funds or a combination thereof.
The duration of these positions shall not exceed one year. In the case of special projects of a specific duration, they shall be created for the duration of the project.
Transitory positions shall be classified using the same career positions classification criteria and shall be assigned to the classes included in the classification plan.
(b) The Administration may establish complementary compensation or retribution methods based on measurable productivity criteria for employees with a regular career status or those in positions of trust. Norms adopted for these purposes shall be established through regulations and shall not have the effect of altering the salary structures presently in effect nor conflict in their retributive aspect with the Administration’s salary structure.
(c) The Administration shall establish and maintain an educational development and training program for the Administration’s human resources.
(d) In accordance with the powers granted by § 556(e) of this title, the Administration may contract personnel to carry out highly specialized functions whenever it is impossible to attend to personnel needs through the regular recruitment process.
The Administration shall submit a written report to the Secretary that justifies the need to recruit these services and which states that the services for which there is an interest cannot be provided by the personnel available in the Administration or the Department. The Administrator must obtain the Secretary’s prior authorization as an indispensable requirement to execute such a contract.
(e) Whenever the conduct of an employee or official of the Administration is not in accordance with the established norms, the nominating authority shall impose the corresponding disciplinary action.
(f) Any regular career employee may be dismissed or suspended from employment and salary after filing charges in writing. Every filing of charges must be preceded by an administrative investigation that will determine whether the facts sustain the need for such a measure in light of the evidence obtained. When the investigation of facts is centered on a particular employee, he will have the right to remain silent and not to incriminate him/herself.
When the employee’s conduct involves the illegal use of public funds or when there are reasonable grounds to believe that it constitutes a real danger to the safety, life or morals of the clientele or the Administration’s employees or the people in general, he may be suspended from work prior to the investigation. The investigation will be carried out promptly and a determination as to whether the filing of charges was justified or not shall be made as soon as possible.
The employee shall be notified of the filing of charges along with a summary of the facts upon which the disciplinary action is based and the norms, rules or acts violated by such conduct. He shall be informed of his/her right to an informal administrative hearing to explain his/her version of the facts if he requests it within fifteen (15) days following the notice of the filing of charges.
After the informal administrative hearing, or if the fifteen (15) days have elapsed without it being requested, the nominating authority shall determine the corresponding final action and shall advise the employee thereof. If the final decision is to dismiss the employee or suspend him/her from salary and employment, he will be advised of his/her right to appeal before the Board of Appeals of the Personnel Administration System within thirty (30) days after having received notice thereof.
History —Aug. 5, 1988, No. 154, p. 651, § 12, renumbered as § 11 and amended on May 1, 1997, No. 12, § 6.