Veteran hiring preference in Puerto Rico: 10 points

Ten points or 10%, whichever is greater

This is the figure almost nobody cites with a statute behind it. **Article 4, subsection F(a)(3) of Act 203-2007**, the 21st Century Puerto Rican Veteran's Bill of Rights, guarantees that **ten (10) points or ten percent (10%), whichever is greater, be added to the score obtained** by the veteran on the test or exam.

But it comes with a condition worth reading slowly, because it decides whether you get it. The bonus applies when, **as part of an employment process**, the veteran took a test or exam as part of an application for **entry, reentry or promotion**, and **obtained on that test the minimum score required to qualify**. In other words: **the bonus does not pass the exam for you**. First you clear the minimum score on your own; then the points are added.

Two practical details from the text. It is **“whichever is greater,”** so on 100-point scales the ten points almost always win, but on larger scales the 10% may be worth more, the law gives you the higher of the two, not whichever the agency prefers. And it is an addition **to the score obtained**, not a reserved slot or a separate category: you go into the same register, with your score raised.

If this sounds like the federal veterans' preference, it is not the same and they do not transfer. The federal one is claimed with the DD-214 and SF-15 on USAJOBS; this one is Puerto Rican, comes from Act 203-2007, and applies to local job announcements.

And it binds private employers, not just government

This is the finding that changes the scope of this guide. The list of duties in subsection F(a) does not start with “agencies”: it starts with **“The Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies and instrumentalities, public or quasi-public corporations, municipalities and all private persons, natural or juridical, operating businesses in Puerto Rico.”** That last clause is the private sector.

The first duty on that list is the general preference: **give preference to a veteran, on equal academic, technical or experience terms, in appointment or promotion** to any position, job or work opportunity.

And the text closes the door on the contract-type trick. The preference covers **regular, transitory, permanent, temporary, full-time, part-time and fixed-term jobs**, “including but not limited to,” the law says. There is no contract category where the right disappears.

Now, “on equal terms” is the hinge of the whole subsection, and it is worth understanding plainly: the preference decides **between equivalent candidates** in academic, technical or experience terms. It does not require appointing a veteran over someone better qualified. What it forbids is that, when tied, the other one is chosen.

If you were on active duty and missed the exam

Subsection F(a)(4) solves a very concrete problem: the veteran who **could not sit for competitive exams because of active duty**. The employer (public or private) is required to **offer those exams**, if the veteran requests them **within one hundred eighty (180) days after returning to work**; and **if they pass, to include their name on the corresponding list or register**.

Note what the clock runs from: the 180 days count **from when you returned to your job**, not from discharge nor from the date of the exam you missed. And the request must be made; the law does not presume it.

Subsection F(a)(5) explains where openings should appear. Every announcement for **any open-competition position or job** (again, in all modalities) must be circulated to the **Veterans Advocate Office**, which will notify duly organized veterans' organizations **through a web page of that Office accessible over the Internet** or, failing that, on the Government of Puerto Rico portal or by any other means it deems fit.

That gives you a search route few people use: beyond the Central Registry of Announcements, the Veterans Advocate Office is, by law, a channel job postings must pass through. If an agency never circulates its own, that too is a breach of this law.

Getting your job back: Act 203's 180-day window

Subsection F(a)(2) requires the employer to **reinstate the veteran or reservist in the same job** they held when called up or when they voluntarily rejoined the Armed Forces, **or in an equivalent or similar job**, if they **formally** request it from their employer **within one hundred eighty (180) days following honorable discharge**.

If that position no longer exists, the law does not leave you hanging: the veteran **shall have priority in placement in another job** in the company or agency, and it is **the employer's responsibility to make a maximum effort to retrain them**. The text adds that this does not remove obligations the employer may have under the ADA or other federal or state law favorable to the returning veteran.

Subsection F(a)(6) goes further for a regular position: it guarantees reemployment **in an equal or similar position, with the same rights and privileges**, retaining **seniority as if they had continued occupying the position**, along with any development or growth that position may have had. And the right **extends for as long as the veteran is on active duty, regardless of how many years they serve**. The one written limitation: the rule **does not apply retroactively** to someone who, not previously a veteran or a reservist, voluntarily enlisted as a new entrant in the regular Armed Forces.

Careful here with a confusion that costs jobs: **this 180-day window is not USERRA's**. USERRA, the federal statute, has its own ladder of deadlines by length of service (1, 14 or 90 days) and its own protections on return. They are two distinct regimes that can apply to you at once.

For that, Act 203 carries its own tiebreaker in Article 10: **“This Act shall be interpreted in the most liberal and beneficial manner for the veteran. In case of conflict between this Act and any other law, the one more favorable to the veteran shall prevail.”** In practice: do not pick the shorter deadline out of fear; look at both and use the one that protects you more, but **do not let the shorter one lapse while you decide**.

Retirement: creditable military years and who pays while you are activated

Subsection E of Article 4 touches the long-term wallet, and it is the part most people find out about too late. **Every veteran entering Puerto Rico government service for the first time** (agencies, instrumentalities, public or quasi-public corporations and municipalities) who becomes a participant in a government retirement system is entitled, **whenever they request it** while holding that status, **to have credited for retirement purposes all time on active duty** in the armed forces or studying under funds provided wholly or partly by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs, **including time served before this law existed**.

That is not free, and the law says exactly how it is paid: the veteran pays the corresponding contributions **plus simple interest at six percent (6%) per year**, computed on **the lower of the salaries**, the one earned on entering government service or the one received on entering active duty or at discharge. **Peacetime military service is capped at five (5) years**, and in that case the veteran pays the individual contribution, the employer contribution and the interest. It can be paid in cash or under a payment plan granted by the retirement system's Administrator.

Do not confuse it: this credit is in the **Puerto Rico retirement systems**. Buying military years in the **federal** retirement (FERS/CSRS) is a different process, with different rules and a different deposit.

And while you are activated, subsection E(d) splits the bill in the public sector: agencies, dependencies, public corporations, municipalities and other instrumentalities **shall cover the employer contributions** to the retirement plan you were contributing to when active duty began, **for up to five (5) years**. The **individual contributions** for that period **are paid by the employee on return**, if any, with **a right to be offered a payment plan**.

In the private sector the rule is more generous, in subsection E(e): **private employers shall cover the employer contributions *and* the individual ones** to the retirement plan the employee called to active military duty was entitled to.

How you prove veteran status, and what happens if they do not comply

Article 5 lists what counts as evidence, and it is a wider list than people think: the **discharge or separation certificate under honorable conditions**; **any certification** issued by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense; the **driver's license certificate with a veteran designation**; or any document or certification from the corresponding federal authority attesting veteran status.

And who counts as a veteran is defined in Article 2: anyone who served **honorably** in the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and **Space Force**) as well as in the **NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps** and the **Public Health Service Commissioned Corps**, and who holds veteran status under current federal law. It **includes** those who served in the reserves or the National Guard when their service meets those federal requirements.

If one of these rights is violated, Article 9 does not stop at a scolding. Whoever violates any right in the Bill of Rights **shall be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to two thousand (2,000) dollars**. Companies or Government agencies and individuals who obstruct or impair these rights **are liable for the damages they cause, including payment of attorney's fees**, and **the judge may award up to treble damages**.

For public entities there is a separate administrative route: the **Veterans Advocate may impose administrative fines of up to five thousand (5,000) dollars per violation** on Government bodies and institutions, including public or quasi-public corporations and municipalities. The Advocate is authorized to **investigate, implement and prosecute** violations, and may **represent aggrieved veterans in Puerto Rico's courts**.

One more thing that is almost always overlooked: these rights do not die with the veteran. Article 6 provides that the privileges and exemptions **survive in favor of the surviving spouse and minor children or adult children with disabilities**, for as long as the veteran would have enjoyed them. They cease when the spouse remarries, when children reach majority, or when an adult child's disability ends.

When reading any summary of this law, check the date. Act 203-2007 has been amended more than twenty times; the compilation used here is the **August 3, 2026 revision**, incorporating through **Act 145-2026**. An article from three years ago may be quoting text that has since changed.