Government work with a suspended sentence

It is the lifting of the disqualification that statutes impose on holding public posts following a conviction, where the person did not go to prison but received a suspended sentence, probation, parole or an alternative penalty to imprisonment. The Act creates no procedure and no certificate: it provides that the disqualification is lifted by the very fact of the suspension or grant. What does remain an office’s decision is habilitación, which is a different thing and is looked at case by case.

Article 1 covers anyone whose sentence execution is suspended under Act 259-1946 or Act 103-1955, and anyone on whom an alternative penalty to imprisonment is imposed under the Penal Code. Article 2 adds those granted parole, and also persons placed on probation or parole by the United States federal jurisdiction, the District of Columbia or any of the federated states, territories or possessions, provided they are residing in Puerto Rico by authorisation of the authority that granted that liberty. Article 6 clarifies the Act applies to all persons who, per Articles 1 and 2, were on probation or parole at its effective date.

• Once execution of the sentence is suspended under Act 259-1946 or Act 103-1955, or an alternative penalty to imprisonment is imposed under the Penal Code, the person is relieved of the statutory disqualification to hold public posts and render services in any other form in the Government (Article 1).Verified against the official source
• Also relieved are persons granted parole, and those placed on probation or parole by the federal jurisdiction, the District of Columbia or any state, territory or possession, who reside in Puerto Rico by authorisation of that authority (Article 2).Verified against the official source
• The Director of the Central Office of Labour Advice and Human Resources Administration is empowered to review each case on its merits and decide habilitación or not, taking into account the person’s conduct and general reputation and the nature and functions of the post proposed for appointment (Article 3).Verified against the official source
• The relief gives no right to continue in or to hold the same post, or render the same service, held before the conviction or before the revocation (Article 4).Verified against the official source
• Revocation of probation, parole or the alternative penalty to imprisonment automatically entails loss of the post or termination of services, and the disqualification that existed before is restored (Article 5).Verified against the official source
• Relieved persons remain subject to the legal provisions and the rules and regulations governing personnel administration in the Government, its agencies, instrumentalities, organisms, offices and political subdivisions (Article 4).Verified against the official source

• The resolution or sentence evidencing the suspension of sentence execution, the grant of probation or parole, or the imposition of the alternative penalty to imprisonment, because it is the fact the Act makes the relief depend on (Articles 1 and 2).
• In the case of probation or parole granted outside Puerto Rico, the authorisation from the granting authority to reside in Puerto Rico (Article 2).

1. 1

   Step 1: The relief is not applied for: it happens

   Article 1 frames it as a consequence, not a procedure. Once execution of a sentence is suspended under Act 259-1946, or under Act 103-1955, or an alternative penalty to imprisonment is imposed under the Penal Code, the person shall be relieved of the statutory disqualification to hold public posts and to render services in any other form in the Government, its agencies, instrumentalities, organisms, offices and political subdivisions. Note the verb: shall be relieved. It does not say they may apply for the relief nor that they must evidence it to anyone. The legal fact triggering the relief is the suspension or the imposition of the alternative penalty. The compilation notes the reference to the Penal Code is to be read as substituted by Act 146-2012.

2. 2

   Step 2: Who else it reaches

   Article 2 widens the circle in two directions. First: also relieved are persons granted parole, with the compiler’s note that the reference to Act 266-1946 is to be read as substituted by Act 118-1974, which restructured the Parole Board. Second, and this is the one almost nobody knows: also relieved are persons placed on probation or parole by the United States federal jurisdiction, the District of Columbia or any of the federated states, territories or possessions, provided they are residing in Puerto Rico by authorisation of the authority that granted that liberty. The condition is in that last phrase: residing here by authorisation of whoever granted the liberty.

3. 3

   Step 3: The fine print that matters most

   Article 3 bounds the scope and adds a decision that is not automatic. The effects of this Act shall be circumscribed to the statutory disqualification for holding public posts and rendering services to the Government of Puerto Rico, but the Director of the Central Office of Labour Advice and Human Resources Administration is empowered to review each case on its merits and decide habilitación or not, as the case may be, taking into account the conduct and general reputation of the person concerned, as well as the nature and functions of the post proposed for appointment. Those are two different things and should not be mixed. Relief from the disqualification is automatic and comes from the Act. Habilitación is a case-by-case decision of that office, which also looks at the specific post: the same person may be habilitated for one post and not another, because the Act orders consideration of the nature and functions of the post.

4. 4

   Step 4: What the relief does not give back

   Article 4 says it bluntly. The relief from disqualification provided in Articles 1 and 2 shall not be interpreted as giving a convict the right to continue in or to hold the same post, or render the same service, they held or rendered before their conviction or before the revocation of probation or parole, or of the alternative penalty to imprisonment. That is: the Act removes the legal impediment to entering public service, but does not reinstate you in the post you had. And the same article adds that persons so relieved shall be subject to the legal provisions and the rules and regulations governing or applying to personnel administration in the Government, its agencies, instrumentalities, organisms, offices and political subdivisions. The ordinary personnel rules keep running just as for anyone else.

5. 5

   Step 5: If it is revoked, the post is lost by itself

   Article 5 is this Act’s harshest sentence and it is worth knowing before accepting an appointment. Revocation of probation or of parole, or of the alternative penalty to imprisonment, of any person holding a public post or rendering services in any other form by virtue of this Act’s provisions, shall automatically entail the loss of that post or the termination of their services; and likewise the disqualification that existed for these purposes before the grant of probation, parole or the alternative penalty shall be restored. Automatically and with the disqualification restored: no dismissal or separate proceeding is needed, and the legal impediment exists again. That is why the probation conditions, covered in another guide, matter for employment too.

6. 6

   Step 6: From when it applies

   Article 6 settles it with no grey area: this Act shall apply to all persons who, per Articles 1 and 2, were on probation or parole at its effective date. And Article 7 provides the Act took effect immediately after its approval. There is no time window that closes and no cut-off date leaving anyone out for having received the liberty earlier.

Relief from the disqualification is not applied for anywhere: the Act makes it depend on the fact of the sentence being suspended or liberty being granted. Where there is a decision to be taken is habilitación, which Article 3 places in the hands of the Director of the Central Office of Labour Advice and Human Resources Administration, today the Government of Puerto Rico’s central human resources office. That decision is taken case by case and looking at the specific post proposed. The Act publishes no addresses, telephones, forms or portals, and we do not guess government internet addresses; the administrative habilitación process we cover separately with the agency’s own material.

• Looking for where to apply for the relief: Article 1 makes it automatic once the sentence is suspended or the alternative penalty imposed.
• Confusing relief with habilitación: the first is automatic and comes from the Act; the second is decided case by case by the Director of the central human resources office.
• Believing the relief gives your old post back: Article 4 expressly says it gives no right to continue in or to hold the same post.
• Thinking a habilitación is good for any post: the Act orders consideration of the nature and functions of the post proposed for appointment.
• Forgetting Article 5: if probation or parole is revoked, loss of the post is automatic and the disqualification is restored.
• Assuming it only covers Puerto Rico cases: Article 2 reaches those on probation or parole from the federal jurisdiction, the District of Columbia or any state or territory who reside here by authorisation.
• Believing the relief exempts you from personnel rules: Article 4 says you remain subject to the same provisions and regulations governing personnel administration.
• Assuming there is a cut-off date: Article 6 applies the Act to all persons who were on probation or parole at its effective date.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

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

  OATRH

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov