Título V. Selección de personal

To enter the Service by competitive examination, the following is required:

1.To possess the moral, intellectual, and physical aptitude appropriate for the performance of a position;

2.To satisfy the special minimum requirements established by the class specifications manual for the position in question;

3.To demonstrate suitability by submitting to the tests, examinations, or competitive examinations established by this law and its regulations;

4.To be chosen and appointed by the nominating authority from the roster of candidates certified by the National Civil Service Office;

5.To satisfactorily complete the probationary period;

6.To fulfill the other requirements established by the regulations of this law.

The organization, convocation, direction and execution of the entrance and promotion examinations corresponds to the National Civil Service Office, in accordance with this law and its regulations.

The Office may, in the judgment of its Director, require the technical advice of the agencies where the vacancies occur, or of other institutions or persons, for the preparation and administration of the examinations, if necessary.

The examinations must be open-competitive and are intended to determine the capacity, aptitude and ability of the candidates for the performance of the duties of the position in question. They may be oral, written, physical or a combination thereof.

For the purposes of this chapter, in addition to the examinations already indicated in Article 43, the examination of credentials is established, which shall be governed by the respective regulation.

Admission to examinations is open to all persons who meet the requirements demanded for the position in question. Nevertheless, the Director of the National Civil Service Office may reject, in reasoned form, any application and remove the name from the register or deny the certification of the name of any person, if he considers that such person does not meet the required requirements set forth by the law and its regulations.

The announcement must be made at least fifteen days in advance of the date set by the Office for the examination, by the means it deems most appropriate. In any case, the notice must be published in the Official Gazette and in another newspaper of widest circulation in the country.

The announcement must indicate the duties and attributions of the position, the desirable or required requirements, the manner of making the application for admission and the date, place and time of holding the examination.

To be declared eligible, the candidate must obtain a minimum score of 75 points, on a scale of 1 to 100, as an average in the various tests to which the candidate submits.

Among the candidates declared eligible, those who, in equality of circumstances, are former public servants or have greater family burdens shall enjoy preference points, which must be recorded upon certification of their name, as shall be established by the respective regulation.

The grading of the examinations and the establishment of the respective registers shall be made within a maximum period of 60 days following their completion. Each of the examined candidates shall be notified of the grade obtained by him and, as applicable, of the place corresponding to him in the respective register.

Any person who has participated in an examination may inspect the examination corresponding to him and his grades, as determined by the respective regulation. Within 30 days following the notification of the results of his examination, the interested party may request from the Director of the National Civil Service Office the rectification of any error in his grades, which, if appropriate, shall be corrected.

Persons who consider themselves aggrieved by a decision of the Director with respect to the admission and grading of tests may appeal to the National Civil Service Board within three days of notification of the decision, so that the decision may be reviewed.

The decision of the Board shall be final.

The National Civil Service Office shall organize and maintain the entry, promotion and such other registers as are necessary for the administration of the Civil Service regime, in accordance with the respective regulation.

The names of the persons who pass the examinations shall be entered in the entry and promotion registers in the order of the scores obtained.

The period of validity of the registers shall be determined by the Director of the National Civil Service Office on the date of their establishment and its validity shall be no less than six months nor more than two years.

The Director shall establish and maintain reentry registers, which shall contain the names of persons who have been regular employees and who have been separated from their positions for any reason other than fault, in accordance with this law and its regulations. The period of validity of the reentry registers shall be established in the respective regulation and shall not exceed three years.

To fill any vacancy occurring in the Competitive Service, the nominating authority must request from the National Civil Service Office a list of all eligible candidates in the manner prescribed by the respective regulation.

The nominating authority must choose the new servant from the roster of eligible candidates presented to it by the Director of the National Civil Service Office, within the period indicated in the respective regulation.

Within the eight days following the date of receipt of the requested roster, the Nominating Authority shall select the candidate, communicating it to the Director of the National Civil Service Office and to the person selected.

Whenever the nominating authority must fill a vacancy and the National Civil Service Office cannot certify a roster of eligibles, due to nonexistence or insufficiency of candidates in the register, said authority may fill the vacancy on a provisional basis, with prior authorization from the National Civil Service Office, provided that the person appointed meets the minimum requirements established for the position. Such appointments shall be in force for a term of no more than six non-extendable months, within which the Office must proceed to establish the respective register.

When, for the reasons provided for in the preceding article or for duly proven emergency reason, it is impossible to fill the vacancies as prescribed by this law, the nominating authority may appoint any person who meets the requirements corresponding to the class of position in question. Appointments so made must be communicated immediately to the National Civil Service Office and shall last up to six months from the date of taking possession, and may neither be extended nor renewed.

Any appointment made in contravention of this law and its regulations is void; but if the public official or employee has held the office, his acts that conform to the law are valid. The person affected by the nullity may bring the corresponding civil actions against those liable, without prejudice to any resulting criminal liabilities.

No public official may authorize or make any payment for personal services to any person in the Service by Opposition whose appointment has not been certified by the National Civil Service Office.

Any sum paid to a person for personal services contrary to the provisions of this law and its regulations may be recovered from the public official who approves, countersigns the payment or signs the voucher, check, payrolls or payment order, through economic-coercive proceedings. The amount recovered must be deposited in the National Treasury.

Every person appointed to a post within the Service by Opposition through registration of their name in a register shall undergo a practical probationary period in the performance of the post in question. The probationary period commences from the date of taking office and lasts six months at most for new public servants and three months for cases of promotion.

The right of the public servant to be reinstated to their former office is reserved if they are removed from the new post during the probation for reasons that do not constitute misconduct.

If the person should be holding the office by provisional appointment, the time so served shall be taken into account for the computation of the corresponding probationary period.

Upon satisfactory completion of the probationary period, the public servant shall be considered a regular employee.

NATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE OFFICE. At any time, within the probationary period, and in accordance with the respective regulation, the nominating authority may separate an employee if in the opinion of said authority, and on the basis of the reports of the employee's immediate supervisor, it is considered that he is incompetent and does not satisfactorily fulfill his duties, or that his habits and general conduct do not justify his continuation in the service, and it must inform the Director of the National Civil Service Office, within the following three days, of the reasons it has for doing so.

No more than three employees may be successively separated from the same post during the probationary work period without the prior authorization of the Director.

The Director of the National Civil Service Office may order the removal of any servant during the probationary period, provided it is established that his appointment was the result of error or fraud, in which case the interested party must be heard beforehand, for which a three-day hearing shall be granted to him from the requirement.

The Nominating Authority shall inform the National Civil Service Office, on the dates and in the manner determined by the regulation, regarding the conduct, performance and other information related to the employee in the probationary period.

In any case and at least ten days before the end of an employee's probationary period, the nominating authority shall notify the National Civil Service Office, in the manner established by the regulation, of its assessments of the employee's services and conduct and shall state the advisability or inadvisability of the servant continuing in the position. A copy of this notification shall be sent to the employee.

Promotion or advancement is the act by which the public servant moves to perform a position of higher grade or class, with the approval of the National Civil Service Office.

Promotion to positions of higher grade may be agreed by the nominating authority at the request of the respective immediate supervisor, with prior notification to the National Civil Service Office, and is proper when the candidates meet the requirements for the position to which they are promoted.

Promotions to higher classes shall be made upon application by the interested party and with the approval and qualifying examination to be administered by the National Civil Service Office, and shall be subject to the term of the probationary period established in Article 54 of this law.

Any promotion made without fulfilling the formalities established in this law and its regulations is void.

Temporary promotions proceed in cases of absence of the incumbent when the promoted servant meets the requirements established for the position. In such cases the promoted employee shall earn only the wage corresponding to that of the absent incumbent.

Temporary promotions only proceed in cases of absences exceeding sixty days and where the needs of the service so require.

Exchanges are only permissible between public servants who hold positions of equal class and may be agreed by the respective nominating authority, with the consent of the interested parties, giving notice thereof to the National Civil Service Office within the ten following days. If they involve positions of different classes, exchanges may not be carried out without a prior favorable opinion of the National Civil Service Office.

When the interested party so requests or when incapacity or deficiency of a servant in the performance of a position is proven, the nominating authority may agree to his transfer, with the assent of the National Civil Service Office, to another position that is in accordance with his capabilities, which shall be agreed upon on the basis of the periodic rating of his services made by the respective chief. The transfer must not in any case entail a decrease in wage for those affected.

An appeal of the transfer agreement in the second case lies before the National Civil Service Board, which must be filed within the three days following the notification of the agreement.