Draft bill 205.

Summary.

The draft bill establishes a general framework for interinstitutional loans of public servants covered by the general human resources administration system. It defines a loan as a temporary reassignment that preserves the employee’s legal relationship with the originating institution. Public service career systems and special regimes established by the Constitution or law would be governed primarily by their own provisions. Loans would address temporary service needs without replacing ordinary procedures for filling public positions.

To authorize a loan, the receiving institution would submit a reasoned request and justify the temporary need. The file would identify the employee, position, duties, and loan period. It would contain the employee’s prior written consent, the originating institution’s approval, opinions from the respective human resources offices, confirmation that the originating institution’s service would not be substantially disrupted, and a reasoned decision. Refusal would not be a disciplinary offense or grounds for retaliation. Assigned duties would have to be reasonably related to the employee’s training, experience, skills, category, or position, without diminishing rights.

A loan would last no more than 12 months and could be extended once for up to 12 additional months. An extension would require a new reasoned request, favorable human resources assessment, originating institution approval, written employee consent, and a new reasoned decision. Continuous service at the same receiving institution could not exceed 24 months; an administrative act extending it beyond that limit would be void. After reaching the limit, the employee would have to return in practice to the originating institution for 12 months before another loan to the same institution. The bill also sets grounds for early termination, formal notice of termination, and reinstatement in the position to which the employee is legally entitled.

A loan would preserve rights legally held at the originating institution, including employment status, job security, seniority, position, and base salary. The originating institution would maintain the personnel file and arrange the return; the receiving institution would assign the authorized duties, monitor attendance and performance, and communicate relevant developments. Loans could not be used to bypass competitive examinations or appointment restrictions, cover permanent staffing needs indefinitely, favor private interests, retaliate against employees, exceed time limits, or generate improper financial benefits. If an institution used loaned employees for substantially equivalent functions for two consecutive years, its human resources office would assess whether the work represented a permanent staffing need and, if so, arrange to address it through ordinary procedures.

Institutional human resources offices would keep current loan records. The competent governing authority would maintain a General Register of Interinstitutional Loans; institutions would report authorizations, extensions, terminations, and returns within 10 business days. Institutions would publish aggregate information quarterly, and the governing authority would issue an annual statistical report. Human resources offices would verify requirements and deadlines and report possible irregularities. Officials who knowingly breach the proposed rules would face administrative liability under the applicable disciplinary process, without prejudice to other liability. An irregularity alone would not deprive an employee who acted in good faith of lawfully acquired rights.

Special regimes would retain priority, while compatible general rules would apply where the bill leaves a matter unregulated. Institutions would inventory existing loans within 3 months. Loans already exceeding 24 months would end within 6 months, subject to a contrary special statutory rule. Institutions would have 6 months from promulgation to adapt procedures, and the Executive Branch (Órgano Ejecutivo) would regulate the law within 3 months. Incompatible general administrative rules would be superseded; the proposed law would take effect 3 months after promulgation. The framework concerns public institutions and their employees in the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá). It names the Office of the Comptroller General (Contraloría General de la República), the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Autoridad Nacional de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información), and the General Directorate of Administrative Career (Dirección General de Carrera Administrativa) in connection with oversight of public personnel administration.