2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FOUR - Judiciary (§§ 1-3 — 2166) › PART II - Court Administration (§§ 301 — 536h) › Chapter 41 - Autonomous Personnel System Administration (§§ 521 — 525) › § 524 - Board; appointment, powers

(a) There is hereby created a Board composed of three (3) members who shall not be officers or employees of the Judiciary Branch, shall not receive pay, but shall be compensated for transportation expenses and per diems in the sum of forty dollars ($40) for each day of service. The members of the Board shall be appointed by the Supreme Court for initial terms of two (2), three (3) and four (4) years, and thereafter for three (3) years each. They shall hold office until their successors are appointed and qualified. If any office of Board member becomes vacant for any reason before expiration of the term for which said member was appointed, another person shall be appointed for the rest of the term. The members of this Board may be removed only through charges brought against them before the Supreme Court, where they shall have the opportunity to be heard and to defend themselves.
(b) This Board shall be empowered to review the decisions made by the appointing power, such as disciplinary measures, removals and any type of personnel action in the case of those employees and officials to whom the rules grant such a right. Within fifteen (15) days as of the date the personnel action, the disciplinary measure or the removal through the preferment of charges is notified, the employee or official may appeal this decision before this Board. These appeals shall be governed, as far as it is possible, by the provisions of the rules of evidence in effect.
The decisions of the Board shall be final and binding unless any of the parties petitions for the judicial review by filing the corresponding document with the Circuit Court of Appeals pursuant to the provisions of Section 4.002(g) of the Puerto Rico Judiciary Act of 1994. Depending on the decision issued by the Circuit Court of Appeals, any of the parties may petition for the review before the Supreme Court by introducing a writ of certiorari pursuant to the aforementioned law.
(c) This Board shall have all such other functions related with personnel administration as the Supreme Court may assign to it in the rules it may adopt.
This Board shall have a secretary and the other personnel necessary to carry out its functions, who shall be appointed by the Chief Justice. The Supreme Court shall prescribe the norms for the operation of this Board.
(d) Both the members of the Board and the Secretary thereof shall be empowered to take oaths, to require the appearance of witnesses and the presentation of pertinent books, records, documents or objects, in the fulfillment of their official functions. Every summons issued shall bear the seal of the Board.
(e) Any person who, without legal excuse, fails to appear, after summoned by any of the officials mentioned in subsection (d), or refuses to testify or to present the books, records, documents or objects required of him, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, punished by a maximum fine of five hundred dollars ($500) or by imprisonment in jail for a term of six (6) months.
In addition to the provisions previously set forth in this subsection, when, without legal excuse, a duly summoned witness fails to appear to testify or to produce the books, records, documents or objects as required, or when any duly summoned witness refuses to answer any question in relation with any matter before the consideration of the Board, the Board may appeal to the Court of First Instance to compel the appearance and testimony of the witness and the production and delivery of the books, records, documents or objects required of the witness.
After said petition has been filed the court shall issue a summons requiring and directing the witness to appear and testify or to produce the evidence required, or both, before the corresponding official of the Board, and any disobedience to the order issued by the court shall be punished as contempt.
(f) Any person who is summoned and appears as witness, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, shall receive for each day of appearance a sum equal to that received by witnesses appearing before the courts of justice.
History —May 31, 1973, No. 64, p. 295, § 4; Aug. 15, 1999, No. 251, § 1.