To my knowledge it is a violation of all ASME pressure vessel and piping codes. The reinforcing pads are not designed to be pressure retaining components. Should the vent be blocked or missing, a leak in the primary weld attaching the nozzle or branch could over pressurize the reinforcement and cause it to fail in an undesirable or unexpected manner, i.e., as in BOOM, shisssss, Kapow!
Best regards - Al
Ritz; at my company, if construction or fabrication fails to make a weep hole, the QA/QC department rejects the pad and it is cut off, weep hole placed and rewelded. There are many potentially bad impacts to your PV if violating code requirements.