Nearly 25% of the staff from public corporations and the Executive Branch have been reported absent after Hurricane Maria, according to an analysis made by NotiCel's reliable sources, given that the government has refused to provide accurate information.

The Registry of Occupied Positions and Related Information from the Comptroller's Office showed that the total amount of public employees, as of July 1, 2017, was 189,312. This number represents the amount of positions held. After subtracting the employees corresponding to the municipalities and the Legislative and Judicial Branches in this registry, the amount of positions held was 130,414.

This number is close to the 135,000 jobs that, according to government estimates, would have been affected by the workday reduction that was imposed by the Fiscal Control Board (FCB) to amend the budget for this fiscal year, and which was suspended after Hurricane Maria.

After the baton was passed among government agencies for weeks, the Office of the Puerto Rico Chief of Staff told NotiCel last week that there were 97,000 public employees accounted for, but provided no further details. Compared to the 130,414 in the Comptroller's Registry, the staff numbers for the Executive Branch currently reflect a reduction of at least 33,000 employees, which represents 35% of its personnel.

During his status report on the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico at the FCB's tenth meeting, the executive director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (FAFAA), Gerardo Portela Franco, said that the government had been left 'without an operational infrastructure', but he did not delve into the amount of employees that had reported to work.

According to circular letters from the Office of Administration and Transformation of Human Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (OATRH, by its Spanish acronym), Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares cancelled governmental operations on September 18, before Hurricane Maria struck.

Operations were resumed on September 26, according to Special Memorandum 43-2017.

Three days after this, in response to questions from NotiCel, the Secretary of Public Affairs and Public Policy, Ramón Rosario Cortes, could not say how many people had reported for work or where.

The document from the OATRH also shows that any absences occurred from September 18 to 25 'shall not be subtracted from any paid time off, nor will they be considered for performance evaluations or to implement any corrective or disciplinary actions.'

Any absences occurred from September 26 to October 1 shall also be treated the same way, except for absences not related to the hurricane. In cases like these, they will be subtracted from the corresponding licenses, such as sick leave.

Meanwhile, any absences recorded starting on October 2 shall be deducted from their corresponding licenses as usual.

Government avoids providing precise data

As follow-up to our initial investigations, and after the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources said they did not have the information, NotiCel contacted the OATHR on November 9 to ask for the amount of reported employees. Since there was no answer by the end of the day, NotiCel approached the Governor during a press conference on November 10. Our questions were not answered by the Governor, but rather by Fortaleza's Press Secretary, Yennifer Álvarez Jaimes, who said that Puerto Rico Chief of Staff, William Villafañe Ramos, had this information.

As of November 14, the OATHR and Villafañe Ramos's press officer, Leticia Jover Lucio, stated that they were still gathering data.

Last Friday, Jover explained that, between September 5 and October 31 of the current year, at least 187 Executive Branch employees had resigned, while an additional 164 had taken leave without pay. Meanwhile, another 128 employees decided to retire, 34 were outside Puerto Rico, three had died, 28 were left out due to the termination of their contracts, and two had been 'separated from service'. She concluded that the Executive had accounted for 97,000 employees.

These changes in the public labor force have emerged from a scenario involving two hurricanes and the implementation of the Voluntary Transition Program and the Single Employer Act.

The Voluntary Transition Program is a FAFAA initiative aimed at public employees who wish to retire, move to the private or non-profit sector, or start a new business.

The Single Employer Act would place or relocate public employees in the areas where they would be most needed to provide citizen services. This act was designed with the goal of generating operational savings, as a response to the FCB's demands to downsize the government.

In general terms and on a preliminary basis, Hurricanes Irma and Maria left 31,600 fewer jobs in the salaried non-agricultural sector, and 29,000 fewer employees in Puerto Rico's job market.

After the publication, Villafañe alleged in a tweet that the Executive Branch had begun collecting this data--which NotiCel had been requesting for days--, but that he did not have any specific information yet. He did not say exactly when this information would be published.

Public employees have answered to their call of duty. The published number is not official and was not calculated correctly. To obtain an accurate response, we have begun gathering the data by agency, a process that is currently underway. As soon as this process is finished, we will provide the information.