2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-TWO - Public Works (§§ 1 — 1104) › Chapter 11 - Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (§§ 191 — 240) › § 197 - Officers and employees

(a) Appointments, removals, promotions, transfers, discontinuances, reinstatements, suspensions, leaves of absence and changes in grade, compensation or title of the officers and employees of the Authority shall be made and permitted as provided in rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Board in pursuance of a general plan similar, insofar as the Board shall deem it consistent with the best interests of the Authority, of its employees and of its service to the public, to that which may be in effect for employees of the Commonwealth Government under the Civil Service Laws of Puerto Rico. The members, officers, and employees of the Authority shall be entitled to reimbursement for, or per diem payment in lieu of, such necessary travel expenses as shall be authorized or approved pursuant to rules and regulations of the Board. Officers and employees of any board, commission, agency, or department of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may be appointed to similar positions in the Authority without examination. Any such Commonwealth officers and employees that shall have been so appointed who, prior to said appointment, were beneficiaries of any existing pension, retirement or savings and loan fund system or systems, shall continue to have, after said appointment, the rights, privileges, obligations, and status, with respect thereto that are prescribed by law for officers and employees holding similar positions in the Commonwealth Government, unless within six (6) months after this act takes effect or six (6) months after said appointment, whichever is later, they or any of them shall signify the intention to relinquish them, in which case they shall then have those of resigned or separated officers or employees of the Commonwealth Government; and all employees so appointed to positions in the Authority who, at the time of their appointment, held or shall have held positions in the Commonwealth Government or any rights or status under the rules and classifications of the Puerto Rico Civil Service Commission, shall have the same status with respect to employment or re-employment in the service of the Commonwealth Government as they had at the time they entered the service of the Authority or since better or higher right or status as the Civil Service Commission shall consider to be consistent with advancement attained in the Authority. All officers and employees appointed to positions in the Authority, who, at the time of their appointment, had, or shall later acquire, some right or status under the rules and classifications of the Puerto Rico Civil Service Commission for appointment to any similar position in the Commonwealth Government shall have, upon request, the same rights, privileges, obligations, and status, with respect to becoming beneficiaries of any existing pension, retirement or savings and loans fund system or systems, as if they had been appointed to similar positions in the Commonwealth Government. The Authority shall be subject to the provisions of Act No. 8, approved April 5, 1941, as subsequently amended.
(b) No person shall hold office as a Member, officer, employee, or agent of the Authority who has a direct or indirect financial interest in any privately owned public utility in Puerto Rico engaged in the production, distribution, or sale of electric energy, or in any entity in or outside of Puerto Rico affiliated with or having any interest in any such public utility in Puerto Rico; or who has a direct or indirect financial interest in any industrial or commercial enterprise engaged in the production, distribution, or sale of any commodity or service of a character commercially opposed to, or in competition in Puerto Rico with, the production, distribution, or sale of electric energy produced by hydroelectric means; Provided, That where such incompatibility affects a Member of the Authority, the position of such Member shall become vacant, and the vacancy so created shall be filled for the time that said incompatibility exists, by the appointment by the Governor of Puerto Rico of the head of any Department of the Commonwealth Government.
(c) No person shall use his/her official capacity or authority to coerce, obligate, command, or require other officials or employees to make financial contributions or carry out or engage in partisan political activities or solicit while on duty, or coerce, obligate, require other officials or employees to vote or further the political interests of the party or candidate of his/her preference.
(d) No person shall direct or promote, while on duty, activities or the creation of groups that, directly or indirectly, further the electoral, financial, or political interests of any political party or candidate.
(e) No person shall solicit, directly or indirectly, for partisan political purposes: financial contributions, as defined in subsection (t) of § 192 of this title, things of value, use of facilities, or services from any person or organization to whom he/she has awarded a contract or with respect to which was involved in the awards of contracts, compensation, job, donation, loan, or benefit funded with state, municipal, or federal funds.
(f) No supervisor may solicit, accept, or collect any contribution from an official or employee supervised directly or indirectly or over whom he/she has control with respect to the job, promotion, demotion, and/or working conditions of such official or employee.
(g) The prohibitions stated in subsection (e) shall not include voluntary contributions made by the persons or organizations stated therein, in accordance with the code of laws in effect, defined by constitutional or statutory provisions, or case law in effect and applicable thereto, which are made outside of working hours and off the premises of government instrumentalities.
(h) Officials or employees are hereby banned from committing themselves, either directly or indirectly, to give a job, position, work, compensation, contract, loan, or benefits originating from public funds as payment, favor, or reward in exchange for contributions received for partisan political purposes.
(i) Officials or employees are hereby banned from depriving or threatening to deprive any person, official, or employee of obtaining or keeping a job, position, work, compensation, contract, loan, or benefits originating from public funds, for making or failing to make contributions to candidates or political parties.
(j) At the request of an interested party, the Department of Justice shall initiate, through the Public Integrity Division, an investigation under the provisions of this section.
(k) Once said investigation is concluded, if the Department of Justice deems that any of the provisions of §§ 191—217 of this title has been violated, it shall file a Complaint and conduct an adjudicative proceeding in accordance with §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, known as the “Uniform Administrative Procedure Act”.
(l) Any official or employee adversely affected by any proceeding conducted by the Department of Justice shall have the right to file a petition for review with the Court of Appeals in accordance with the “Uniform Administrative Procedure Act”, supra.
(m) Any official or employee who violates the provisions of subsections (c) to (i) of this section may be punished by an administrative fine of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).
(n) An official or employee who violates the provisions of subsections (c) through (i) of this section may be summarily suspended from employment, and once the complaint investigation established in subsection (k) is concluded, he/she may be suspended without pay for a term of up to eighty-nine (89) days or dismissed, depending on the seriousness of the violation.
(o) Any person who obtains a financial benefit as a result of a violation of partisan political prohibitions may be assessed a penalty for such violation equal to three times the value of the economic benefit received.
(p) None of the provisions of this section may be construed as limiting the right of every citizen under the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Constitution of the United States of America, or the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to exercise freedom of speech or freedom of association regarding political, ideological, or partisan political issues or the right to seek office or be a candidate for an elective office.
History —May 2, 1941, No. 83, p. 684, § 7; Apr. 8, 1942, No. 19, p. 330, § 1, eff. 90 days after Apr. 8, 1942; Feb. 16, 2016, No. 4, § 13.