2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 81 - Controlled Substances Detection Tests in the Public Sector Workplace (§§ 2501 — 2520) › § 2501 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning stated below:
(a) Accident. — Is any event or action proceeding from an action or function of an employee that affects or jeopardizes the safety or property of any natural or juridical person.
(b) Agency. — The Executive Branch of the Government of Puerto Rico, its offices, departments, agencies, public corporations and dependencies.
(c) Public safety agencies and programs. — The Department of Justice, the Special Investigations Bureau, the Puerto Rico Police, the Criminal Justice College, the Public Safety Commission, the Puerto Rico National Guard, the Firefighters Corps, the Puerto Rico Civil Defense, the School Safety Corps, the Medical Emergency Corps, the Corrections Administration, the Correctional Health Program of the Department of Health, and the security guards of the private enterprises contracted by the Corrections Administration to provide custodial services in penal institutions, the Juvenile Institutions Administration, the Parole Board, the Pretrial Services Office, the Work and Training Enterprises Corporation, the Forensic Sciences Institute, the Natural Resources Ranger Corps, and the Mental Health and Addiction Services Administration.
(d) Drug or Controlled substance. — Any drug or substance [included] in Classifications I and II of § 2202 of Title 24, known as the “Puerto Rico Controlled Substances Act”, except the use of medically prescribed drugs or other use authorized by law.
(e) Liaison. — [A] qualified person designated by the Secretary, Administrator, Director or Head of the Agency to assist in coordinating the help to employees, and the program established in every agency as provided in this chapter.
(f) Official or Employee. — Any person who renders services in exchange for a salary, wage, pay or any type of remuneration, or who renders full or part-time career or confidential services, in any Branch of the Government of Puerto Rico.
(g) Laboratory. — Any public or private entity duly authorized by the Secretary of Health, that performs clinical or forensic analyses that processes controlled substances detection tests using substantially the guidelines and parameters established by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (N.I.D.A.).
(h) Sample. — Refers to the sample of urine, blood or any other bodily substance furnished by the official or employee to be submitted to analysis, which is determined to meet the reliability and precision criteria accepted by the Federal Registry of the Tests to Detect Controlled Substances, of the Federal Department of Health, and the regulations of the Puerto Rico Department of Health.
(i) Unjustified refusal. — Constitutes the negotiation [sic] refusal to submit to the controlled substances detection tests or cooperate for them to be made, as is, without excluding others; not appearing at the place where the test is taken without justification; abandon the place where the sample is taken; the clearly stated refusal of the person who refuses to submit to the procedure; disobeying orders or not following instructions of the laboratory or the official in charge so that he/she can produce an adequate sample, or when it is altered.
(j) Program. — The Controlled Substances Detection Program which is established through regulations pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
(k) Sensitive offices or positions. — Those that meet one or more of the following requirements: participation in the manufacture, custody, handling, distribution and access to controlled substances; handling and access to hazardous, toxic, explosive, flammable equipment and materials; high voltage electrical cables, or similar equipment or material; school transport and air, sea and land transport of passengers, cargo or heavy machinery, and repair of said transportation and cargo vehicles; bearing, access to, or impounding of firearms; direct participation in rendering medical and first aid services; rescue or ambulance services; custodial and direct rendering of supervisory and rehabilitation services for addicts, minors, the elderly, victims of abuse, disabled persons; charged, convicted or confined persons; rendering and direct supervision of education, orientation, and counseling services to students of the public education system; handling and direct access to highly confidential information related to public safety matters; direct relationship with gaming rooms or casinos; or any other positions of high risk to health public safety or social order, in which a minimum dysfunction of the physical or mental faculties of the official or employee could cause a fatal incident or accident, or place the life of the citizenry or their own in grave and imminent danger. This definition shall include any position or office in the Office proper of the Governor of Puerto Rico.
(l) Individualized reasonable suspicion. — The moral conviction that a specific person is under the influence or is a regular user of controlled substances, regardless of the fact that it is subsequently established or not. Said suspicion shall be based on observable and objective factors such as:
(1) Direct observation of the use and possession of controlled substances.
(2) Physical symptoms that alert to being under the influence of a controlled substance.
(3) A reiterated pattern of abnormal conduct or erratic behavior on the job.
History —Aug. 14, 1997, No. 78, § 4; Nov. 9, 1998, No. 273, § 1; Oct. 4, 2007, No. 143, § 1.