Draft bill 240.

Summary.

The draft bill amends Article 1 of Law 241 concerning the seniority benefit for public servants. The proposed wording requires each entity to recognize, individually, the payment corresponding to the years that a public servant worked for it. Recognition is therefore tied to the time worked at each entity and to that entity’s obligation to make the payment that gives effect to the right to the seniority benefit. The provision concerns public servants who have worked for an entity and the recognition of the years of service performed there.

Where a year of service has not been completed in full, the amendment grants the public servant the right to the corresponding proportional amount. That amount is calculated by taking into account the last salary earned. The rule thus covers both complete years of service and the fraction of a year remaining when the period of employment ends. Article 1 places that calculation within the recognition that each entity must make for the time served there. It treats an incomplete year as part of the public servant’s entitlement to the seniority benefit.

The proposed wording also sets a rule on continuity of service. It provides that continuity does not exist when a public servant has been definitively separated from service for sixty calendar days without justified cause. The interruption of continuity is thus linked to definitive separation, the stated period and the absence of justified cause. This rule appears in the same article as the provisions on individual recognition by each entity and proportional payment for incomplete years of service. Article 1 of the draft bill accordingly brings together the proposed rules for recognizing time worked, calculating a proportional amount and determining when continuity of service ceases.

Article 2 provides that the proposed law would enter into force on the day following its promulgation. The draft bill’s amendment replaces the wording of Article 1 of Law 241, while its final provision establishes when that amendment would begin to apply.

The draft bill concerns public entities that employ public servants and administer payment of the seniority benefit. It affects public servants through recognition of the years worked at each entity, payment of the proportional amount for incomplete years and the rule governing continuity of service.