A ruling to upgrade interim civil servants to permanent status
The Administrative Court number 4 of Alicante has just handed down the first ruling that makes an interim civil servant who had been on a temporary contract for thirteen years a permanent employee. The ruling condemns the city council to maintain the employee in her post with the same rights of stability and immovability as career civil servants, but without being a career civil servant.
The magistrate of the resolution, María Begoña Calvet Miró, considers that this is the "most appropriate and balanced" sanction for the abuse of temporary contracts committed by the council.
Judgment of the CJEU
The novelty of this ruling is that it applies in part the criterion set by the European Court of Justice, which in a judgement issued on 19 March ruled against the perpetuity of the posts of interim civil servants in the administration.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)) recognises the protection that must be afforded to workers who have occupied an interim post for "many years", and who have not been assigned a vacant and permanent post due to the absence of a selection procedure. Interim civil servants now have a legal avenue to claim their permanent contract or compensation. In Spain, around 800,000 public sector employees are affected by this situation.
The court recognises that these workers should be compensated for the abuse they suffered. The offending administrations should also be penalised. It leaves the decision to the Spanish courts to determine the appropriate compensation.
At Euriux Lawyers as a law firm specialised in civil servants' labour problems with the Administration, offers its legal services to initiate legal claims on the basis of the EU directive C-103/18 and 429/18 published on 19 March last. We have more than 300 specialised professionals in our 52 offices in Spain and Portugal.
