P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4590
(a) The municipalities shall require the official or employee who does not hold a sensitive position or is in the Municipal Police Corps, whose controlled substances detection test shows a corroborated positive result, to participate in a guidance, treatment and rehabilitation plan, referred by the Liaison Official. The official or employee may choose to submit to said treatment and rehabilitation in any public or private institution certified for said purpose. In the event that the official or employee chooses the latter, he/she shall be liable for the cost of the treatment and rehabilitation, unless it can be defrayed under the terms of the person’s health insurance policy.
(b) Said official or employee may be submitted periodically to additional tests as part of the treatment and rehabilitation plan.
(c) Refusal to participate in the rehabilitation plan or to submit to the tests required as part of the treatment, as well as the presence of controlled substances in the results of the additional tests to which he/she shall be submitted, shall be deemed sufficient cause for corrective measures or disciplinary action against the official or employee, beyond verbal admonishment or a written reprimand, pursuant to the applicable legislation and regulations, and according to the provisions of this chapter.
(d) The municipality shall assure every official or employee that they will continue to work as long as they comply with the treatment and rehabilitation, provided it does not endanger pubic health and safety.
(e) In those cases that retaining the official or employee at work could represent a health or safety hazard for the other employees of the municipality, the same conditions established in subsection (f) of this section would apply.
(f) In those cases that the official or employee requires time off to undergo treatment as provided in subsection (e), the time off shall be charged to his accrued sick leave, in the first instance. When he/she does not have any accrued sick leave, it shall be charged to accrued compensatory leave or vacation leave, and in the last instance, he shall be granted leave without pay for a maximum term of six (6) months.
(g) In the case of an official or employee who relapses, the municipality shall not have to comply with the orientation, treatment, and rehabilitation requirement established in this chapter. In this case, the municipality shall not have to grant the compensatory time, vacation leave, and leave without pay benefits provided in this section, nor absorb the treatment and rehabilitation costs. In this case, the provisions of this section shall prevail.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, added as § 12.011 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 4.