2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART V - Right to Employment and Rest (§§ 1101 — 1404) › Chapter 71 - Right to Employment Act (§§ 1101 — 1152) › Subchapter I - Creation of the Right to Employment Administration (§§ 1101 — 1115) › § 1108 - Rights and powers

The Administration shall have, and is hereby vested with, all the rights and powers necessary and convenient for the carrying out of the purposes mentioned, including, but without limitation, the following:
(a) To carry out agreements and contracts to fulfill the purposes of this chapter.
(b) To sue and be sued.
(c) To establish the standards and bylaws necessary for its operation and functioning. The disbursements of the Administration shall be made in accordance with said regulations and with the budgets approved by the Governor.
(d) To appoint and hire personnel, and contract workers, officers, agents, employees, professional or technical services, to pay for such services and to fix and pay any other emoluments. As an exception to the provisions of § 1152 of this title, all the Administration’s personnel shall be classified in the Exempt Service under the Personnel Act. The Administration shall adopt an internal personnel regulation which shall be based on the basic principles of the merit system.
(e) To acquire materials and equipment without being subject to Act No. 96 of June 29, 1954, known as the Procurement and Service Act.
(f) To supply materials and equipment for the carrying out of the projects agreed upon with government agencies and with the municipalities.
(g) To request and obtain any funds or assistance from the federal government or from private sources to carry out the purposes provided for in this chapter under the conditions to be established in applicable legislation, regulation, agreement or contract. The Administration is hereby authorized to sponsor projects originated under federal laws; to act as constituent or delegating agency, and to supervise the use of the funds thus acquired. This authorization is not made extensive to those federal programs where other agencies of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have been designated by law, as the agencies called to participate in such programs.
(h) To control in an exclusive manner its properties and activities.
(i) To adopt a corporate seal from which judicial acknowledgment shall be taken.
(j) To decide the character and necessity of all its expenses and the manner in which same shall be incurred, and to authorize it to pay, without being subject to the laws which regulate the disbursements of public funds.
(k) To acquire in any legal manner and possess, administer, lease, sell or in any form dispose of properties or any interest therein, which it may consider necessary for the fulfillment of its purpose.
(l) To carry out directly or by contract the promotion and publicity of the activities and programs of the Administration.
(m) To adopt, amend and repeal rules and regulations to direct the standards of its activities in general and to exercise and fulfill the powers and duties granted by law. Prior to the adoption of said rules and regulations, the Administration shall hold public hearings, notice of which shall be given to the public, with sufficient time in advance to the holding thereof and in which the public shall be given the opportunity to express their views on the rules and regulations that the Administration proposes to adopt. Once said rules and regulations are approved by the Administration, same shall be promulgated in accordance with the provisions of Act June 30, 1957, No. 112. Internal regulations may be adopted without being subject to said sections.
(n) To enter into agreements with private employers or with government agencies to provide for the recruitment or contracting of personnel to carry out training or retraining programs, to contribute the necessary funds for the payment of the fees of this personnel as well as for the equipment and materials.
(o) To carry out studies relative to unemployment and subemployment; establish pilot projects, make short and long term plans relative to the normal demand of employees, to the needs for additional employment, and relative to the manner of carrying out its programs effectively.
(p) To acquire by condemnation the lands and any other properties and rights necessary to carry out the purposes for which it was created. When, in the judgment of the Administration, it is necessary to take immediate possession of the condemned property it shall request from the Governor that in the name and behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, he acquires them. The Governor shall have the authority to acquire the property and rights necessary for the use and benefit of the Administration, by using any means authorized by law, to carry out the purposes and ends of the Administration. The Administration shall advance to the Commonwealth the funds necessary and estimated to be the value of the property and rights to be acquired. Any difference in the value decreed by the court shall be paid by the Administration, or in its defect, by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Administration shall be under the obligation to reimburse said difference. The property title shall be transferred to the Administration by order of the court when the latter has completed the total reimbursement. In the cases in which to accelerate the fulfillment of the corporate goals and purposes, the Governor may deem it convenient and necessary that the property and title rights thus acquired be directly registered in the name of the Administration, he may so request it of the court at any time during the condemnation process and the court shall thus decree it. All real and personal property and rights or interests therein that the Administration deems necessary for corporate purposes shall be declared of public utility, which may be condemned by or for the use of the Administration without the previous declaration of public utility provided for by §§ 2901—2913 of Title 32. Once the petition for acquisition has been filed, the courts shall be empowered to fix the terms and conditions and the period of time within which the owners of such property shall deliver the possession of same to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or to the Administration. No appeal or guarantee, which may be rendered therein, shall delay the acquisition by and delivery of the property to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or to the Administration.
History —June 21, 1968, No. 115, p. 253, title I, § 8, eff. 30 days after June 21, 1968.