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) › § 4558 - Provisions on classification of positions and compensation—Career positions; selection process

The Selection Committee of the municipality, composed of the Director of Personnel and two (2) other officials designated by the mayor, shall evaluate candidates for career positions in the municipal service.
The Committee shall interview all eligible candidates and submit a list to the mayor with the names of the five (5) candidates it deems best qualified, based on their capabilities and suitability to perform the functions of the position, pursuant to § 4557 this title. The mayor shall make the final decision on the selection.
(a) Alternate procedures.— The municipality may establish written examination systems, registration of eligible candidates in order of points, and limitation of the number of candidates to be interviewed for selection to the first ones that appear on the registry of eligibles, when its size and organizational complexity justify it.
In addition, special alternate recruitment and selection procedures may be used when it is impractical to attend to the needs of the municipal service with appointments under the regular procedure established in this subtitle.
Said special procedures shall be mechanisms of exception, and shall only be used in the following cases:
(1) When a register of appropriate eligible candidates is not available a certain class of position and the urgency of the service justifies it.
(2) To fill transitory, unskilled, or semiskilled positions.
(b) Verification of requirements, medical examination and oath of office.— The established requirements of training, experience, licenses, collegiation, citizenship and others, shall be verified at the time of appointment or when the corresponding change is authorized. [F]ailure to present the required evidence or not meet the requirements on the basis of the evidence submitted, shall be good cause for the cancellation of any selection of a candidate.
Evidence issued by a physician duly-licensed to practice his/her profession in Puerto Rico shall be required, demonstrating that the person selected to enter public service is physically and mentally able to exercise the function of the position.
There shall be no discrimination against those persons whose disabilities do not prevent them from performing the duties of the position.
Any person to whom an appointment is extended to enter the public service in the municipality shall take the oath of office and entry required by law.
(c) Probationary work period.— Every person who is appointed or promoted to fill a permanent career position shall be subject to a probationary period for said position as part of the selection process for municipal public service. The duration of said period shall be established on this basis and shall not be less than three (3) months nor more than twelve (12) months, except for those areas where bylaws establish a different probationary period with a more extensive work cycle. The work of every probationary employee shall be evaluated periodically with regard to productivity, efficiency, habits, and attitudes. Official forms designed for this purpose shall be used, and such evaluations shall be discussed with the employees. Employees shall be notified in writing of the final action at least ten (10) days before the effective date thereof.
Any employee may be separated from his/her position during the probationary period or at the end thereof, after having been duly advised and trained, if it is determined that his/her progress and adaptability to the norms of municipal public service have not been satisfactory.
Upon satisfactory completion of the probationary period, the employee shall become a regular employee in the position.
Any career employee who fails the probationary period for reasons other than his/her habits or attitudes, and who was a regular employee immediately prior thereto, shall be entitled to be reinstated in a position of the same class he/she previously filled as a regular employee, or in another like or similar position with similar requirements.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 12.008; Apr. 13, 1995, No. 36, § 40; renumbered as § 11.008 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 3; Nov. 22, 2009, No. 151, § 4.