supreme court It canceled the distribution of public employment offer places in the Special Authority for Prison Institutions, knowing that it did not respect the reservation of 60% of internal promotion places included in the regulations for this sector of the administration. Thus, the Supreme Court accepted the controversial administrative appeal filed by the Independent Trade Union Center and Civil Servants (CSIF) against the aforementioned job offer, corresponding to the year 2024, which included 118 positions, including 73 for free rotation (new entry) and only 45 for internal promotion.
For the CSIF, the weight of positions for officials with a position to be promoted in the category (38%) did not correspond to the specific regulations for job offers in penitentiary institutions, which are governed by the 1977 Regulation and, given their characteristics, expects that this type of positions represents the above-mentioned 60% of the total offer. The state’s attorney said the said regulations were pre-constitutional and conflicted with subsequent laws regulating such shows which generally required a minimum of only 30%. However, the Supreme Court “does not hold that (the Penal Institutions Act 1977) is inconsistent with the constitutional provision, nor certainly with subsequent public employment legislation, which at no time amended the said ratio.”
However, far from canceling the disputed job offer, the CSIF explains that they “appreciate the rationale implemented by the Supreme Court on internal promotion as a system for promotion to higher qualification bodies with homogeneous positions”. Specifically, the Supreme Court emphasizes that in regulating these offers “there is broad latitude in the constitution of the legislator to determine the structure and organization of civil service bodies and their levels, as well as selective access regimes.”
But, contrary to what the General Counsel said in this case, the principle of free participation in the public service (i.e. equal access to the public service under similar conditions for all applicants) “is modified by other principles such as professional promotion or positive discrimination, which can lead to sector-specific regulations”, as is the case in penal institutions. This means that in order to enhance the career of promoted officials, or because of the “principle of effectiveness from the perspective of effective human resources management,” it is legitimate to increase the weight of the internal promotion offer by up to 60%.
The invalidity of the distribution of these places comes after this offer had previously been suspended by order dated November 13, 2024, as a precautionary measure, and therefore the declaration of invalidity implicitly specifies that the distribution of places corresponding to the 2024 offer must take place within the limits of the legally prescribed percentage.
Specifically, the CSIF states that these days it is negotiating with the Ministry of Public Administration in various aspects to improve working conditions and, specifically, issues related to increasing internal promotions to strengthen professional positions within the public administration. Under the terms of what was negotiated this week by the CSIF and the public service federations of the CC OO and UGT unions, in order to sign a multi-year salary and employment agreement, negotiators are examining the possibility of creating more flexible career paths, with certified training that facilitates internal promotion and retention of talent in departments. To this end, they intend to implement human resource plans that identify employee needs and redeployment, for which they will promote exclusive and differentiated internal promotion processes.
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