P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4553
The municipal public service shall be composed of career services, transitory services, confidential services and irregular services.
(a) Confidential service.— The confidential service shall be constituted by positions whose incumbents intervene or collaborate substantially in the process of formulating public policy by providing direct counseling or rendering direct services to the mayor or the President of the Legislature.
The municipal officials shall be the Secretary of the Legislature, the directors of the administrative units, and those whose appointments require the confirmation of the Legislature by legal provision, and that meet the criteria for confidential service. The employees of the Municipal Legislature shall be comprised in the confidential service by their direct relationship with the President thereof.
In municipalities with more than fifty thousand (50,000) constituents, the mayor shall establish a confidential position plan by Executive Order that includes a maximum of thirty (30) positions of trust with which it intends to operate. In municipalities with less than fifty thousand (50,000) constituents, the plan shall include a maximum of twenty-five (25) positions.
When the organizational structure, functional complexity or size of the municipality requires a larger number of positions of trust, it shall be necessary to approve an ordinance authorizing the inclusion of a larger number than thirty (30) or twenty-five (25) positions, as provided above in the confidential position plan of the municipality, which total number shall not exceed fifty (50) positions in any case.
The municipality shall establish a classification plan for the confidential positions, excluding the mayor and the municipal legislators members. It shall also establish and maintain an updated compensation plan for the confidential positions, with the corresponding intermediate levels, according to its fiscal capacity and in harmony with the Classification and Compensation Guidelines for Municipal Administration.
A change of category of a confidential position to a career position, or vice versa, shall be authorized only when there is a change of functions or a change in the structural organization of the municipality to justify it, if the position is vacant.
(b) Career service.— All other municipal positions shall be comprised in the career service, with the exception of transitory and irregular positions.
The career service shall be governed by the merit principle standards established in this subtitle.
(c) Transitory appointments.— Transitory employees are those appointed to occupy positions of [a] fixed duration in the career service, created in harmony with the provisions of this subtitle. Transitory appointments in permanent positions in the career and confidential services shall be made when an incumbent is enjoying leave without pay. Transitory appointments in permanent career positions shall be made as determined by regulations.
(d) Irregular service appointment.— Irregular appointments shall include those functions of an unforeseen, temporary, or intermittent type, whose nature and duration do not justify the creation of permanent positions and whose compensation is conveniently paid in wages, by the day or by the hour.
The mayor, with the counsel of the Director of the Central Personnel Administration Office, shall prepare a position classification guide for work units of this service, which shall also contain the salary schedules and compensation standards that apply to such work on the basis of equal pay for equal work.
The classification guidelines and the salary schedules shall require the approval of the Legislature.
(e) Employees of municipal franchises or ventures shall be appointed without being subject to the Autonomous Municipalities Act and the Public Service Human Resources Administration Act, therefore they shall not be deemed to be public employees while holding such office, and the laws and rules applicable to private sector employees shall apply to them.
Municipal venture management shall exercise its prerogative to establish the method whereby employees working for such ventures shall be compensated, taking into consideration the wages in similar private industries in the municipalities or in other sectors. Said employees shall enjoy the benefits and guarantees applicable to the employees of the private sector. Municipal authorities are hereby empowered to carry out procedures regarding the human capital of the municipal ventures and franchises in a unit separate from the municipal structure.
To the extent applicable, when the operation of a franchise requires the services of an administrator who shall be compensated according to his/her experience and expertise, as well as other factors in connection with his/her expert knowledge, the salary of said administrator, if it were the case, shall not be subject to the scrutiny of municipal salaries. Moreover, municipal employees shall not make allegations of differences in salary schedules, because municipal franchise or venture employees are ultimately governed by private sector labor provisions. This provision shall govern even if the franchise is not successful or if there is a reduction in its income.
The Secretary of the Department of Labor shall offer assistance and advice to all municipalities that choose to operate this kind of business and shall guarantee the rights, prerogatives, and equal protection of municipal venture and franchise employees under the law and the rules applicable to private ventures.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, § 12.003; Apr. 13, 1995, No. 36, § 36; renumbered as § 11.003 on Jan. 10, 1999, No. 30, § 3; Feb. 20, 2004, No. 63, § 1; Nov. 22, 2009, No. 149, § 3; Aug. 11, 2011, No. 181, § 4.