2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 51B - Human Resources Administration System (§§ 1461 — 1468p) › Subchapter IV - Merit Principle (§§ 1462 — 1462h) › § 1462d - Provisions on training

(A)
(1) Given the fact that training constitutes an area which is essential to the merit principle, it is a compelling interest to integrate the same into the Office to conduct studies and research on human behavior in the workplace, in order to conform Puerto Rican reality to the experience and results obtained in other research centers, and to use the training and the competency training of personnel as manners in which to propitiate an appropriate working environment in the public service.
(2) It is hereby instituted as a basic concept in administration, that in order for an agency to fulfill its mission, it shall seek the utmost development of its human resources and provide the administrative tools for their best use.
(3) The Continuing Education School (CES) is hereby created in the public service as a part of the Office, to perform the functions indicated below:
(a) Identify the needs for the development of human resources in the public service, pursuant to the provisions of subsection (3)(c) of § 1462b of this title, through the announcement in agencies and in the Central Register of the highest possible amount of information on training opportunities in agencies; Provided, That notice to the Training Office shall not be necessary, except for the granting of scholarships, in those cases provided by the Office through regulations.
(b) Plan, administer and evaluate competency and other training activities to satisfy the needs of the personnel in the public service.
(c) Develop human resources administration research programs.
(d) Provide advice to Government agencies on the implementation of positive results yielded by research, for the improvement of human resources administration.
(e) Coordinate the scholarship program granted to the agencies by the Government.
[(f)] Develop, in coordination with the agencies, the granting of study leaves with pay.]
[(g)] Develop, in coordination with the agencies, a tuition payment program.
(h) Offer, in coordination with the Puerto Rico Cooperative Development Commission, cooperative training and continuing education courses to any interested public employee. In offering such courses, the Division may request assistance from the Puerto Rico League of Cooperatives and the Cooperative Movement Institute of the University of Puerto Rico.
(i) To offer trainings to public employees on the correct vocabulary to be used when addressing persons with disabilities in coordination with the Office of the Advocate of Persons with Disabilities (OPPI, Spanish acronym).
(j) Collaborate and assist the Office of the Advocate for the Elderly in training, sensitivity, informational, and educational campaigns to be offered by the said Office to public employees about the rights that protect the elderly.
(k) To offer training and continuing education courses on economic financial matters to public employees of the agencies. In order to offer said courses, the school may request the assistance, coordination and collaboration of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico and the Office of Management and Budget, among others.
(4) Officials and employees of the municipalities, the government of the United States of America and the state governments, the public corporations and the other branches of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may participate in the training programs developed by the Office, as well as officials and employees from foreign countries on scholarship from international entities, which participation shall be contingent upon payment by the corresponding entity to the Office for the services to be offered.
(5) The Director is hereby authorized to contract the services of any officials or employees of any department, agency, board, public corporation, dependency or political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, including its municipalities, and to compensate them for the additional services they render as trainers or speakers in personnel competency and other training activities, outside their regular working hours and with the prior consent of the appointing authority of the government entity for which they render services, without being subject to the provisions of § 551 of this title.
(B) The specific provisions to govern personnel competency and other training shall be the following:
(1) Each agency shall be responsible for preparing a biannual or an annual plan for competency and other training and the development of its human resources based on a study of the programmatic priorities and needs.
(2) The plan shall include the adequate use of training means such as scholarships, leaves with or without pay for pursuing studies, seminars, intensive education workshops or courses, payment of tuition, apprenticeships, or personnel exchange in Puerto Rico with foreign countries.
(3) The Office may offer advice and technical assistance to the agencies as needed for preparing the training needs plan, as well as the study on which said plan is based.
(4) The general and common, as well as the particular and specific, human resources development needs of all agencies shall be chanelled [sic] through the Office, and only may agencies have the direct services from other entities by means of a dispensation granted by the Office to such effect.
(5) For purposes of complying with so essential an area as training, all heads of agency shall refer every fiscal year to the Office, such employees under their charge who hold a specialized job classification, as listed below, so that they may participate in the following Comprehensive Programs: “Comprehensive Administration and Human Resources Skill-Building Program” (intended mainly for Supervisors, Directors and Assistant Secretaries in Internal Human Resources offices); “Comprehensive Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations Program” (intended mainly to Negotiation Committee members of the public agency or instrumentality); and the “Comprehensive Accounting and Budget Matters Program” (intended mainly for Assistant Secretaries and/or Directors in Administration, Management Affairs, Finances, Auditing, and Budget).
(6) In the case of specific needs, individual administrators shall establish the criteria for the selection of persons to be trained, as well as the instructors, the content of the training courses and the evaluation thereof, and they shall maintain evidence of these. In the case of general and common needs, the criteria may be established by the Office.
(7) Each agency shall keep a history per employee of the training received to be used in the making of decisions regarding promotions, transfer, work assignments, evaluations, and other personnel actions compatible with the merit principle.
(8) Agencies shall manage their scholarship and their study leave with or without pay programs, and they may receive from the Office the advice and the technical assistance necessary to manage such programs.
(9) Beneficiaries of scholarship or study leave with pay programs of any agency or municipality shall be under the obligation to render services to the Government for a term equal to double their term used for studies, once they have concluded the same, unless the Office releases them from said obligation. Likewise, the Government shall be under the obligation to hire persons on scholarship conforming to the financial possibilities and the needs of the service as stated in the contract executed.
(10) When granting scholarships, the following requirements shall be met:
(a) Opportunities for the granting of scholarships shall be announced, pursuant to the provisions of subsection (3)(c) of the first part of this section and in subsection (3)(c) of § 1462b of this title, through their announcement in agencies and their publication in the Central Registry and the corresponding registry of the agency.
(b) Candidates shall compete on an equal footing.
(c) Candidates shall be selected from among those who qualify. If after having announced the opportunities and concluded the procedures there is only one qualified candidate, he or she may be granted the scholarship. All persons on scholarship appointed after having completed their studies, shall be exempted from taking the test that corresponds to the job class, or its equivalent in other job appraisal plans, for which he or she was granted the scholarship.
(d) Scholarships may be granted without opposition when the special and exceptional demands of the service and the qualifications of employees so warrant.
[(e)] Persons selected to receive scholarships or paid study leave shall formalize contracts that require, among other things, a commitment to work in the public service for the term established in subsection (9) of this section.]
[(f)] Persons selected to receive scholarships or study [leave] with pay who do fail to meet the obligation assumed shall reimburse the amount invested plus interest at the legal rate from the time the funds were reimbursed, and shall not be eligible for admission into the public service for a term equal to triple the time they were studying.
(11) The appointing authority shall freeze the position reserved for the person on scholarship, except due to needs of the service, when it may be covered through a transitory appointment for the term of duration of the scholarship.
(12) Should there be no vacant position into which to appoint the person on scholarship upon completion of his/her studies, the job shall be created from any fund available in the agency. If due to an unforeseeable or emergency situation this were rendered impossible, the name of the person on scholarship may be included in the eligible candidate registers for job classes equal or similar to the position for which the scholarship was granted.
History —Aug. 3, 2004, No. 184, § 6.5; Jan. 23, 2006, No. 32, § 3[bis]; Sept. 27, 2006, No. 210, § 1; July 23, 2007, No. 72, § 1; June 2, 2009, No. 21, § 2; Nov. 14, 2009, No. 137, § 1; Jan. 4, 2010, No. 6, § 2; Aug. 22, 2012, No. 201, § 1.