P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4559
Career employees may be promoted and transferred provided they meet the minimum requirements of the positions to which they are promoted or transferred.
Transfers may also be made from agencies of the Executive Branch of the Commonwealth to the municipalities, and vice-versa, or from one municipality to another, when the transfer of human resources is needed. In all such cases, the employee shall retain the compensation and other fringe benefits, such as vacation and sick leave he/she had before the transfer, provided there is reciprocity between the classification of the position held by the employee, before and after the transfer.
Furthermore, every municipal official with a regular status in the career service who is transferred to a confidential service, holding a position as the director or deputy, in a state agency, in the Governor’s Office, in the Legislature [of Puerto Rico], or held an elective position, shall have the right to be reinstated to a position equal or similar to the last one he/she held in the career service; Provided, That all vacation and sick leave benefits accrued at the time of the change in category shall be allowed to remain frozen for a period of not more than twelve (12) years, when the employee so requests or accepts it in writing [and a]lso Provided, That said benefits shall be reactivated in any of the situations specified below:
(a) When the municipal employee returns to his/her former position in the career service, where he/she will continue to accrue benefits as if his/her functions had not been interrupted, including, but without limited, to accruing years of service toward his/her retirement.
(b) When a municipal employee in his duties as confidential employee becomes disabled, in such a way that he/she cannot return fulfill his/her duties in any of the categories, he/she shall be compensated according to law as if he/she had resigned from career position.
In those cases that employees are transferred from a municipality to an agency of the central government, they shall be under the authority and supervision of the public agency to which they were transferred. Once transferred or assigned to the jurisdiction of the central government, the municipality cannot interfere in any way with their functions, nor shall it be allowed to require or demand that the public agency should return said employees to the municipal service.
Every employee who is a regular employee in the career service, and that when transferred, becomes a confidential employee, shall have the absolute right to be reinstated in an equal or similar position to the last one he/she held in the career service, unless his/her removal from the confidential position was based on charges filed against him/her. The reinstatement shall preferably take place, in the same body where he/she served prior to leaving the confidential service.
Transfers shall not be used as a disciplinary measure, nor may they be arbitrary or onerous for to the employee. They may only be made by request of the employee, or when they answer to true needs of the service, as established by regulations.
An employee may be changed from one position to another of less remunerated one, when the employee requests it, or when positions are eliminated and he/she cannot be placed in a similar position to the one he/she held, if the employee accepts the position with less pay. In case of a demotion, the employees must meet the minimum requirements of the classification [for] the position to which they are demoted, and shall state their agreement to the demotion, in writing.
The nominating authorities shall identify the positions that can be filled through the promotion mechanism, observing the following standards:
(a) The employees in career positions shall be promoted through competitive examinations, which may consist of: written tests, tests of physical performance, evaluation of their academic training and work experience, or a combination thereof.
(b) The opportunities for promotion shall be [announced] by a notice of [a] job opening, so that all interested persons who meet the minimum requirements [may] compete. If, after the corresponding notice is published, there is not a reasonable number of qualified candidates for the position, the procedure provided in the regulations shall be followed.
(c) Unopposed promotions may take place in cases when pressing demands of the service, and the special qualifications of the employees justify it, upon the prior evaluation and the recommendation of the Director.
(d) Every employee who has been promoted shall fulfill the probation period specified for the new position to which he/she has been promoted.
The municipality shall adopt by regulations, the norms for promotions, transfers and demotions of the employees.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 12.009; Oct. 29, 1992, No. 84, § 48; Apr. 13, 1995, No. 36, § 41; renumbered as § 11.009 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 3.