Employment certification: what it must say to count

Why this piece of paper decides points

In many Puerto Rico government announcements the exam is a file review, not a classroom test. And the file is scored. Two live announcements say it with the same numbers: **the exam is worth one hundred (100) points**, split into **70% for minimum requirements, 20% for work experience beyond the minimum requirements, and 10% for academic preparation beyond what is required** plus courses or training related to the position's duties.

That **20% for additional experience** is exactly what the employment certification proves. Without it, the experience you wrote on the application can go uncredited, and there goes a fifth of the score.

And some announcements close the door earlier: the UPR one reviewed here states, about the application, that **“incomplete applications will not be accepted.”**

The five items the most common version asks for

Announcement **ACAA-26G-12** carries the wording that repeats across the system: anyone claiming experience in the Human Resources Administration and Transformation System, in **private companies**, or in excluded agencies **must include with the exam application a certification from the entity where they work or worked**, including:

• **Position held** by the applicant.
• **Weekly, monthly or hourly salary**, in the case of part-time employment.
• **Exact dates the experience was acquired (day-month-year)** and **number of hours worked**, if part-time.
• **Description of the duties and nature of the work.**
• **Gross monthly salary earned.**

Where the letter your employer will hand you fails

The standard HR letter says something like “we certify that So-and-so worked with us from March 2021 to August 2023 as an Administrative Assistant.” Read it against the list above and it fails on three of five points.

**The dates.** “March 2021” is not an exact date. The announcement asks for **day, month and year**, and it asks because that is how months of experience get counted toward the 20%.

**The duties.** “Administrative Assistant” is a title, not a description of the nature of the work. An evaluator cannot credit experience related to duties nobody described.

**The salary.** Almost no letter includes it, because nobody asks. The announcement does ask, in two different forms: the rate and the **gross monthly salary earned**.

So you do not just “ask for” the certification: you ask for it **with the list in hand**. Take HR the exact items your announcement demands, verbatim, and request them one by one.

Careful: they do not all ask for the same thing

Here is the costly mistake: assuming one announcement's contents work for another. The **University of Puerto Rico (UPR-SEA-26-12)** one asks for an **“official employment certification”** with a list that is **not the same**:

• **Titles of the positions held.**
• **Exact dates (day, month and year)** they were held.
• **Type of appointment and type of schedule** (full or part time, **number of weekly hours**).
• **Detailed description of the duties** performed in each position **or a copy of the official classification questionnaire**.

And sometimes it is not required: the two exceptions we found

**Six live announcements** on the portal were reviewed on September 18, 2026, and the picture is not what people assume. Only **two** require the certification with the application (ACAA and UPR). The other four treat it differently:

**It may be requested, to validate.** The Department of Public Safety one (**DSP-2026-15**) says that **“an employment certification may be requested to validate the information provided in the exam application and resume,”** and that the certification **must contain the information described in its Important Note 3(b)** — position held, exact dates and number of hours if part-time, and a brief description of the duties and nature of the work.

**Not a requirement to apply.** The **OATRH (OATRH-02-26-27)** and **Joint Commission (CJGPR-2027-004)** announcements are explicit: **“an employment certification from employers where the candidate has rendered services shall not be a requirement to apply and be eligible,”** although the government entity **may request additional information** to validate what you put on the application and the resume.

So the practical rule is neither “get the certification” nor “you don't need it.” It is: **read your announcement's Important Notes section before requesting anything**, because that is where the list that applies to you lives — and it is not the same in all of them.

If the employer closed: what can honestly be said

This is the most asked question and the one with the least source. **No official document was located describing what substitutes for the certification when the employer no longer exists.** This guide is not going to invent a procedure.

What is in the announcements' own text, and serves as a route: the certification appears as the means of **validating the information provided in the application and the resume** (DSP), and there are announcements where it is **not a requirement to apply and be eligible** but the entity **may request additional information** (OATRH, CJGPR). So the primary data rides on your application and your resume, and the certification validates it.

With that in hand, the sensible move is to ask **before the closing date** at the human resources office of the entity publishing the announcement what alternate evidence it accepts in your case, and to get the answer in writing. Do not wait until you are disqualified to find out.

What was not verified

**That a law requires the employer to issue it.** It was looked for and did not appear. One hypothesis was ruled out along the way: **Act 402 of 1950** is not that — it is the law regulating attorney's fees in labor claims. This guide does not claim you have a legal right to demand the certification; it states what the announcements demand of you.

**That these six announcements represent all of them.** They are the ones published on September 18, 2026 and were read in full. Announcements close and change. What lasts is the pattern: **the list lives in each one's Important Notes**.

**The procedure when the employer has closed**, as stated above.