All employees who comply with the provisions set forth in § 673 of this title and who have completed twenty (20) years or more of accredited service, regardless of their age, shall be entitled to receive a pension of sixty percent (60%) of their average compensation. All employees who comply with the provisions set forth in § 673 of this title and who have completed twenty-four (24) years or more of accredited service, regardless of their age, shall be entitled to receive a pension of seventy-five percent (75%) of their average compensation. It is hereby provided that up to one hundred percent (100%) of the period of military service rendered in the United States Armed Forces shall be accredited, if the employee obtained an honorable discharge from said military service. For military service to be accredited, the employee shall pay to the Retirement System the corresponding contribution based on the salary received during the years of service in the Armed Forces.
It is hereby provided that the provisions set forth herein do not curtail the power and authority of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company to establish the special criteria and parameters for the granting of any additional benefit it decides to grant as part of the Voluntary Early Retirement Program. It is further provided that the positions of the employees that avail themselves of the retirement shall be eliminated, insofar as they are not essential to the operations of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. It shall be understood that indispensable positions are those whose duties are of a highly specialized nature, indispensable and essential for the most effective operation of the Corporation, for the achievement of the public policy set forth in the enabling Act of the Tourism Company as a public corporate entity of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, such as, for example, the Casino Collector positions. To fill such indispensable positions, career personnel from the Puerto Rico Tourism Company who are willing to relocate into said position shall be considered preferentially. The Puerto Rico Tourism Company shall take steps for an administrative and operational reorganization that allows the elimination of any non-essential vacant position resulting from said reorganization. Provided, That any reorganization or operational measures taken, including the implementation of voluntary separation plans, shall be done in strict compliance with all labor laws and the collective bargaining agreements in effect, and subject to the principle of merit, the legal provisions that prohibit political discrimination, and the vested rights of the public employees working in the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
Under no circumstances shall it be intended for an employee of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company to compete to fill a position or office of a similar nature to the one he/she currently holds, even when it is a newly created position or office.
History —Dec. 21, 2006, No. 273, § 2, eff. Jan. 31, 2007.