P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 8794
(1) A Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program and a Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program are hereby established available to the eligible employees of the agencies.
(a) Every employee of the agencies to which this chapter applies, and who has twenty (20) or more years of employment in the public service is eligible for this Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program.
(b) The Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program shall consist in the reduction of one (1) regular workday of the employee every fifteen (15) days; that is to say, one (1) day every fifteen (15) days.
(c) The OMB is hereby directed to notify all agencies, by means of a circular letter, the procedure to be followed so that the employees of the agencies may avail themselves of the Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program, no later than March 20, 2009. The appointing authorities or authorized representatives of the agencies shall, in turn, notify their employees of the circular letter, and in the case of those members of an appropriate unit, to the labor union that is certified as exclusive representative of said appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining (the “labor union”), in a term not greater than seven (7) calendar days as of the date of notification of the OMB circular letter.
(d) Those employees who are interested in participating in the Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program shall have a term of thirty (30) calendar days that cannot be extended, counting from the date of the notification of the OMB circular letter, to avail themselves of the Program. The employees interested in availing themselves of the Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program, on their own and also, if the case, through their labor union, shall complete an election form to be provided by the Agency, and shall hand deliver the same to the Human Resources Office of the agency. The form shall contain a summary of the Program.
(e) The reduction of the workday provided in this subsection, as well as the consequent reduction in pay shall be of a permanent nature.
(f) The JREF shall evaluate all petitions for the Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program in order to approve or reject the same. In the evaluation and decision making regarding its approval or rejection, the JREF shall take into consideration if the objective set forth in Section 2 shall be achieved through it by harmonizing the same with the interest in assuring the quality and continuity in the offering of services to the citizenry.
(2) Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program. —
(a) All employees of the agencies to which this chapter is applicable are eligible for the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program.
(b) The OMB is hereby directed to notify all agencies, by means of a circular letter, the procedure to be followed for the employees of the agency to avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program no later than March 20, 2009. The appointing authorities or authorized representatives of the agencies shall, in turn, inform their employees of the circular letter, and in the case of those members of an appropriate unit, to the labor union, in a term not greater than seven (7) calendar days as of the date of the notification of OMB circular letter.
(c) Those employees who wish to participate in the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program shall have a term of thirty (30) calendar days, which cannot be extended, counting from the date of notification of OMB circular letter to avail themselves of the Program. The employees interested in availing themselves of the voluntary resignation program shall, on their own, and if the case, through their labor union, complete the election form to be provided by the agency, and shall hand deliver the same to the Human Resources Office of the agency. The form shall contain a summary of the Program and shall advise the employee that the signing thereof constitutes a total and absolute release, and a waiver of the rights for present or potential claim based on:
(i) His/her employment relationship and/or the termination thereof under any applicable law and/or
(ii) an action, if any, that could be taken as a consequence of the implementation of this chapter.
(d) The resignation referred to in clause (c) of this subsection shall have the effect of a total transaction of all actions or rights, whether present or potential, known or unknown, that the employee has, could have, or has had; Provided, further, That the effect of the resignation regarding what is indicated in clauses (c) and (d) of this subsection shall be matter judged.
(3) Incentives. —
(a) Every employee who avails him/herself of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program provided by subsection (2) of this section, shall receive an economic incentive in accordance to the following formula:
Gross sum to be received
Up to one year 1 month of salary
From 1 year and 1 day to 3 years 2 months of salary
From 3 years and 1 day or more 3 months of salary
The term of employment shall be determined by the agencies on the basis of all the periods worked by the employee in public service of the Government of Puerto Rico and its agencies and municipalities.
The payment of the economic incentive described in this clause shall be exempted from the payment of income tax, and no deductions shall be made for savings and contributions to the retirement systems of government employees or for income taxes, but it shall be subject to other deductions authorized by law, such as those in which the employee or officer has voluntarily incurred for loans with the Employee’s Association, with the retirement system of the Government or with public employees credit cooperatives, deductions for membership fees to employee associations authorized by law, and deductions for federal Social Security and Medicare.
(b) The employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program shall also receive the liquidation of their regular vacation leave within a term of thirty (30) calendar days upon presentation of the documents required for said liquidation. The same term shall apply for those employees who are entitled to receive liquidation for sick leave and for accumulated overtime. The employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program may choose to receive training, retraining and employment search services through the Department of Labor and Human Resources and its operational components.
(c) The employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program shall be paid their health insurance premium for a maximum term of twelve (12) months or until they are eligible for health insurance coverage in another employment.
(d) The employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program shall be eligible for the Public Employees Options Program as provided in § 8803 of this title.
(e) The employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program may choose the liquidation of their accumulated leaves as a retirement benefit, or the transfer thereof, or the adoption of any other option provided by and in accordance with the law, regulations and/or corresponding plan that regulates their retirement.
(3a) Exemption from application of the Ethics in Government Act. —
(a) Employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program shall be exempted from the application of § 1822(f) and subsections (d), (e) and (h) of § 1823 of this title, of the Puerto Rico Ethics in Government Act.
(b) Employees who avail themselves of the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program shall be exempted from restrictions on actions by former public employees provided for in the Puerto Rico Ethics in Government Act, §§ 1801 et seq. of this title.
(4) Certification. —
(a) Upon the conclusion of the thirty (30) calendar-day term to avail to the Voluntary Incentivized Resignation Program and the Voluntary Permanent Workday Reduction Program, pursuant to the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the agencies shall have a term of not more than seven (7) calendar days to present to OMB a report indicating the amount of economy achieved through said programs in their respective agencies. Since the effectiveness of Phase III of § 8802 of this title concurs with that of Phase I, the agencies shall likewise certify the projected economy through the temporary suspension plan of § 8802(3)(a) of this title during the abovementioned term.
(b) In a term not greater than ten (10) calendar days as of the deadline for the remittance of the reports from the agencies, the OMB shall certify the projected economy as a result of the implementation of Phase I to the JREF and to the Presiding Officers of the Legislative Houses, as well as the certification of the projected economy of Phase III, § 8802(3) of this title. After the analysis of the previously mentioned results of Phase I and Phase III, the OMB shall indicate if the objective was achieved; if not, it shall recommend the enforcement of § 8795 of this title, and shall notify the JREF and the Presiding Officers of the Legislative Houses.
History —Mar. 9, 2009, No. 7, §§ 36.01—36.04; July 10, 2009, No. 37, §§ 19, 39.