June 17 () –
The Secretary of State for Public Function, Clara Mapelli, chaired this Monday the Public Employment Coordination Commission, in which representatives of the autonomous communities and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) participated and analyzed the recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the interims, Government sources have informed Europa Press.
Last week, the European Court issued a new ruling establishing that contracts for interim public administration personnel that chain several temporary contracts must become indefinite to punish and prevent abuses in the public sector.
In its ruling, the CJEU points out that, in the absence of adequate measures in national legislation to prevent and, where appropriate, punish abuses, the conversion of fixed-term contracts into indefinite ones may constitute an appropriate measure of prevention and reparation. of abuse, although it determined that it is up to national courts to guarantee that this conversion does not imply an interpretation contrary to the law.
At this Monday’s meeting of this Public Employment Coordination Commission, the measures being adopted to reduce temporary employment in the Spanish public sector were assessed and, according to sources consulted by Europa Press, attendees agreed to wait for the interpretation made by the Spanish courts of the CJEU ruling.
The European ruling responded to the request of three interim workers of the Generalitat of Catalonia whose position was occupied by a career civil servant who alleged that their work did not respond to temporary, urgent and exceptional needs, but rather ordinary, long-lasting and permanent ones, something which they consider abusive on the part of the administration, and requested that their long-term temporary contract be transformed into a permanent one.
They also requested financial compensation of 18,000 euros or an appropriate amount, as a sanction for the abusive use of successive fixed-term contracts or employment relationships of which they claimed to have been victims, something that the administration denied, arguing that calls for calls were held practically every year. access to positions occupied by female workers.
On May 30, the Fourth Chamber of the Supreme Court issued an order in which it submitted to the CJEU the announced preliminary question on the situation of public employees with abusive temporary employment in light of the doubts raised by another ruling of the European Court, of February 22. , with the same conclusions as those known last week. One of the questions asked by the Supreme Court is whether raising the compensation to 20 days per year worked would adequately sanction abusive temporary employment in the public sector.
In the ruling handed down by the CJEU on February 22, it was reported that Spanish legislation does not adequately deter Public Administrations from the abuse of temporary hiring and proposed, as a possible solution, making the affected workers permanent.
The Supreme Court announced that it would present a preliminary ruling to clarify whether the Spanish regulations complied with European law and on May 20 it announced that said question had already been raised to the CJEU.
In essence, the High Court asks the CJEU whether the jurisprudential doctrine that denies recognition of the status of permanent public sector workers to those who have not passed a selection process in accordance with the principles of equality is in accordance with European Union Law. merit, capacity and non-discrimination, in accordance with the provisions of articles 14 and 103.2 of the Spanish Constitution, as well as article 14.4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and concordant precepts.
Subsidiarily, the Supreme Court raises whether the payment to said workers of a dissuasive compensation, higher than the currently recognized 20 days of salary per year of service, would be an “adequate and sufficient” measure to comply with European Union regulations. in the prevention and punishment of abuses derived from the improper use of temporary contracts in the public sector.
The Supreme Court reminds the CJEU in its order that in recent years various regulations on the stabilization or consolidation of temporary jobs have been approved, among whose objectives is to regularize situations arising from the abusive nature of the use of fixed-term contracts.
Also remember that the declaration that a person must be considered as indefinitely non-fixed in Spanish Law defends their right to continue working, despite the fact that they agreed only for a temporary period); demands from the employer the announcement of the position; assigns compensation equivalent to dismissal due to business problems in the event of failing to pass the tests called; rules out that a final term can be invoked to terminate the contract; and extends all the rights of permanent personnel to non-permanent permanent employees.
The Supreme Court concludes that “at stake” is the right to non-discrimination and free movement of all people who want to try to access public employment for someone who should only have done so temporarily. Likewise, it considers that there are “numerous guarantees and precautions to protect these non-permanent indefinite persons, but without granting them definitive ownership of the position held.”
Recently, the Social Chamber of the Supreme Court issued a ruling in which it stated that the “automatic” judicial conversion of temporary workers into permanent workers is not a measure that can be derived “in any case” from the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), of February 22, and is “incompatible” with the Spanish system of Public Administration, based on the principles of equality, merit and capacity.
Add Comment