Commissioner for Human Rights

The application of the Commissioner for Human Rights submitted to the Constitutional Tribunal challenged the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Act of 30 December 2015 amending the Civil Service Act.

In the opinion of the Commissioner, the amendments violate constitutional standards concerning the access to public service and the operation of the civil service corps.

Concerns relate primarily to the changes concerning the manner of staffing senior positions in the civil service. Open and competitive recruitment for higher positions in civil service has been replaced by appointment. The amending act has also lowered the eligibility requirements for persons appointed to higher positions in the civil service. The stability of employment in the civil service is essential to the impartial and politically neutral exercise of tasks entrusted by the state. Meanwhile, an employment relationship based on appointment is characterised by the lowest employee protection in the event of its dissolution. An employee hired on the basis of an appointment may be removed from office by the appointing authority at any time. In practice, this means that the person appointed to a higher position in the civil service remains completely dependent on the appointing authority in terms of their employment status.

The legislature has excluded the right of citizens to information about vacant senior positions in the civil service. It is impossible to speak of the exercise of the right of access to public service on equal terms, since this right can be exercised only by citizens who have exclusive access to non-public information about vacant senior positions in the civil service.

At the same time, the legislature decided to dissolve the employment relationships with persons currently hired on senior positions in the civil service, employed as a result of an open and competitive recruitment, after 30 days from the day of entry into force of the amending act, unless new employment or remuneration conditions are proposed to them, or in the case of rejection of the new employment or remuneration conditions. The decision about the termination of the employment relationships has been left at the complete discretion of the heads of individual offices. This regulation is incompatible with the principle of citizens' trust in the state and law, as it violates the legal security of persons currently employed on senior positions in the civil service without any constitutionally valid reason