Título IX

To ensure the good discipline of public servants, as well as to impose sanctions for violations of the prohibitive provisions of this law and other faults incurred during service, four classes of sanctions are established:

1.Verbal admonition, which shall be applied for minor faults, as determined by the regulation of this law;

2.Written admonition, which shall be imposed when the servant has deserved during the same calendar month two or more verbal admonitions or in the other cases established by the regulation of this law;

3.Suspension from work without pay for up to a maximum of thirty days in a calendar year, when the fault committed is of a certain gravity; in this case, the interested party shall be heard beforehand;

4.Suspension from work without pay shall also proceed in cases of detention and pretrial detention, for the entire time that one or the other remains in effect; if the liberty of the detained person is ordered, or a judgment of acquittal is rendered in the case of pretrial detention, the servant shall be reinstated to his position within a period of thirty days counted from the day on which he was released from imprisonment; whoever substituted for him has the right to have his name placed in first place on the list of eligibles corresponding to the class of positions he occupied.

The imposition of the disciplinary corrections referred to in the preceding article has no further consequence than those arising from its application and, therefore, does not imply loss of the rights granted by this law.

The corrections shall be recorded in the record and the documents shall be filed in the personal file of the servant.

Public servants of the Service by Opposition and without Opposition may only be removed from their positions if they incur in a duly proven cause for dismissal.

The following are just causes empowering the nominating authority to remove public servants of the Service by Opposition, without liability on its part:

1.When the public servant conducts himself during his work in an openly immoral manner or resorts to insult, slander or physical assault against his supervisor or the representatives thereof in directing the work;

2.When the public servant commits any of the acts listed in the preceding item against another public servant, provided that as a consequence thereof discipline is seriously disrupted or the work of the agency is interrupted;

3.When the public servant, outside the place where the work is performed and during non-working hours, resorts to insult, slander or physical assault against his supervisor or against the representatives thereof in directing the work, provided that such acts were unprovoked and that, as a consequence thereof, coexistence and harmony for the performance of the work are made impossible;

4.When the public servant commits any crime or minor offense against property to the detriment of the State, of any of his fellow workers, or to the detriment of a third party in the workplace; likewise, when he intentionally, through carelessness or negligence, causes material damage to equipment, machines, tools, materials, products and other objects related in an immediate and indubitable manner to the work;

5.When the public servant fails to observe due discretion, according to the nature of his position, as well as when he reveals secrets known to him by reason of the position he holds;

6.When the public servant fails to attend work without the corresponding permission or without duly justified cause, for two complete working days or for four half working days in the same calendar month. Justification for the absence must be given at the time of resuming his work, if he has not done so before;

7.When the public servant manifestly refuses to adopt preventive measures or to follow the procedures indicated to avoid accidents or illnesses;

8.When the public servant manifestly refuses to comply with the rules or instructions that his supervisor or his representative, in directing the work, clearly indicates to him in order to obtain greater efficiency and performance in the work;

9.When the public servant violates the prohibitions to which he is subject or those established in the manuals or internal regulations of the agency in which he provides his services, provided that he has been warned once in writing. Such warning shall not be necessary in cases of drunkenness when, as a consequence thereof, the life or safety of persons or the property of the State is endangered;

10.When the public servant engages in negligence, misconduct, insubordination, marked indiscipline, habitual drunkenness or drug addiction in the performance of his duties;

11.When the public servant suffers the penalty of major arrest or is sentenced to correctional imprisonment by final judgment;

12.When the public servant engages in acts that imply any other serious violation of this law and its regulations, of the internal regulations or manuals of the agency in which he provides his services. The regulation shall determine the classification of offenses.

Current criminal legislation does not provide for the penalty of major arrest nor the penalty of correctional imprisonment.

Every justified dismissal shall be made without liability for the State and for the nominating authority and causes the public servant to lose all the rights granted to him by this law and its regulations, except those acquired in relation to retirement, pensions and montepíos and any others expressly indicated.

It is understood that whenever the dismissal is based on an act also sanctioned by other ordinary laws, the right of the State to bring the corresponding actions before the respective tribunals is reserved.

Any public servant of the Service by Opposition who has been dismissed for any of the grounds set forth in Article 76 may reenter the Civil Service after three years have elapsed, counted from the date of the commission of the act that gave rise to the dismissal, provided that during such period they have observed good conduct and submit to the personnel selection tests established by this law and its regulations. Those who have been convicted of the crimes of treason, violation of secrets, infidelity in the custody of documents, usurpation of functions, illegal exactions, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, fraud, falsehood and falsification of public documents, murder, and in general all such crimes against the patrimony of the State, are excepted.

For the dismissal of a regular public servant in the Service by Opposition, the following procedure shall be followed:

1.The nominating authority has the power to dismiss any public servant in the Service by Opposition, upon prior formulation of charges and hearing of the interested party, for which purpose it shall communicate in writing its decision to the affected servant, expressing the legal causes and the facts on which it is based. A copy of said communication shall be submitted immediately to the National Civil Service Office. The public servant, in such cases, shall cease immediately in his functions, if the nominating authority so decides. With the authorization of the Director of the National Civil Service Office, the nominating authority may fill the position of the suspended employee if it is convenient for the service, with a provisional appointment for the time necessary to finally resolve the appeal of the dismissed public servant;

2.The Director of the National Civil Service Office shall bring to the knowledge of the affected servant the decision of the nominating authority, so that within the non-extendable time limit of three working days, counted from the date on which he is notified, he may appeal before the National Civil Service Board, in accordance with Article 80 of this law.

The claims referred to in subsection 6 of Article 19 of this law, and the others contained therein, shall be substantiated in the following manner: the interested party must file in writing his challenge before the Director of the National Civil Service Office, within a period of three days from the notification of the challenged decision.

Upon filing of the foregoing writing, the Director shall immediately report to the National Civil Service Board, which must decide within a non-extendable period of thirty days from receipt of the proceedings. If the Board has not issued the respective decision within such period, solely in cases of dismissal, the administrative remedy shall be deemed exhausted, and the petition deemed denied, so that the appellants may resort to the Labor and Social Welfare chambers to bring their action. Such tribunals shall decide in accordance with the rules of the ordinary labor procedure, in sole instance.

In the other cases contemplated in this Law, the Board must decide every claim within the same thirty-day period, but the decisions issued shall have the character of final and unappealable.

The Board shall grant the appellant a hearing for a period of forty-eight hours to express the grounds for his disagreement.

Upon receiving the proceedings, the Board shall immediately request the Director of the National Civil Service Office, and whenever it deems necessary, that investigations be expanded, new evidence be received, and all such steps be taken as are considered indispensable to achieve a better judgment; in this function the Board enjoys the broadest power for the qualification and appraisal of the factual circumstances relating to the case to be decided.

The Board's dismissal decisions shall be compiled in the secretariat thereof.

With respect to dismissal, the National Civil Service Board must decide on the warranted or unwarranted nature thereof. In the first case, the nominating authority must immediately execute the respective decision, if it has not previously ordered the suspension of the public servant. In the second case, the nominating authority must finally and immediately comply with what was decided. The National Civil Service Board is empowered, in accordance with the established facts, to order the nominating authority to apply any of the sanctions provided for in this law and to authorize the adoption of other measures conducive to the maintenance of discipline and order in the service. In no case may such decisions be contrary to the rights established in this law.

In the event that the investigations conducted by the National Civil Service Office or the decision of the National Civil Service Board are favorable to the suspended public servant, he shall be deemed reinstated, and the wage corresponding to the period of the suspension must be paid. The regulation of this law shall prescribe the other formalities to be followed for purposes of the foregoing.

The nominating authorities are empowered to order the removal of public servants in cases in which they deem necessary the suppression of positions due to forced reduction of services for lack of funds or reduction of personnel due to reorganization, subject to a prior favorable opinion of the National Civil Service Office. In this case, the public servants have the rights referred to in numeral 7 of Article 61.

of a public servant generates a new employment relationship, but preserves previously acquired rights that have not been covered in accordance with this law; those who have been removed on the grounds of Article 76 are excepted.

The definitive cessation of functions of public servants in the Service by Opposition occurs in the following cases:

1.By resignation of the public servant;

2.By dismissal or removal;

3.By disability, when it is absolute;

4.By retirement, in accordance with the law on the matter.