Pierluisi names new Puerto Rico Labor Secretary
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi has appointed Gabriel Maldonado-González as Puerto Rico’s new Department of Labor and Human Resources secretary, filling the vacancy left by his predecessor, Carlos Santiago, who stepped down Dec. 31.
Maldonado has extensive government and private sector experience, as well as in the field of labor law, both in the state and federal forums.
He has a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Labor Relations and a Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law. One of his first professional experiences took place in the Department of Labor, specifically in the Conciliation and Arbitration Bureau, and he has specialized in the areas of labor and employment law, taxes, litigation of civil and commercial cases, arbitration, appeals and administrative law.
The attorney currently works as chief of staff at the Central Office of Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3). Previously, worked as general legal advisor and in Legislative Affairs for the Department of Economic Development and Commerce’s (DDEC, in Spanish) and its umbrella agencies the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) and Puerto Rico Trade and Export.
He was also a legal officer of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court and served as legal advisor and worked with special projects in the Governor’s Office in 2012.
“Throughout his career, Maldonado has stood out as a professional who seeks consensus and solutions in times of great challenges. His background of more than 10 years of experience shows that he has several tools to execute the position to which I am appointing him, and I recognize his knowledge of labor laws and the functioning of the government, which means that he’s not here to improvise, that he’s an ally of the working sector and who firmly believes in a prosperous Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi siad.
“I have high expectations of his performance and I thank him once again for his commitment to Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi added.
