New code for civil servants approved

In March 2006, the government approved the new Civil Servants’ Code in Greece. The outcome of negotiations and consultations between the Minister of the Interior and the Confederation of Public Servants, the code will bring about important changes to employment conditions in public administration.

In March 2006, the Greek government approved the new Civil Servants’ Code, which will replace the previous code dating from 1999 (GR9807182N) and will introduce important changes to employment conditions of civil servants. The new code is the result of negotiations and consultations between the Minister of the Interior, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, and the Confederation of Public Servants (ADEDY), which represents all Greek public servants.

Content of the Civil Servants’ Code

The new Civil Servants’ Code regulates the following matters:

• conditions for recruitment of staff – minimum conditions and obstacles to appointments, procedures for filling posts, formalities pertaining to recruitment procedures;

• obligations and restrictions in relation to civil servants’ public responsibility – minimum general obligations, activities that are inappropriate to the status of civil servants, and other related restrictions and public responsibilities;

• civil servants’ rights – job security, pay and working conditions, training, regular and other types of special leave, sick leave, bonuses, freedom of expression and trade union membership;

• internal transfers and job changes – mobility of workers, job moves, job ranking on the basis of training, occupation and qualifications, procedures for promotion and selection of officials, temporary layoffs, and reasons for and effects of permanent layoffs and relief from duties;

• matters pertaining to disciplinary law – definition of disciplinary offences, penalties, procedures for prosecution for disciplinary offences, role of disciplinary bodies, procedures for preliminary enquiries, official enquiries, disciplinary interrogations and responses as well as general procedural provisions, enforcement of judgements and conditions for removal of penalties;

• conditions governing termination of civil servant status – resignation, derogation and dismissal;

• issues relating to collective bodies – various councils (including public servant representatives, independent experts and government representatives responsible for matters such as staff evaluation or imposing penalties), health and safety committees, and disciplinary boards.

Changes introduced by new code

Compared to the 1999 code, the new Civil Servants’ Code introduces changes in a range of fields, including the following:

• leave from work – the conditions for granting sick leave, as well as the related control procedures, have become stricter. At the same time, improvements have been made in terms of leave granted to mothers, parents of large families and blood donors;

• disciplinary law for civil servants – new offences have been added, relating to civil servants’ behaviour and their obligation to provide citizens with necessary information. Refusal to provide citizens with information is now deemed to be a disciplinary offence and the Minister of the Interior has the right to exercise disciplinary power over civil servants and state entities for inappropriate behaviour towards citizens, unjustified failure to serve citizens, failure to process their cases on time and refusal to cooperate with the Citizens’ Service Centres;

• transfers – most changes relate to transfer procedures. For example, posts to be filled are announced in advance on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, so that any civil servants wishing to be transferred can submit their application, providing they have the required qualifications for the new post;

• promotions – interviews for the selection of directors are introduced for the first time.

Aspects of union disapproval

ADEDY expressed its disapproval of the code in relation to three aspects. Firstly, the date of implementation (by 2007): ADEDY would prefer immediate implementation of the code, even though the government is in favour of gradual implementation.

• ADEDY believes that the evaluation system leaves room for subjectivity and appears to have an arbitrary basis. Annual evaluation reports established by diverse committees are based on criteria such as the interest shown at work, creativity, and other factors, as well as interviews carried out in the case of the head of department selections.

• rather than the five-member councils that were ultimately adopted, ADEDY expressed its preference for seven-member councils to ensure a more objective evaluation system in assessing civil servants’ performance. However, Minister Pavlopoulos responded that councils with a large number of members can create many problems regarding both the speed and the legitimacy of the procedures for taking administrative decisions.

Christina Karakioulafis, Labour Institute of General Confederation of Greece (INE-GSEE)