2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 114 - Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Special Fiscal and Operational Sustainability Act (§§ 9101 — 9153) › Subchapter II - Measures To Cut Back On Spending In The Executive Branch (§§ 9111 — 9129) › § 9115 - Filling of vacancies

No Entity of the Executive Branch shall appoint regular or career, transitory or irregular employees after July 1st, 2014 and during the effective term of this Act. Excepted from this prohibition are appointed employees that: (1) provide essential services directly to the people; (2) are essential and indispensable to assure compliance with the ministerial duties of the agency; (3) directly generate revenues for the Government; (4) replace services provided by subcontractors as of June 30th, 2014, when it may prove to achieve net savings, taking into account all relative costs between the two options; (5) hire transitory employees to carry out duties in the same position; (6) fifty percent (50%) or more are defrayed by Federal funds or its own income; (7) are necessary for the matching of Federal funds or a requirement to obtain such funds; or (8) respond to a specific and direct requirement of a competent court or administrative forum to fill the position. Furthermore, in the event it is necessary to fill a vacancy, the first option would be to transfer or detail regular and transitory employees. New appointments shall, including those subject to exception, require the authorization of the Office of Management and Budget prior to filling the position. Appointments with a proposed salary higher than seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) shall also require the authorization of the Governor or person to whom he/she delegates. Requests to fill vacancies made to the Office of Management and Budget shall include a certification signed by the appointing authority attesting to the existence and applicability of the exception under which such request is being submitted, a detailed statement of the basis thereof, and a confirmation of the inability to fill the position by means of transfer or detail. In the case of appointments defrayed solely by Federal funds, the Office of Management and Budget shall obtain an authorization within a term that shall not exceed thirty (30) days after the date of the request to fill a vacancy.
Any provision or rule of an agreement, law, regulation, or administrative provision that is contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be suspended. The foregoing includes, but is not limited to, any provision or rule requiring or seeking to require the filling of additional vacancies, the conditions under which employees are replaced, and the classification of filled positions; or impairing or seeking to impair in any way, the power of the Government to determine the number or type of employees needed to operate and provide services to the people.
In their appointment process, the Entities of the Executive Branch shall include as part of the documents required to execute the same, in addition to the appointment affidavit and letter, an additional document whereby the head of the Entity of the Executive Branch or delegated official authorized to make appointments shall certify compliance with the provisions of this Section, and the candidate to be appointed recognizes the risk of nullity for noncompliance and his/her right to demand a copy of the authorizations required under this section. The Office of Management and Budget shall establish by rules the format of the document to be completed by the parties, the contents and format of which shall be reproduced and used. Every appointment made in contravention with the provisions of this section shall be null.
Public corporations whose operating expenses are defrayed, in whole or in part, from the General Fund shall follow the same procedure and require the same authorizations as those agencies or instrumentalities whose operating expenses are defrayed from the General Fund including the authorizations of the Office of Management and Budget and the Governor or his/her authorized representative. Public corporations whose operating expenses are defrayed in whole from their own funds or other sources shall follow the same procedure and require the same authorizations, except that, as a prerequisite for submitting a request for the approval of an appointment with the Office of Management and Budget, of the Governor or his/her authorized representative, as the case may be, such corporations shall obtain a written endorsement from the Government Development Bank.
History —June 17, 2014, No. 66, § 9.