Suspended sentence or probation: relief to work for the government

It is a short law answering a very concrete question: if you have a suspended sentence, probation, an alternative penalty to imprisonment or parole, may you hold a government post? The law relieves you of the disability, but it is worth knowing from the outset that the relief has three limits, and that it erases nothing beyond public employment.

Relieved are persons whose sentence execution is suspended under Act 259 of 1946 or Act 103 of 1955, or on whom an alternative penalty to imprisonment is imposed under the Penal Code; persons granted parole; and persons placed on probation or parole by the federal jurisdiction, the District of Columbia or any state, territory or possession of the United States, who reside in Puerto Rico by authorisation of the authority that granted it.

• Being in one of the situations the Act covers: suspended sentence, probation, an alternative penalty to imprisonment, or parole.Verified against the official source
• If the probation or parole comes from outside Puerto Rico, residing here by authorisation of the authority that granted it.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: What the relief is, exactly

   The law confines it itself, and this is worth reading before anything else: “The effects of this Act shall be confined to the legal disability to hold public posts and to render services to the Government of Puerto Rico.” It is not a general relief or an erasure of the conviction: it is the disability for public employment, and nothing more.

2. 2

   Step 2: Who is relieved

   Two articles cover four situations. Suspension of sentence execution under Act 259 of 1946 or Act 103 of 1955; imposition of an alternative penalty to imprisonment under the Penal Code; the granting of parole; and probation or parole granted by the federal jurisdiction, the District of Columbia or any state, territory or possession of the United States, provided the person resides in Puerto Rico “by authorisation of the authority that granted the probation or parole.”

3. 3

   Step 3: The relief is not automatic in practice

   The most important limit, and the law writes it expressly: “the Director of the Central Office for Labor Advisory and Human Resources Administration is empowered to review each case on its merits and decide habilitation or non-habilitation, as the case may be, taking into account the person’s conduct and general reputation, as well as the nature and functions of the post for which the appointment is proposed.” That is: the legal disability falls, but a case-by-case assessment remains that also looks at the specific post.

4. 4

   Step 4: It does not give back the post you had

   A second limit, also express: the relief “shall not be construed as giving a convicted person the right to keep or to occupy the same post, or to 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.” And it adds that those relieved “shall be subject to the legal provisions and to the rules and regulations governing or applying to personnel administration” in the government.

5. 5

   Step 5: If it is revoked, you lose the post automatically

   A third limit, and the harshest: “The revocation of probation or 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 disability that existed before shall be restored.”

6. 6

   Step 6: Whom it reached from its effective date

   The law includes an applicability article worth quoting because it is sometimes overlooked: “This Act shall apply to all persons who, under Articles 1 and 2 of this Act, were on probation or parole on its effective date.”

The law names a single official empowered to decide: the Director of the Central Office for Labor Advisory and Human Resources Administration, who reviews each case on its merits and decides habilitation or non-habilitation. The law publishes no form, window or deadline for that decision in its text, so it is best to check directly with that office and with the agency where the appointment is proposed. If your matter is drug testing in public employment or employment discrimination, those have their own guides.

• Believing the law erases the conviction: it only relieves the disability for public employment.
• Thinking it applies to private employment: the text speaks of the Government, its agencies, instrumentalities and political subdivisions.
• Taking the appointment for granted: the Director may review each case on its merits and decide against habilitation.
• Expecting to get the previous post back: the law expressly says it gives no such right.
• Forgetting the effect of a revocation: it automatically entails loss of the post and restores the disability.
• Assuming probation from another jurisdiction does not count: it does, if you reside here by authorisation of whoever granted 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