Oficina del Procurador del Veterano de Puerto Rico

Most territorial veterans offices in this catalog connect veterans to federal benefits. Puerto Rico's has teeth, and knowing what they are is the difference between a complaint and a remedy. The office. The Oficina del Procurador del Veterano de Puerto Rico was created by Ley Núm. 57 of June 27, 1987 and has been reorganised since, most recently under Ley 79-2013. It is headed by the Procurador del Veterano. Ley 203-2007 Article 8 provides that the Consejo Asesor created under Ley 79-2013 advises the Procurador on implementing the public policy the Carta sets. The powers, at Article 9. The Procurador is authorised to put the Act's provisions into effect, to investigate, implement and prosecute infringements of them, and "podrá representar en los Tribunales de Justicia de Puerto Rico a los veteranos perjudicados por las violaciones de esta Ley." The office can be your lawyer in a Puerto Rico court for a violation of the Carta. Against government bodies and municipalities that do not comply, the Procurador may impose an administrative fine not exceeding five thousand dollars per violation. The proceeds of those fines go to the office, to fund implementation of the policy and the obligations the Act imposes, except that fines for violations of Article 4A, the public property and housing preference, go to the General Fund and may be assigned annually in the office's budget for educational campaigns about the rights in the Carta. Against everyone else, Article 9 makes a violation of any right established in the Act a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to two thousand dollars. Businesses or government agencies and individuals who obstruct or act so as to affect the rights of service members or veterans are liable for the damages they cause, including attorney's fees, and "será facultad del Juez imponer una indemnización de hasta el triple de los daños" caused to the veteran. Treble damages at the judge's discretion. The rule of construction, at Article 10, is short and worth quoting in any dispute: the Act must be interpreted in the most liberal and beneficial manner for the veteran, and in case of conflict between its provisions and those of any other law, whichever is more favourable to the veteran prevails. Reporting duties that produce useful documents. Under Article 3, every governmental body and institution of the Government of Puerto Rico, including public and quasi-public corporations, and every municipal government must report annually, within sixty days of the end of the fiscal year, to the Procurador and to the Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto on the benefits and services they offer veterans, and the Procurador must publish that information on its website. That is the single best place to find out what a specific agency believes it owes veterans. Specific complaint routes written into the Act. Non-recognition of a VA identification card under Article 4G(e) goes to the Procurador, who must investigate within sixty calendar days and impose sanctions if the complaint is upheld. Free certificates under Article 4C, Fifth, are expressly the Procurador's to police. Vacancy announcements under Article 4F must be circulated to the office, which notifies veterans organizations. Two other enforcement facts worth carrying. Article 5 makes a driver's licence with the veteran designation accepted evidence of veteran status for the whole Act, which removes an argument about proof before it starts. And Article 7 requires every branch, subdivision, agency, instrumentality, public or quasi-public corporation and municipal government to put in force, or amend, the regulations needed to comply with the Act; an agency that says it has no procedure is describing its own non-compliance.