P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 8797
In order to prevent a negative impact on the services rendered by the Government, and in compliance with the provisions of Section 2 of this Act, the following employees of the agencies which, as per their classifications, perform essential functions for the protection of security, education, health and welfare, as defined by the JREF, shall be exempted from the provisions on layoffs in this chapter:
(a) Police officers and firefighters, Ranger Corps officers, and agents of the Special Investigations Bureau and the Office of the Special Independent Prosecutor;
(b) corrections officers and juvenile officers;
(c) teachers assigned to a classroom, including transitory teachers, during the school year;
(d) directors, librarians, guidance counselors and employees working in lunchrooms attached to the Department of Education;
(e) teachers of the Puerto Rico Music Conservatory and the School of Plastic Arts;
(f) health professionals (physicians, paramedics, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technicians);
(g) social workers;
(h) 911 emergency call system operators;
(i) pathologists and expert and technical personnel of the Institute of Forensic Science;
(j) employees of the Public Service Labor Relations Commission and the Appeals Commission for the Public Service Human Resources Administration System;
(k) Office of Pre-trial Services personnel;
(l) Property Registry personnel;
(m) Parole Board personnel, and
(n) Vocational Rehabilitation counselors and technical support personnel.
Likewise, Phase II shall not apply to:
(i) employees in agencies who work in federal programs defrayed with federal funds and which program conditions the granting and receipt of federal funds to the retention of said employees. It is hereby provided that federally funded programs that do not condition the retaining of employees in job positions as a requirement to keep receiving such funding, the JREF, at the request of the agency, shall have the authority to evaluate and determine which employees, given their job positions, shall be exempted from layoff provisions due to the needs of the service; or
(ii) employees that are part of the United States Armed Forces-Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the Reserves of said Armed Forces, as well as of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard-who render military services and are under military license pursuant to the “Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act” (USERRA), as amended, 38 U.S.C.A. Section 4301 et seq.
Employees in positions of trust shall also be excluded from the layoff provisions set forth in this Phase II.
History —Mar. 9, 2009, No. 7, § 37.02; July 10, 2009, No. 37, § 40.