2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 51B - Human Resources Administration System (§§ 1461 — 1468p) › Subchapter II - Public Service Human Resources Administration; Basic Provisions (§§ 1461a — 1461b) › § 1461b - Public Service Human Resources Administration

In addition to the functions and powers conferred by other provisions of this chapter, the Office and the Director shall have the following:
(1) Director.—
(a) Appoint the Office staff pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and contract all those services required for the functioning thereof.
(b) Supervise the administration of the Human Resources System guided under the public policy set forth in this chapter.
(c) Approve and promulgate norms and directives, pursuant to §§ 2101 et seq. of this title, which shall govern the relations between the Office and the agencies and municipalities.
(d) Approve, promulgate, amend, or repeal regulations as necessary for the administration of this chapter.
(e) Delegate any function or power conferred except for that of adopting and approving regulations.
(f) Advise the Governor and the Legislature in all matters concerning labor relations and the administration of human resources in the public service.
(g) Perform all those other functions inherent and necessary for the proper administration of the Office and the Human Resources System.
(2) Office.—
(a) Promulgate, modify, amend, repeal or adopt the policy to be applied generally to the public service human resources administration system so that there is effective compliance of the merit principle. In addition, approve all those regulations or norms as necessary for the administration of this chapter, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 2101 et seq. of this title, known as the “Uniform Administrative Procedures Act”.
(b) Audit as to compliance with said regulations and those norms or directives promulgated, by using the mechanisms established under this chapter and those deemed to be necessary.
(c) Implement the functioning of the Human Resources Administration System established under this chapter.
(d) Prepare so as to enable persons who are ineligible for admission into the public service, to occupy public positions, pursuant to what is provided hereinafter. For the fulfillment of this function, it may request the collaboration of any government entity which, in its judgment, has the appropriate resources to make the pertinent evaluations.
(e) Provide advice in matters of labor to the agencies of the Executive Branch governed by §§ 1451–1454a of this title, in all that which concerns procedures for the election and certification of unions, the negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements, and all those areas related to with labor matters of the agencies. In the discharge of the functions of advising in regard to collective bargaining, the Office shall coordinate and supervise the creation and functioning of a Negotiation Committee, composed of its staff as well as that designated by the Office of Management and Budget. The Office shall conduct comparative studies on collective bargaining agreements and shall provide trainings in the area of labor to those agencies that so request.
(f) Conduct studies and research directed to providing advice to agencies, so that the supervisors and the directive personnel thereof may be prepared and trained to work in an environment where the workers are organized into unions.
(g) Implement an integrated competency program in the administration of human resources and labor relations in the public service. Provide [advice], technical assistance or any other service, seminars or conferences for the development and maintenance of the Human Resources System or other matters related to those public, private or quasi-public entities, including municipalities.
(h) Bill for technical human resources and labor advisory, mediation, and training services, as well as for the use of facilities, materials, and equipment loaned to instrumentalities, public corporations or components of the government, including those that are part of the Human Resources Administration System created in this chapter, and to private sector entities when these so request.
(i) Implement a plan to follow up on the human resources administration program through audits on the functioning of the Human Resources System, and the application of the merit principle and compensation methods in individual administrators and municipalities, as provided by the Autonomous Municipalities Act, §§ 4001 et seq. of Title 21. These shall put at the disposition of the Office all the information and documents, as well as those resources deemed to be necessary to carry out said function. The Office shall render reports periodically on the final results of said audits to the corresponding appointing authorities, to the Office of the Governor, and to the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico. In the case of municipalities, said reports shall also be sent to the Office of the Municipal Affairs Commissioner (OCAM, Spanish acronym) and to the Legislature.
(j) Contract, purchase or acquire any materials, supplies, equipments, parts or services deemed to be necessary, subject to the regulations adopted for these purposes, and in observance of the general provisions of the General Services Administration Act, §§ 931 et seq. of this title. The regulations shall contain appropriate norms to protect the better use and yield of funds in the manner most compatible with the public interest.
(k) Accept donations or funds on account of appropriations, as well as materials, properties or other analogous benefits when proceeding from any private person or institution or from the federal government, or from the municipal governments, or from any instrumentality or agency of said governments.
(l) Enter into agreements or contracts as necessary or convenient for the fulfillment of the purposes of this chapter, with, among others, federal government entities and with the Commonwealth and municipal governments, as well as the agencies of the Commonwealth, and with private nonprofit and for-profit individuals and institutions.
(m) Provide advice to agencies and municipalities on the applicable norms concerning specialized matters in connection with human resources, including matters of compensation and labor relations.
(n) Create a research and development unit geared toward identifying innovations and generating new knowledge and new programs on human resources administration, including the incorporation of computer technology.
(o) Require all government components from the three branches of government to provide the information needed to develop and keep up to date an information system on the state of the human resources administration system and the composition of the work force of the public sector.
(p) Administer the occupation and class directory of the public service.
(q) Regulate and implement provisions related to the prohibition of actions by human resources during the electoral prohibition period.
(r) Promote mediation as a mechanism to settle disputes.
(s) Manage the Central Register of Calls for Applications for Recruitment, Promotions and Training in the Public Service and its electronic version on an Internet website, and supervise that individual agencies and administrators of the personnel system, as well as public corporations, municipalities, and all other agencies excluded from the personnel system, except for the Office of the Governor, mayors’ offices, the Office of the Supreme Court, the Office of the Chief Justice, the Office of the Court Administrator, the Office of the Legislative Bodies, and the Clerks’ Offices of the Municipal Legislatures, comply with the obligation to publish recruitment, promotion, and training opportunities by electronic means over the Internet, pursuant to this chapter.
(t) Provide information and promote the diffusion and understanding of the scope and provisions of §§ 601 et seq. of Title 1, known as the “Act to protect the rights of public employees and officials who report, accuse, or witness alleged acts which constitute corruption”, of §§ 194–194b of Title 29, known as the “Act for the Protection of employees against reprisals for offering testimony and causes for action”, and of §§ 611 et seq. of Title 1, known as the “Act for the Protection and Compensation of Persons Who Denounce Acts of Corruption against Public Funds and Property”, to every employee or official who is required to appear and testify as witness.
(u) Establish and create the Registry of Consultants Certified and Authorized to develop Position Classification and Compensation Plans and the Personnel Regulations needed for the Administration of Human Resources.
Both the Director and the Office shall carry out all those functions they are assigned by special laws which have not been repealed by this act. Likewise, they shall perform the specific functions assigned, as well as all those functions inherent, needed, or convenient to the achievement of the purposes of this chapter.
History —Aug. 3, 2004, No. 184, § 4.3; Jan. 23, 2006, No. 32, § 1; Sept. 27, 2006, No. 209, § 1; Jan. 4, 2010, No. 6, § 1; Sept. 29, 2011, No. 199, § 1.