Comptroller reveals the economic impact of complaints for workplace harassment, sexual harassment and political-partisan discrimination on the Government's finances.
The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR) published a special report on the adverse effects on the Government's finances of complaints related to dismissals, disciplinary actions or other personnel transactions on political-partisan grounds, workplace harassment and sexual harassment, against officials and employees of the three branches of Government and the public corporations.
The Special Report reveals that 27 entities of the Executive, Legislative and Public Corporations branches had 595 complaints. The study, conducted from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023, reflected that 521 complaints from 20 entities were resolved for $101,177; and 65 complaints from 12 entities remain to be resolved for $429,000, five complaints for $141,949 that were halted by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) and no information was obtained on the status of four complaints. The Judicial Branch had no complaints.
From the analysis of the information requested from 159 entities, 64% of the grounds for the complaints were for workplace harassment, 33% for sexual harassment and 3% for political-partisan discrimination. In addition, 56.8% of the complainants were female, 22.4% male, 1.3% of the complaints were filed by groups of men and women, and in 19.5% of the complaints, the entity did not provide information identifying the gender.
The study reported that 117 entities had no complaints for the period analyzed, but of these, 21 reported that they had lawsuits.
The entities that did not certify or submit the requested documents are: the Municipal Alliance for Economic Development (Coamo), the Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development (Special Communities), the State Insurance Fund Corporation, the Senate of Puerto Rico and the School of Visual Arts and Design of Puerto Rico.
On the other hand, the Ports Authority completed the required information but did not submit the certification or the complaint documents. The Department of Education and the Police Bureau did not complete some parts of the required information.
As a result of these findings, the OCPR recommended that the Secretary of Justice consider the results and guide the principal officials of the entities on the adverse effects of the actions taken against officials and employees on political-partisan grounds, sexual harassment and workplace harassment. This Study also recommends that the secretaries, directors, heads, administrators, administrative boards and principal officials of the entities consider the results and observe faithful compliance with the law and regulations in personnel administration.
The Special Report OC-25-32 which contains five appendices, covers the period from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.
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