2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHTEEN - Education (§§ 1 — 3510-3520) › PART I - Public Schools (§§ 1 — 596d) › Chapter 18C - Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Teacher’s Retirement System Act (§§ 393 — 399d) › Subchapter VII - Administrative Provisions (§§ 399 — 399d) › § 399a - Obligations of the System, teachers, and employers to expedite the process

(a) The System shall process the application for retirement within thirty (30) days after receipt of the resignation acceptance certification and all the required documentation.
(b) The employer shall be required to submit all required documents to the System within thirty (30) days following the date of the application for retirement benefits or liquidation of funds.
(c) In the event that classroom teachers and school principals retire during the school year, they shall notify their resignation to the Department of Education within one hundred twenty (120) days before the beginning of the school semester during which they plan to avail themselves of the retirement benefits. If the classroom teacher or school principal fails to comply with such notice, he/she shall not be able to retire during such school semester, but may do so at the end of such semester, subject to compliance with the following provisions:
(1) During the school semester beginning on January of such year, the classroom teacher or school principal must submit, on or before January 31 of the school year, to the System an application to obtain a Certification of Years of Credited Service in the public service to avail him/herself of the pension benefits at the end of the January-May semester.
(2) The System shall act on such application on or before March 31 of said year, so that the teacher or principal may submit their letter of resignation to the Department of Education before May 31, which shall take effect on June 30 of that same year.
(3) Every classroom teacher and school principal of the Department of Education, who wishes to retire during the school semester beginning on August of such year, shall submit to the System an Application to obtain a Certification of Years of Credited Service in the public service to avail him/herself of the pension benefits at the end of the August-December semester of the school year.
(4) The System shall act on such application on or before August 30 of the current year, so that the teacher or school principal may submit the letter of resignation to the Department of Education. Such letter shall be submitted before October 31, in order to take effect on December 31 of said year.
(d) The System shall notify the Department of Education of any application for retirement received. Likewise, notwithstanding the Retirement System’s notification to the Department, the participant interested in availing him/herself of the retirement benefits shall notify the Department of his/her application for retirement upon filing the same.
(e) These provisions shall not apply to teachers or school principals of the Department of Education who are ill or experiencing unforeseeable or special circumstances that prevent them from working in the classroom or school.
(f) If the System fails to meet the obligation established in subsection (a) of this section it shall be responsible to the participant for the payment of an amount equal to a month’s salary at the time the application for retirement benefit is filed, except in cases of force majeure, foreign to the administrative process. Such penalty shall be applied at the teacher’s request. If the employer fails to meet the obligation established in subsection (b) of this section, said employer shall be responsible to the participant for the payment of an amount equal to a month of the participant’s salary at the time the application for retirement benefit or liquidation is filed.
History —Dec. 24, 2013, No. 160, § 7.2.