Paid leave for Red Cross disaster volunteers

After a hurricane many government workers want to go and help and hit the same problem: if they go, it comes out of their vacation. This 1994 Act solves that one case, and only that one. If you are a public employee — municipal included — and are certified as an American Red Cross disaster-services volunteer, you may be absent up to 30 calendar days in 12 months while drawing your pay, without your vacation or your seniority being touched. It is not a general volunteering leave: it is for the Red Cross, for disasters here, and your agency has to approve.

Two things are needed at the same time, and the Act admits no half measure. First, being an employee of a “State Agency” as Article 2 defines it, which is wider than it sounds: departments, officers, officials, commissions, boards, institutions, public corporations, members and officials of the Judicial Branch, the House of Representatives, the Senate, their Commissions and the municipalities. Second, being “a certified American Red Cross disaster-services volunteer.” The certification comes from the Red Cross, not from the agency, and without it there is no leave. After that the two conditions in Article 4 still stand: the Red Cross must request your services and your agency must approve. The statement of motives expressly excludes those rendering volunteer services to the Civil Defence Corps under Section 12.4 subsection 7(b) of the Personnel Regulation for Career Employees of the Central Administration.

• Be an employee of a State Agency as defined in Article 2, which includes departments, public corporations, the Judicial Branch, the House, the Senate, their Commissions and the municipalities.Verified against the official source
• Be a certified American Red Cross disaster-services volunteer.Verified against the official source
• That the American Red Cross request your services for specialised disaster-service functions.Verified against the official source
• That the agency where you serve approve the leave.Verified against the official source
• That the disaster occurred within the state jurisdiction.Verified against the official source

• American Red Cross certification of the services rendered and the duration of that service, which the employee presents to the agency where they work (Article 4).

1. 1

   Step 1: Confirm your employer falls inside the definition

   It is the first filter and the one most people fail by default. The Act does not say “central government employees”: Article 2 defines “State Agency” as “all the departments, officers, officials, commissions, boards, institutions, public corporations, members and officials of the Judicial Branch, House of Representatives, Senate, their Commissions and the municipalities.” If you work at a municipality, at a public corporation or in the Judicial Branch, you are in. What the Act does not mention is the private sector, and we do not assume it by analogy.

2. 2

   Step 2: Get certified before, not after

   Article 3 does not speak of any volunteer: it speaks of “a certified American Red Cross disaster-services volunteer.” That certification comes from the Red Cross and is an entry requirement, not something to sort out mid-emergency. Nor does the Act cover any task: the leave is “to take part in specialised American Red Cross disaster-service functions.” The statement of motives gives examples of the kind of skills the Red Cross looks for — family services, damage control, mass feeding and shelter management — but that sits in the statement of motives and not in the enacting articles.

3. 3

   Step 3: The two keys: the Red Cross asks and the agency approves

   Article 4 puts both conditions in the same sentence: “The Leave shall be granted provided the officer’s services are requested by the American Red Cross and after approval by the agency where the officer serves.” Note the order: first the Red Cross request, then the agency approval. It is not that you ask to go and volunteer; it is that the Red Cross asks for your services and your agency authorises it. The Act sets the agency no term to answer and no limit on its discretion, and it creates no remedy if the answer is no.

4. 4

   Step 4: How much time, and how it is counted

   Article 3 sets the ceiling at “a period not exceeding thirty (30) calendar days in a twelve (12) month period.” Two points that change the count. They are calendar days, not working days: weekends inside the deployment count. And the ceiling is measured against a rolling twelve-month window, not the calendar year or the fiscal year. The Act does not say whether the 30 days may be split across several deployments; it only sets the aggregate ceiling in that window.

5. 5

   Step 5: What they cannot touch

   This is the part worth having to hand if human resources tells you otherwise. Article 5: “This Leave shall be granted to the officer without impairment to their pay, compensatory time, vacation, sick days and to the seniority principle.” That is, it does not come out of vacation or sick leave, and it does not interrupt seniority. And Article 6 says who pays: “The Agency concerned shall compensate every officer taking this Leave with the same economic remuneration for the regular working hours the officer is absent from their work at the Agency.” The agency pays your regular hours. The Act mentions no overtime, differentials or bonuses, and we do not add them.

6. 6

   Step 6: On your return: the Red Cross certification

   The paperwork the Act does name is a single item, and it comes at the end. Article 4: “The American Red Cross shall issue the employee a certification of the services rendered and the duration of that service. The employee shall present that certification to the agency where they work as an officer.” Note the tense: it certifies services already rendered and their duration, so it is the document with which you close out the leave before your employer. The Act sets no deadline for handing it in and does not say what happens if it is not handed in.

7. 7

   Step 7: The geographic limit, and whom the Act excludes

   Two cuts to know before counting on the leave. Article 7 is one line: “This Leave shall apply to services in disasters occurring within the state jurisdiction.” A deployment outside Puerto Rico is not covered by this Act, and we do not speculate about what other rule might cover it. The second cut sits in the statement of motives: “Employees rendering volunteer services to the Civil Defence Corps in accordance with Section 12.4 subsection 7(b) of the Personnel Regulation for Career Employees of the Central Administration shall not enjoy this leave.” We publish it because it is the most predictable confusion, and we note that it sits in the statement of motives and not in the enacting articles.

The disaster-services volunteer certification and the request for your services come from the American Red Cross. Approval of the leave and payment come from the agency, public corporation or municipality where you work, normally through its human resources office. The Act names no form, office, address or telephone for either side, and we do not invent them.

• Believing it covers any volunteer: Article 3 requires being a certified American Red Cross disaster-services volunteer.
• Thinking it applies only to the central government: Article 2 includes municipalities, public corporations, the Judicial Branch, the House and the Senate.
• Counting the 30 days as working days: the Act says calendar days, so the weekends in the deployment count.
• Measuring the ceiling by calendar year: Article 3 sets it within a twelve-month period.
• Leaving without agency approval: Article 4 requires it in addition to the Red Cross request.
• Forgetting to hand in the certification of services rendered that the Red Cross issues at the end.
• Counting on the leave for a deployment outside Puerto Rico: Article 7 limits it to disasters within the state jurisdiction.
• Accepting it being deducted from vacation or sick days: Article 5 expressly forbids it.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Administración y Transformación de los Recursos Humanos (OATRH)

  OATRH

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov