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) › § 4566 - Fringe benefits—Holidays and leave

In addition to the fringe benefits established by special laws, including the provisions in effect regarding holidays, municipal employees shall be entitled to the following:
(a) Holidays.— Holidays shall be those days decreed as such by the Governor or by municipal ordinance.
(b) Leave.—
(1) Vacation leave.— Career, confidential and transitory employees shall be entitled to accrue vacation leave at a rate of two and a half (2 1 / 2 ) days for each month of service. Part-time employees shall accrue said leave in proportion to the number of hours that they regularly render services.
Each municipal body shall prepare and administer a vacation plan in the way that is most compatible with the requirements of the service and which prevents employees from accruing leave in excess of the allowable maximum per calendar year.
Every employee may accrue vacation leave up to a maximum of sixty (60) working days at the end of each calendar year. If he or she is unable to enjoy the accrued leave due to the requirements of the service, the municipal nominating authority shall grant any excess of the sixty (60) day limit within the first six (6) months of the following calendar year. The nominating authority shall take the measures needed to grant vacation leave to the employee whenever possible. The mayor shall adopt, through his/her office of human resources, the norms that shall govern when the need to grant vacation leave to employees in advance arises.
Any employee may be authorized to use his/her accrued leave for a period greater than thirty (30) days up to a maximum of sixty (60) days in any calendar year, when the circumstances and merits of the case justify it.
Municipal bodies are hereby empowered to pay vacation leave accrued in excess of the maximum limit authorized by law within a calendar year to the employee, by exception when due to special circumstances of the service beyond his/her control, the employee has not been able to enjoy the same within the six (6) months after the calendar year which reflects such excess. Should said situation occur, the employee may opt to authorize the municipal body concerned to transfer to the Department of the Treasury any money amount on account of the balance of vacation leave accrued during the calendar year in excess of the maximum limit authorized by law, in order for said amount to be credited as total or partial payment of any income tax debt he or she has at the time of authorizing the transfer.
(2) Sick leave.— Every career, confidential, and transitory employee shall be entitled to accrue sick leave at a rate of one and a half (1 1 / 2 ) days for each month of service. Part-time employees shall accrue said leave in proportion to the number of hours that they regularly render services.
Workers Service employees who in any calendar year have rendered their services for a period of six (6) months or more shall be entitled to accrue sick leave at a rate of one and a half (1 1 / 2) days for each month worked, and vacation leave at a rate of two and a half (2 1 / 2) days for each month worked.
Sick leave shall be used exclusively when the employee is ill, disabled, or exposed to a contagious disease which requires his/her absence from work to protect him/herself or other persons. The nominating authority may require the worker to present a medical certificate issued by a physician licensed to practice medicine in Puerto Rico, which certifies that the person was unable to work during the period he/she was absent. This certificate shall specify the medical reasons of the disability and the period of time he/she shall be disabled. The municipality shall approve regulations concerning the procedures for absences from work due to sick leave and the certificate of disability when the period of absence is for three (3) working days.
Sick leave may be accrued up to a maximum of ninety (90) working days at the end of any calendar year. An employee may use all sick leave accrued during any calendar year. Every employee shall have the right to be paid for the sick leave accrued in excess of the ninety (90) days, not later than March 31 of the following year. The payment shall be based on the employee’s salary at the time the payment is made. This right shall not lead to the incorrect or inadequate use of the leave to which the employee is entitled. Therefore, it is hereby prohibited to substitute or authorize the substitution of sick leave for any other types of leave granted for other purposes, in order to wrongfully accrue excess sick leave for the payment established herein, unless there is any other federal or state legislation authorizing it. Provided, further, That the municipal employee may opt to authorize the municipal body concerned to make a money transfer to the Department of the Treasury of the excess over the ninety (90) days of sick leave, or part thereof, with the purpose of said amount being credited as total or partial payment of any income tax debt he or she has at the time of authorizing such transfer.
In the case the employee does not have sufficient sick leave accrued, the nominating authority may advance the same for a reasonable term, as the circumstances and merits of the case so justify, up to a maximum of eighteen (18) working days.
(3) Leave for victims of domestic violence.— When the employee is victim of domestic violence and requires free days or a flexible work schedule, he/she shall be entitled to non-accruable leave with pay for a term of up to five (5) working days to seek the assistance of an attorney or advisor in matters of domestic violence, obtain a restraining order or obtain medical services or those of any other nature for him/herself or his/her family members.
For the purposes of this section the term “domestic violence” shall be interpreted as it is defined in the “Act for the Prevention of and Intervention with Domestic Violence”, §§ 601 et seq. of Title 8.
(c) Christmas bonus.— Those municipalities whose budgetary capability allows them to grant the payment of a Christmas bonus for an amount greater than that established in §§ 757 et seq. of Title 3, may increase the amount thereof through the approval of an ordinance. The contribution of the Department of the Treasury shall remain at the percentage already established by said sections.
(d) Granting of days as a result of disasters or emergencies.— Any days granted to Commonwealth employees by the Governor as a result of a disaster or emergency shall apply automatically and in like condition; to wit, with or without pay, and to be charged or not to accrued leave; to the municipal employees of those municipalities that are within the geographical zone comprised by the declaration of disaster or emergency.
The granting of working days under the provisions of this subsection shall not apply to those municipal employees that work in contingency groups in case of disasters or emergencies, nor to those employees whose work is essential for the operation of the municipal government in those cases. To such ends, the mayor shall identify through regulations, those municipal dependencies and positions whose employees should report, in case that a state of emergency is declared by him/her or the Governor. Said regulations must be approved by the legislature.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 12.016; Apr. 13, 1995, No. 36, § 45; Apr. 28, 1996, No. 28, § 1; Aug. 20, 1996, No. 152, § 1; Aug. 20, 1998, No. 254, § 3; renumbered as § 11.016 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 3; June 9, 1999, No. 128, § 1; Aug. 21, 1999, No. 291, § 1; Aug. 30, 2000, No. 237, § 4; Sept. 7, 2004, No. 258, § 30; Aug. 27, 2005, No. 107, § 2.