The National Renewal deputies, Marcia Raphael and Hugo Rey, sent a letter to the comptroller Jorge Bermúdez to try to clarify the controversy. In addition, they requested – through the supervisory authority – that the rector deliver the administrative records that account for the granting of said benefit.
The deputies of National Renewal of the Education Commission, Marcia Raphael y Hugo Reysent a letter to the Comptroller General of the Republic, Jorge Bermudez, in order to initiate an administrative process to determine if it is appropriate for the ex-conventional, Elisa Loncón, an academic from the Department of Education of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Santiago, to enjoy of work permit to be absent from their academic functions, receiving their full salary.
Loncón would have resumed his full-time duties in the Department of Education of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Santiago de Chile, a State higher education institution, following passing through the Constitutional Convention.
However, according to the parliamentarians in the office, they found out from the press that the ex-conventional would be on “paid sabbatical leave” for a year, in exchange for visiting foreign universities.
For parliamentarians the nature of this permission is not clearand because the university is a state institution subject to the supervision and control of the Comptroller’s Office, they formally requested Bermudez to rule on the matter.
In addition, they indicate that the law indicates that “university institutions are autonomous bodies, endowed with legal personality under public law and their own assets, which are part of the State Administration and are related to the President of the Republic through the Ministry of Education.” .
¿Comisión de servicio or permission to leave?
They point out that the permit in question must be constituted either as one “on commission of service abroad”, in accordance with the provisions of article 45 of Law No. 21,094, on State Universities, and the respective internal regulations of the University , or as a permit to be absent from their functions, in accordance with the provisions of letter b) of article 110 of Law No. 18,834, on Administrative Statute.
“There is no clarity, in the first case, that Ms. Loncón is on a service assignment abroad, since she the work he would carry out there is unknown and, in his last public addresses abroad, he has done so in relation to his role as a former constitutional constituent and former president of the Constitutional Convention, which is not a role proper to the University of Santiago”, the document indicates.
In addition, according to Raphael and Rey, a leave without payment of remuneration of those referred to in the Administrative Statute would not be configured, since, as indicated, these are granted without the perception of remuneration, as indicated in articles 108 et seq. of that standard, while the information disclosed shows that the teacher would be using a “sabbatical year” leave with remuneration.
Can Loncón opt for a “sabbatical leave”?
Finally, the parliamentarians request the comptroller to take cognizance of the facts, initiating an administrative procedure to determine if Loncón can abandon his work as a teacher to enjoy a “sabbatical leave”, whose legal nature is unknown, also receiving his full remuneration.
In addition, the comptroller is requested to request the rector of the house of studies, Rodrigo Vidal, the administrative records that account for the concession, legal nature and extension of the permit.
