Israel Marrero Calderín, president of the Puerto Rico Workers’ Union (SPT-SEIU), announced Tuesday that the Court of Appeals struck down a regulation establishing new pay rules for Central Government employees, ruling it was approved without meeting legal requirements. The ruling voided Normative Letter No. 1-2026, issued by the Office of Human Resources Administration and Transformation (OATRH), determining it was a regulation of general application that needed to comply with the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act (LPAU).
Marrero Calderín said the court concluded that OATRH failed to publish the required public notices in Spanish and English, did not open the mandatory 30-day public comment period, failed to prepare an administrative file available for public inspection, and put the regulation into effect immediately without legal authorization or a required declaration. He said the ruling tells the government that unilaterally trying to change employees’ conditions of employment 'behind closed doors, without notifying anyone and without following the process they themselves approved by law, is illegal.'