2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 33 - Retirement of Government Personnel (§§ 761 — 830q) › § 785 - Employees Retirement System—Benefits as personal rights; exemptions

The right to retirement or disability annuities, death, and any other benefits pursuant to the provisions of §§ 761–788 of this title, regardless of their designation, as well as the receipt of reimbursements, is a personal right of the recipient thereof, and the transfer or assignment of said benefits and reimbursements, or any part thereof, shall be null, and may not be garnished or affected by any judicial proceeding, except as provided in §§ 761-788 of this title. None of said pensions, benefits, or reimbursements may be claimed for the payment of debts contracted by the recipients. Except for the loans made by participants of savings and credit unions and the Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico, which shall encumber up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the pension or benefit, of the participant, as well as the provisions of § 779a of this title. However, the amounts credited to a member of the System through contributions made through wage or salary withholdings, including interest, and pursuant to the provisions of §§ 761–788 of this title or the provisions of any law regarding superseded pension funds, may be pledged by the participant as collateral for any loan requested by him/her from any fund, association, public enterprise, or any other lending agency created by an employer to offer loans to its employees, or by the Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico or a savings and credit union to offer loans to members and non-members. The participant may pledge up to sixty-five percent (65%) of his/her contributions or twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) thereof, whichever is less, which is not pledged or designated by the participant as collateral on the savings and credit union System, the Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico, or any fund, association, public enterprise, or any other lending agency created by an employer to offer loans to its employees. Contributions that may be designated by the participant as collateral for any loan originated or acquired by these agencies, savings and credit unions, and the Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico may only be used as collateral for the principal and interests of such loans. Such amounts may be collected by the Administrator, the savings and credit unions, or the Cooperative Bank of Puerto Rico, as provided in this section and § 785a of this title, withheld by the Secretary of the Treasury, or garnished through the pertinent judicial proceeding to be applied to the repayment of any loan granted by any of these agencies or savings and credit unions solely in the event that no pertinent arrangement has been made for the repayment of said loan to the satisfaction of said agency or savings and credit union. The Cooperative Bank and the savings and credit unions under the provisions of this section participating in the loan granting and acquisition program covered under §§ 761–788 of this title shall require any participant who applies for a loan under the provisions of this section to own a life insurance policy that covers the cancellation of such debt, in case the debtor dies, and a disability insurance to defer payment in the event of a disability.
History —May 15, 1951, No. 447, p. 1298, § 24; June 13, 1977, No. 68, p. 140; renumbered as § 2-119 and amended on Sept. 24, 1999, No. 305, § 28; renumbered as § 2-177 on April 4, 2013, No. 3, § 10, eff. July 1, 2013.