Esta ley establece una licencia sin sueldo para empleados de los sectores público y privado que sean seleccionados y certificados para representar a Puerto Rico como atletas o entrenadores en competencias deportivas internacionales. La licencia puede durar hasta un año con posibilidad de renovación, y la Junta para el Desarrollo de Atletas Puertorriqueños de Alto Rendimiento a Tiempo Completo es responsable de los salarios durante este período. La ley también protege los derechos laborales de los empleados que se acogen a esta licencia.
(Approved January 5, 2002)
To establish a leave without pay for sports training and/or competition for employees of the public and private sectors to represent Puerto Rico as athletes in training and as trainers, who are selected and certified by the Board for the Development of Full-Time High Performance Puerto Rican Athletes in Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American or Central American Games, or in Regional or World Championships, and to establish the manner in which these employees may avail themselves of said leave.
The Olympic movement proposes the creation of lifestyles based on the satisfaction that comes from the effort, the educational worth, the good example and the respect to the basic universal ethical principles. It envisions the establishment of a peaceful society committed to the preservation of human dignity.
Thus, sports is a means for the nations to express their highest values by contributing to strengthening their national identity and by maintaining solidarity and the spirit of friendship among them. Puerto Rico is not an exception: sports and international competitions are an aspect of our culture that helps to build a better society, to enhance physical and mental sharpness, and to promote tenacity, courage, friendship, respect, and other worthy qualities.
International Olympic competition requires sacrifice and commitment, training, camp training and trial competitions. It also demands long hours of intensive, full-time training in order to ensure athletic development that will lead to the greatest possibility of success.
The Puerto Rican athletes and trainers selected and certified by the Board for the Development of Full-Time High Performance Puerto Rican Athletes, whether employees of the public or the private sector, require the implementation of a public policy that allows in all fairness their full-time training by allowing them to avail themselves of a sports leave without pay, to secure their employment without impairing their vested rights and benefits, after said leave has concluded.
Section 1.-A sports leave without pay is hereby established for all employees of the public and the private sectors who are duly selected and certified by the Board for the Development of Full-Time High Performance Puerto Rican Athletes, as athletes in training and as trainers for Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American or Central American Games, or for Regional or World Championships.
Section 2.-For the purposes of this Act, the following terms and phrases shall have the meaning stated below:
a) Athletes in Training: Those persons selected and certified by the Board for the Development of Full-Time High Performance Puerto Rican Athletes for their merits and credentials in international competitions, to be covered by this Act.
b) Trainer: Specialized technician who employs his/her knowledge in the pursuit of the highest levels of proficiency and performance in the training of athletes for competition. c) Public Employee: Includes all persons who hold public office, or are employed in any department, agency, instrumentality or dependency of all branches of the government, public corporations, and municipal governments of Puerto Rico. d) Private Sector Employee: Includes all persons who carry out, perform or practice any craft, trade, job or work in any industry, under the orders or for the benefit of another on the basis of a contract for services rendered, or for remuneration of any sort, or under an express or tacit promise to receive such remuneration. e) COPUR: The Puerto Rico Olympic Committee. f) COPAPUR: The Puerto Rico Paralympic Committee, Inc. g) Board: A dependency of the Sports and Recreation Department denominated as: the Board for the Development of Full-Time High Performance Puerto Rican Athletes, charged with the certification of athletes in training and trainers.
Section 3.-The sports leave without pay for training purposes, established in Section 1, shall last for up to one (1) year with a right of renewal, provided it has the approval of the Board and provided the employer is notified thirty (30) days before its expiration date. This sports leave without pay for training and/or competition allows eligible athletes and trainers to be absent from their work without time loss and to secure their jobs without impairing their vested rights and benefits during the term said athletes have been participating in said training or competition.
During the term of the sports leave without pay to train, provide training, or compete, the Board shall be responsible for the salaries of the participants. Therefore it shall be bound to remit to the employer the amounts corresponding to the legal deductions made up to that time to the employee so that the employer may continue covering the corresponding payments for said contributions.
Section 4.-All athletes or trainers selected and certified by the Board to train prior to the competitions listed in Section 1 shall submit to their employers, at least fifteen (15) days prior to camp training, a certified copy of the document that attests to their selection as athletes in training or competition or as trainers; said document shall contain information regarding the term during which said athletes or trainers shall participate in said training.
Section 5.-Any natural or juridical person who violates the provisions of this Act shall have the obligation to compensate the athletes or trainers for any damages sustained, plus a sum equal to double the compensation awarded, and shall also have the obligation to reinstate them in their employment if they have been dismissed.
Section 6.-For all legal purposes, Act No. 49, approved on June 27, 1987, shall remain in effect, provided it is not in conflict or in contradiction with this Act.
Section 7.-This Act shall take effect thirty (30) days after being signed by the Governor.
Rolando Quevedo-Motta, Esq., Director of the Office of Legislative Services of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, hereby certifies to the Secretary of State that she has duly compared the English and Spanish texts of $\underline{ ext { Act No. } 24}$ (H.B. 1314) of the $2^{ ext {nd }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico, entitled:
AN ACT to establish a leave without pay for sports training and/or competition for employees of the public and private sectors to represent Puerto Rico as athletes in training and as trainers, who are selected and certified by the Board for the Development of Full-Time High Performance Puerto Rican Athletes in Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American or Central American Games, or in Regional or World Championships, and to establish the manner in which these employees may avail themselves of said leave, and finds the same are complete, true and correct versions of each other.