2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-ONE - Municipalities (§§ 1-4 — 6756) › Subtitle 6 - Autonomous Municipalities (§§ 4001 — 4990-4990j) › Chapter 223 - Municipal Personnel (§§ 4551 — 4579) › § 4551a - Municipal personnel system—Definitions

For all purposes, the words and phrases listed herein shall have the meaning stated below:
(1) Disciplinary action.— A penalty recommended by the supervisor of the employee and imposed by the appointing authority, which shall be filed in the employee’s record. It may consist of written reprimands, job and salary suspension, or dismissal.
(2) Salary adjustments.— Positive adjustments made to the base salary of the employee.
(3) Promotion.— The change of an employee from one job class to another with functions or a base salary of a higher level.
(4) Salary raise within the schedule.— A change in the compensation of an employee to a higher salary rate within the schedule assigned to the job class to which a position belongs.
(5) Salary raise due to merit.— An increase in the direct compensation to be paid to an employee by virtue of an evaluation of his/her performance during the twelve months preceding the evaluation date.
(6) Salary raise due to competencies.— Additional compensation that shall be granted to all employees that exhibit the progressive behaviors deemed to be important by the municipality (e.g.: causing agent of continuous changes and innovations). For the development of these behaviors, the municipality shall promote training aimed at achieving the same. This raise shall become part of the base salary of the employee.
(7) Raise due to abilities.— Additional compensation that shall be granted to all employees who acquire and develop, on their own initiative, abilities and knowledge that they shall subsequently use later on for the benefit of the organization. This raise shall become part of the base salary of the employee.
(8) Appointing authority.— The mayor and/or all heads of agency with the legal power to make appointments for jobs in the municipal government.
(9) Scholarship.— The financial aid granted to a person so that he/she may pursue higher education studies at a renowned university or institution with the purpose of broadening his/her professional or technical education.
(10) Bonus.— A nonrecurring compensation.
(11) Eligible candidate certification.— The process whereby the municipality certifies, in order to fill vacancies and to refer to interview, the names of the candidates pending certification within the register, in descending order according to grades and contingent upon their acceptance of the employment conditions.
(12) Selective certification.— The process whereby the Appointing Authority specifies the special qualifications required from the candidate for a particular office to be taken. For this purpose, a clear description of the official duties of such office containing such special qualifications shall be furnished to the Human Resources Office.
(13) Class or Job class.— A group of jobs whose duties, nature, authority, and responsibility are similar in such a way that they can be reasonably named with the same title; which demands the same minimum requirements from the employees holding the job; which requires the same aptitude tests for the selection of employees; and for which the same compensation schedule is applied equitably under substantially equal working conditions.
(14) Job classification.— The systematic grouping of jobs into similar classes by virtue of the duties and responsibilities involved so as to give them equal treatment in the administration of personnel.
(15) Appeals Commission.— The Appeals Commission of the Human Resources Administration System.
(16) Competence.— Any acquired knowledge or skill which allows the employee to perform his/her functions with greater efficiency, so that he/she may contribute consistently to the achievement of the goals and objectives of his/her work unit.
(17) Job posting.— The document which shall officially state the determinations concerning the minimum requirements and the kind of test, as well as all those other aspects that need to be or are convenient to disclose in order to announce the opportunity to be hired into a job class, effective and applicable during a certain period of time.
(18) Demotion.— A change of an employee from one job class to another with functions and basic salary of a lower level.
(19) Differential.— Special and additional compensation, apart from the salary, that may be granted when there are special nonpermanent conditions or when an employee holds a position as an acting official.
(20) Director.— The Director of the Human Resources Office of the municipality.
(21) Work team.— A group of individuals with common objectives and committed to contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goals.
(22) Eligible.— A person whose name appears validly in the eligible candidate register.
(23) Compensation schedule.— Compensation margin that provides a minimum rate, a maximum rate, and several intermediate levels in order to compensate the level of work that a particular job class entails and the proper and progressive amount and quality of work performed by the employees at a particular job class.
(24) Class specification.— A written and descriptive statement in generic form that indicates the prevailing characteristics of the essential work involved in one or more jobs in terms of the nature, complexity, responsibility, and authority, as well as the minimum qualifications that the candidates must have to hold such jobs.
(25) Salary or Wages structure.— The compensation structure composed by the various schedules, which shall be used in the assignment of job classes within a Classification Plan.
(26) Test.— A written, oral, physical, or performance test, as well as evaluations based on experience and education, or other objective criteria, used to determine whether a person is capable of performing the functions of a job.
(27) Schedule extension.— The extension of a salary schedule departing proportionally from the maximum rate thereof.
(28) Public duty.— An inherent activity carried out in the exercise or performance of any permanent or temporary office, job, or position within public service, whether or not compensated, by virtue of any kind of appointment, contract, or designation in the municipality.
(29) Acting capacity service.— The temporary services rendered by a career or trust employee in an office whose classification of which is higher than that of the office to which he/she was officially appointed, by virtue of a written designation from the appointing authority or the authorized representative thereof, and in compliance with all other applicable legal requirements.
(30) Corrective measure.— Oral or written warning made by the supervisor to the employee when the latter incurs or relapses into a violation of the established rules of conduct, and which does not become a part of the employee’s record.
(31) Acknowledgment memorandum.— Documents, letters, or certificates whereby an employee’s good performance is recognized.
(32) Urgent and compelling need.— Those essential or indispensable actions that need to be carried out urgently in order to fulfill the functions of the municipality. It does not include those actions that are merely convenient or advantageous, the carrying out of which may be postponed until the regular processing is performed.
(33) Office.— The Human Resources Office of the Municipality.
(34) Probationary period.— A term during which an employee, upon being appointed to a position, undergoes a period of training and testing and is subject to evaluations of his/her performance of his/her duties and functions. During said period, the employee has not acquired any vested rights over the position.
(35) Job classification or Appraisal plan.— The system whereby the different positions of an organization are systematically analyzed, ordered, and appraised, including, but without being limited to those positions established on the basis of factors, points, etc.
(36) Compensation plans.— The systems adopted by the municipality, whereby the compensation for career and trust services are fixed and administered pursuant to the provisions of this subtitle and applicable regulations.
(37) Prevarication.— To propose, whether knowingly or due to inexcusable ignorance, determinations that are evidently unfair.
(38) Merit Principle.— The concept on the basis of which all public employees shall be selected, promoted, retained, and treated in all matters concerning their employment based on their capability and without discrimination for reason of race, color, gender, birth, age, social condition or origin, political or religious beliefs, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.
(39) Bona fide projects or programs.— Programs created through an administrative order or a formal proposal by the mayor or his/her authorized representative to satisfy needs or to provide a non-recurring service, indicating the objectives, the start and completion dates, the human and fiscal resources originated, and the indicators or measuring standards which shall allow for the corroboration of the achievement of such objectives.
(40) Position.— A set of duties and responsibilities assigned or delegated by the appointing authority, which require the hiring of a person.
(41) Reclassification.— The action of classifying or appraising a position which had been previously classified or appraised. Reclassification may be made to a higher, equal, or lower level.
(42) Eligible Candidate Register.— List of the names of persons who have qualified to be considered for appointment to a specific class, in descending grade order.
(43) Reinstatement.— To restore or return to service, through a certification, any regular career employee, after having been separated from service for any of the following reasons:
(a) A disability which no longer exists.
(b) Layoff due to the elimination of positions.
(c) Resignation from a career position occupied with a regular status.
(d) Severance from a trust position without having exercised the right to reinstatement.
(44) Active service.— Any term of service in which the employee is present and performing the functions of a position or connected to the service through the granting of any kind of paid leave.
(45) Transfer.— The change of an employee from one position to another within the same class or to a position in another class with functions or a basic salary of a similar level.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, added as § 11.001A on Nov. 22, 2009, No. 151, § 1.