Spanish Public Employee Regulations

• This document provides detailed information about the regulatory framework for public employees in Spain, based on Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015.
• Includes Law 2/1987, dated March 30, regarding Canarian Public Service.

Object and Scope of Application

• Sets the foundations for the statutory regulations governing public officials within its scope.
• Determines the rules applicable to non-civil servant staff in public administration.
• Grounded in principles such as citizen service, equality, lawfulness, objectivity, efficiency, transparency, evaluation, negotiation, and cooperation among public administrations.

Scope of Application (Article 2)

• Applies to civil servants and, where relevant, to labor personnel serving various public administrations:
  • Central Government
  • Autonomous Communities (like Canary Islands, and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla)
  • local entities
  • public bodies and agencies
  • public Universities
• Singular regulations may be issued to adapt the Statute to research personnel specific characteristics.
• Teaching and healthcare personnel are governed by their specific legislation and the Statute (excluding Chapter II of Title III, except articles 20, 22.3, 24, and 84).
• References to career civil servants also include statutory healthcare personnel.
• Supplements existing regulations for all public administration personnel outside its application scope.

Local Entities (Article 3)

• Governed by state legislation derived from the Statute and by that of the Autonomous Communities, respecting local autonomy.
• Local police forces are governed by this Statute and Autonomous Community legislation, except as established in Organic Law 2/1986.

Personnel with Specific Legislation (Article 4)

• The Statute's provisions apply directly only when their specific legislation dictates it.
• Includes personnel from:
  • General Courts and legislative assemblies of Autonomous Communities
  • State's Constitutional bodies and statutory bodies of Autonomous Communities
  • Judges, magistrates, prosecutors, and other Administration of Justice employees.
• Military personnel and staff of the Security Forces and Corps
• Those paid by tariffs, staff of the National Intelligence Center, and Banking personnel.

Correos y Telégrafos Staff (Article 5)

Applies to Correos y Telégrafos civil servants.

Function and Labour Laws (Articles 6 & 7)

• Framework for public service regulation set by the General Courts and autonomous communities.
• Labor personnel are governed by labor laws, collective agreements, and relevant provisions of this Statute, with exceptions for birth and adoption leave, where the Statute prevails.

Personnel Classification:

• Public employees are those who perform paid functions in public administrations.
• Classified as: career civil servants, interim civil servants, permanent or temporary labor personnel, and temporary staff.

Career Civil Servants (Article 9)

• Bound to a Public Administration.
• Relationship governed by administrative law for permanent paid professional services.
• Functions involving direct or indirect participation in public authority or safeguarding state interest are restricted to civil servants.

Interim Civil Servants (Article 10)

• Appointed temporarily due to justified reasons of necessity and urgency.
• Fills roles such as:
  • Vacant positions.
  • Temporary replacements.
  • Execution of temporary programs
  • Handling excess workload.
• Selection processes are public, based on equality, merit, and speed, with the goal of immediate coverage, without conferring career status.
• Termination of interim status occurs:
  • When the position is filled by a career civil servant
  • For organizational reasons.
  • Expiration of the authorized term
  • End of the cause that led to appointment.
• Vacant positions filled by interim personnel must be covered through provision/mobility mechanisms.
• After 3 yr their relationship ends, and rehire is only allowed if a selection process is deserted.
• Interim staff can stay.
• Provided a call for applications has been published within three years and is resolved under Article 70.

Employed Staff (Article 11)

• Provide paid services to administrations under a written contract, as per labor legislation, either on a fixed, indefinite, or temporary basis.
• Laws will establish criteria for job positions suited to labor personnel.
• Selection mirrors civil service, with added consideration for speed in temporary roles.

Temporary Personnel (Article 12)

• Appointed temporarily.
• Carry out functions of trust or special advice.
• Paid from designated budget allocations.
• Public services laws define which government bodies can utilize temporary staff.
• Number and pay conditions are public.
• Appointment and dismissal are free, typically tied to the term of the authority they advise.

Personnel Regulations

• Governed by respective laws, adhering to principles of merit, capacity, and suitability; subject to performance evaluations based on efficiency and results-oriented management, exempt from collective bargaining conditions.

Career civil servants

• Those who, through legal appointment and entry into a Corps or Scale, join the service of the Public Administration of the Autonomous Community on a permanent basis.
• The performance of functions that imply direct or indirect participation in the exercise of public powers or in the safeguarding of the general interests of the Public Administration corresponds exclusively to civil servants.

Functions reserved to civil servants

• Issuing certificates, records, and authentic copies of documents.
• Recording facts and circumstances, and issuing orders that fall under administrative police actions.

Labour personnel scope

• The scope of action of labor personnel, as well as rights and duties, and code of conduct of public employees are provided.

Employees Individual Rights

• Include permanence, effective job performance, career progression based on merit, fair compensation, participation in unit objectives, legal defense, continuous training, respect for privacy, and freedom of expression within legal bounds.
• Protections regarding safety, healthcare, retirement benefits, and freedom of association.

Public Servants Rights

• Guaranteed by CE and other laws.

Collective Exercised Rights for Employees

• Include freedom of association, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and the ability to raise collective labor disputes.

Employees Code of Conduct and Duties

• Mandates diligent task performance.
• Upholding general interests within the legal framework.
• Includes principles like objectivity, integrity, neutrality, responsibility, impartiality, confidentiality, dedication, transparency, and equality.

Ethical Principles for Public Servants

• Respecting the constitution, acting in accordance with impartiality and common interest, maintaining loyalty, respect, and discretion, avoiding discrimination, conflicts of interest, and misusing public resources.

Principles of Conduct for Public Servants

• Treating others respectfully, fulfilling work duties diligently, obeying lawful orders, providing accurate information, managing resources responsibly, avoiding inappropriate gifts, maintaining document integrity, pursuing continuous improvement, ensuring workplace safety, and suggesting improvements.
• Guarantee attention in the official language of the territory.

Disciplinary Responsibility

• Public servants and labor personnel are subject and must pay them.

Disciplinary Power

• The administrative staff will properly act upon personnel under the scope of the previous article for misconduct in the form of warnings and sanctions from authorities, and will be proportionate to the offense.

Disciplinary offenses

• Can be classified as very serious, serious, and minor.

Very Serious Offences

• Include violations of constitutional duties.
• Acts of discrimination, abandonment of service, illegal agreements causing serious prejudice, misuse of confidential information, gross negligence, electoral manipulation, disobedience to orders constituting a legal violation, benefiting from public employment improperly, obstructing freedoms, and violating strike regulations.

Sanctions

• Range depending on the offense.
• Separation of service to functions suspension, forced relocation, demotion, warning, and other legal measures.
• Scope accounts for intent, negligence, damage, and repetition.

Prescription

• Very serious infractions have a 3-yr period, serious 2yr, and minor a 6 month period.

Disciplinary procedure

• Follows due separation, is efficient respecting the rights and defense. Provisional suspension should be up 6mo.

Equality Plans for Public Servants

• The administrations must make it clear that they respect the principle of equality between all genders while avoiding discriminatory action.

Overview of the regulatory framework for public employees in Spain, based on Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015 and Law 2/1987 regarding Canarian Public Service. Covers scope, application, and governing principles for civil servants and labor personnel. Includes citizen service, equality, and efficiency.