Archive:Public employment - Spain
This Statistics Explained article is outdated and has been archived.
- Source: Ministry of the Spanish presidency 2010, publication "Public employment in the European Union Member States" .
This article is part of a set of background articles and introduces public employment in Spain.
Regional and administrative organisation
Introduction
Spain, the capital of which is Madrid, is a parliamentary monarchy and the division of powers is set out in the 1978 Spanish Constitution. It has been a member of the EU since 1986 and is a member of the United Nations, NATO and other international organizations as well as a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol.
System of government
The Constitution lays down the bases of democratic co-existence based on the principles of freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism.
The king, symbolizes the historical continuity of Spain and is a unit factor for all Spanish people. He acts as Head of State and as such, arbitrates and moderates the regular operation of the institutions and assumes the highest representation of the Spanish state in international relations.
The General Courts have Legislative Power, and as such, exercise the functions of legislating and controlling the actions of the Government, whereby they are made up of two Chambers elected for a period of 4 years by means of popular vote: the Congress of the Deputies (Congreso de los Diputados) (350 members) and the Senate (Senado) (264 members); the latter is the Chamber of territorial representation.
The Government represents the executive power, and as such, manages national and foreign policy, civil and military administration and national defence. It is led by a President, who has a vote of confidence from the General Courts, and the Ministers appointed by the President. The associated government body is the Council of Ministers.
The General Council of the Judiciary Power is the governing body of the Judiciary Power, which exercises its functions with full autonomy from the Government. Its main objective is to ensure the independence of the Judges and Magistrates in the exercise of jurisdictional duties.
Regional organization
Spain is organised into three levels of autonomy: State Administration, Autonomous Communities and the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and Provinces and Municipalities making up the Local Administration. Spain is currently organised territorially into 17 Autonomous Communities, 2 Autonomous Cities, 50 Provinces and 8 111 Municipalities. They are governed by the following Institutions:
A. Autonomous Communities:
• A Legislative Assembly, elected by popular vote by means of a system of proportional representation.
• A President of the Community, elected by the Assembly from among its members and appointed by the King. He/she is responsible for the management of the Government Council, the supreme representation of the respective community and ordinary representation of the state in the Council.
• The Government Council, which is presided over by the President of the Community, performs executive and administrative functions and is politically accountable to the Community Assembly.
B. Local Administration is made up of Provinces and Municipalities:
• Provinces. Their governing institution is the Provincial Council, comprising of a President and Members who are elected by the City Councils and their duty is to ensure cooperation of the municipalities. There are no Councils in the autonomous communities with a single province.
• Municipalities. Their governing institution is the City Council comprising of the Mayor and Councillors. The latter are directly elected by popular vote and secret ballot. The Councillors in the Municipal Plenary elect the Mayor by absolute majority. If a majority is not obtained, the leader of the most voted list is proclaimed Mayor.
Public administration
Public administration is defined in the Constitution as a democratic country and representative of a politically and administratively decentralized State. Therefore, there are a range of Public Administrations in Spain, each with their own legal status and autonomy to manage their own affairs and competences.
The Autonomous Communities assume the competences defined in their own Statutes of Autonomy, which are the basic institutional regulation in the Autonomous Community, applying the distribution of powers between the state and the communities as set out in the Constitution, which differentiates between three types of competences:
• Exclusive competences of the State.
• Exclusive competences of the Autonomous Communities.
• Competences that may be shared between the State and the Autonomous Communities.
The State reserves the power to draw up basic regulations that ensure the equality of all Spanish citizens throughout the state and cohesion between all regions.
Public employment structure
Regulation
Law 7/2007, of 12th April on the Civil Service Basic Statute (EBEP): This is a law that establishes a homogeneous model for the Civil Service, whilst respecting the competences of the other regional and local administrations in order to adapt these general provisions to their specific conditions. On the other hand, it sets out the common rules applicable to the different groups of public employees.
Public Employee Categories:
• Civil Servants are subject to a statutory system of Civil Service and are regulated by Administrative Law. In general. Public Administration posts are filled by civil servants.
• Non-civil service employees are subject to an employment contract and are regulated by Employment Law (Workers’ and Collective Agreements Statute); they may only hold certain posts.
Bearing in mind this restriction, all Public Administrations (State, Regional and Local) have or may have the following categories of public employees:
Professional Civil Servants: These legally appointed employees are linked to a Public Administration by a statutory relationship regulated by Administrative Law for the performance of professional services.
Interim Civil Servants: On duly justified grounds of need or urgency, interim civil servants are appointed as such for the performance of professional civil servant functions in accordance with the circumstances set out in the Civil Service Basic Statute.
Statutory Staff: They have a functional relationship with special conditions set out in their own statutes.
Contractual Workers: By virtue of a formalised written contract through any of the staff recruitment methods set out in employment legislation, contractual workers provide services that are paid by the Public Administrations. Depending on the contract duration, this may be permanent, for an indefinite period of time or temporary.
Temporary Staff: By virtue of temporary appointment, temporary staff may only perform functions that are expressly classified to be functions of trust or expert advice, whereby they are paid from the budgetary credits set aside for this purpose.
Management: Their system shall be developed by the State and the Public Administrations in accordance with the principles established in the Civil Service Basic Statute and others.
Organization of the civil service
Recruitment
Recruitment is carried out using the following competitive procedures: competitive examination (passing tests), competition (exceptional system in which merits are verified and assessed) and competition-examination (passing tests and merit assessment), according to the constitutional principles of equality, merit and ability.
The structure of the public service system is mixed: Corps and Scales for civil servants, as well as contractual employees.
A. Corps and Scales: This groups civil servants by means of:
• Civil service entry requirements,
• Recruitment procedure
• Functions or positions that may be held or performed:
— General Corps for common functions in the administrative activity.
— Special Corps for functions of a certain career or profession.
B. Positions
Positions homogenously group together the functions or activities performed in a specific administrative unit and serve to:
• Understand exactly the number and type of staff required,
• Ensure that positions are assigned to the best suitable candidates,
• Determine the pay to be received by those performing the jobs.
Statistics: The total number of civil servants is 2 636 900. Of these, there are 575 021 in the General State Administration, 1 332 844 in the Autonomous Communities, 629 505 in Local Administration and 99 530 in Universities.
Rights, obligations, principles and values
Rights and obligations
The Civil Service Basic Statute defines rights and obligations as well as a Code of Conduct and ethical principles. Individual rights include the right to privacy, immobility, administrative career and pay, the right to participate in political activities, but observing neutrality in their functions at all times, retirement, etc. and joint rights include the right to meet, association, promotion of collective conflicts, right to strike, etc.
Obligations: The first is to swear loyalty to the King and the Constitution; perform functions with objectivity, integrity, neutrality etc. and follow principles of conduct such as hierarchical obedience, except when the order is clearly illegal, in which case, the supervisor must be informed in order to avoid accountability, or except in cases in which action may be detrimental to citizens and the proper use of public resources, etc.
Diversity Policies'
Non discrimination on grounds of birth, race and gender originate from Article 14 of the Constitution. Based on this constitutional principle, the Spanish administration has passed laws and regulations to prevent discrimination on grounds of gender (Law 4/2005, of 18th February, for the Equality of Men and Women, Organic Law 3/2007, of 22nd March, for the Effective Equality of Men and Women) which have influenced the Civil Service and the Workers’ Statute, the contents of which have been reflected in the Civil Service Basic Statute.
Work-Life Balance
Working Hours: Types: General Maximum working hours: 37.5 hours a week (1,647 hours a year), and special dedication working hours: 40 hours a week.
Work-Life Balance. The Civil Service Basic Statute considers this work-life balance to be a subjective right and establishes 16 weeks uninterrupted Maternity leave. The 16 weeks’ leave for adoption or fostering (pre-adoptive, permanent or simple) may be extended if the adopted child is disabled or for multiple births.
Paternity Leave (for birth, fostering or adoption) of 15 days may be taken by the father or other parent. Domestic violence leave for employees whose absences on these grounds are considered to be justified, granting the right to the reduction of working hours with the proportional reduction in pay, reorganization of the working hours, application of flexi-working times, etc.
Tele-working: This has been regulated but is still in the trial phase. It requires an agreement between the employer and trade union representatives provided that the tasks may be performed in this way. Tele-working usually involve alternating between working at the office and at home.
Holiday Leave: 22 working days a year (Saturdays are not counted and special working hours shall require adjustments) extended up to a maximum of 26 days in accordance with seniority.
Leave for the death, accident or serious illness of a first level blood relative: 3 working days; For moving house without changing place of residence: 1 day; To attend final examinations or definitive aptitude tests: on the days they are held, For breast-feeding of a child under 12 months: one hour’s leave of absence from work (it is possible to accumulate this time into full working days); for private affairs: six days which may be extended by 2 on reaching the 6th three-year increment, etc.
Other Leave and Licenses: For marriage: 15 calendar days; for study directly related to the civil service: the time required with pay and family allowance; for illness that prevents the normal performance of duties: up to 3 months each year with full pay; for personal affairs: unpaid and its accumulated duration may not exceed 3 months every 2 years.
Career-based system - training
The Civil Service Basic Statute considers the career and promotion public employees jointly and as aright. It differentiates between:
• Horizontal Career is grade, category or step advancement without the need to change job.
• Vertical Career consists of promotion in the structure of positions through the provision of positions set out in the Statute.
• Internal Promotion, which is promotion from one Corps or Scale in a sub-group or from one group to another higher group.
• Horizontal Internal Promotion which consists of entry to Corps or Scales of the same professional sub-group.
Internal promotion is a system open to all civil servants of the same group of qualifications fulfilling the requirements to enter the new corps and a minimum period of two years in the current corps or scale. Competitive tests need to be passed: by the system of competitive examination or competition-examination according to the constitutional principles of equality, merit, ability and advertising.
The Civil Service Basic Statute differentiates between Professional Career and Promotion for civil servants and non-civil service employees. The career systems defined in the Statute are pending development by the State and Autonomous Communities.
Non-civil service employees: Their career development and promotion is in accordance with the procedures set out in the Workers’ and Collective Agreements Statute.
Performance Appraisal. The Civil Service Basic Statute links career and pay with performance appraisal, which forces Public Administrations to establish appraisal systems for their public employees. It is conceived as a procedure that measures and evaluates professional conduct and performance or the fulfilment of results and should be carried out using criteria of transparency, objectivity, impartiality and nondiscrimination, without infringing the rights of public employees.
It is currently pending development, so the previous model, based on level intervals and personal grades, remains in force during the transitory period.
• Level intervals are career expectations for civil servants in their corps or scale. There are 30 levels; the civil servant career begins at the lowest level of each group and may reach the maximum level at the end of the career.
• Personal Grade is the axis of civil servant professional promotion in accordance with their professional path. The grade is acquired through performance over two consecutive years, or 3 years with a break, of a job in the same level or a higher one than the grade to be entered.
Successive grades are obtained using the same system. If the position changes level during its performance, the higher level shall be considered for the grade. A higher grade than the maximum level in the interval corresponding to the civil servant’s qualification group cannot be obtained. The personal grade is important for pay, mobility and provision of jobs.
Remuneration
Civil Servants
The pay system for civil servants is established by law and the quantities of pay are public (some appear in the General Budgetary Laws of the different Public Administrations, and others in the Job Positions List). Basic pay is the same in all Public Administrations and, according to the Civil Service Basic Statute, consists of the salary and the three-year increment for each sub-group or group. The General State Budgetary Law establishes the annual global pay increase which is applied to all public employees.
However, until the laws to enact the Civil Service Basic Statute are passed, the previous pay system is maintained, which consists of the following concepts:
1. Basic Pay. This is calculated according to the qualification sub-group or group of the Corps or Scale to which the civil servant belongs. It includes:
• Salary. The same amount is assigned to each group of academic qualifications. Training and knowledge accredited during recruitment are rewarded.
• Three-year Increments. This is the same amount for each Group and for each three years of service. Seniority is rewarded.
• Extraordinary Payments. They are calculated in accordance with the time in service during the six months in which they are received. They are paid twice a year (June and December). Each extraordinary payment consists of a month’s basic pay and all of the additional payments, except those corresponding to performance or extraordinary service carried out outside working hours.
2. Additional pay. This pay is received in accordance with the characteristics of the position, professional career or performance of duties.
• Position Bonus rewards the level of the position. The maximum and minimum limits for the level of the position performed are established for each qualification group.
• Specific Bonus, rewards special conditions of responsibility, technical or laborious difficulty of the position. There are different scales of specific bonus.
• Productivity Bonus rewards better performance.
• Bonus awarded for extraordinary services provided.
Non-civil service employees
Their pay is determined according to employment legislation, the corresponding collective agreement and the employment contract. Additional payments are usually made up of a month’s basic salary, seniority, and if appropriate, the personal bonus for consolidated seniority.
Social dialogue and system of representation
Civil servants are entitled to strike and union membership with the exception of the Armed Forces, Civil Guard and Judges, Magistrates and Prosecutors, (although professional associations are allowed) and limited for the National Security Forces and Corps, which affects them for independent collective bargaining. The main trade union organizations representing public employees at a state level are: The Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), the General Workers’ Union (UGT) and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions and Trade Union Confederation of Civil Servants (CSI-CSIF). At regional level, ELA and CIG in Galicia are representative. By sector (mainly health and education) there are other important trade unions.
The main regulation in this sphere is set out in Organic Law 11/1985, of 2nd August, on Trade Union Freedom and Law 7/2007, of 12th April on the Civil Service Basic Statute, which define two different channels for representation and negotiation: unitary bodies (Staff Councils, Works Committees and Staff Delegates, which are representation bodies elected directly by the employees of each Ministry or organization, with extremely limited negotiating capacity) and trade union bodies (with extensive negotiating power, that channel institutional dialogue. Their representatives and negotiators are appointed by the trade unions).
In the public service sector, collective bargaining on working conditions is carried out via different Commissions: General Public Administration Commission, in which basic issues are negotiated, hence affecting all public employees and all Administrations and their agreements are nation-wide. It is unitary. On the one hand, there are the Public Administrations (State, which presides, Autonomous Communities, Cities of Ceuta and Melilla and Local Administration), and on the other hand, the trade union organizations according to the results obtained in the elections to the aforementioned unitary bodies.
Another General Commission in each territorial administration is responsible for negotiating issues that are common to civil servants, non-civil service employees and statutory employees in its own region. There is another specific Commission for civil servants. Depending on these General Commissions, Sectorial Commissions may also exist for specific fields, essentially healthcare and universities.
Therefore, it is possible to talk about centralized negotiation but within the decentralization of the Spanish regional system, which means that negotiations are not carried out individually by Ministries (Departments in the case of regions) but rather centrally via the aforementioned Commissions, but only a small part of the subjects (basic issues) must be negotiated in the joint and centralized state sphere.
Potential issues for negotiation are extensive, as only specific aspects related to selfgoverning powers, management and hierarchical control, working conditions of senior executives, citizens’ rights, etc. are excluded from the obligation to negotiate, as they are the exclusive competence of the Administration.
Senior civil servants
The highest levels of Central Administration are called Superior Bodies (Ministers and Secretaries of State) and do not have to be civil servants, although they are on many occasions. At a lower level, there are Management Bodies (Secretary-Generals, Under-Secretaries, Technical Secretary-Generals, Director- Generals and Deputy Director-Generals). They must all be career civil servants with the exception of Secretary-Generals and, in exceptional and duly justified circumstances, Director- Generals. The Civil Service Basic Statute considers the category of management personnel, the development of which is pending. It contemplates the possibility that they may also be non-civil service employees. Each Autonomous Community has the power to establish its own legal system and conditions, but a common requirement is that they are recruited on the grounds of merit and ability, suitability criteria, using procedures guaranteeing publication and competition. Management personnel are evaluated according to the criteria of efficiency, effectiveness, responsibility in their management and the monitoring of results.
As this figure does not exist and that of management personnel has not been developed, in order to maintain the structure of the study and its comparative purposes, the heads of the Superior and Management Bodied defined in Law 6/1997 of 14th April, on the Organization and Functioning of the General State Administration, shall be used, whereby political appointment does not necessarily need to be a civil servant.
All of these positions are freely appointed and removed and are not limited to career. Ministers are appointed and removed by the President of the Government. State Secretaries, Secretary-Generals, Under-Secretaries, Technical Secretary- Generals and Director-Generals are appointed and removed by the Government on the recommendation of the corresponding Minister. Deputy Director-Generals are appointed and removed by the State Secretary. All career-based civil servants occupying these positions must belong to Sub-Group A1, except for those positions that may be carried out by non-civil servants.
Recent reforms and prospects
The need for a reform of public employment to adapt to current needs was unquestionable, and there was consensus from all social sectors, political groups, public employees and their representative bodies.
Article 103.3 of the Constitution required a specific law to be drawn up to regulate the status of civil servants and Article 149.1.18ª gives the State the power in the foundations of this statutory system. The last important reform in this area was in 1984, whereby its regulations which continue transitorily, whilst the Civil Service Basic Statute (EBEP) approved by Law 7/2007, of 12th April is being developed, state that:
• The need to create common regulatory framework for all public employees (civil servants and non-civil service employees) that guarantees recruitment and career development based on common criteria and the constitutional principles of merit, ability, equality and advertisement, with a fair balance between the rights and responsibilities of public employees.
• The need for the Public Administrations to have appropriate legal mechanisms for the planning and organization of their staff.
• The gradual transfer of services to the Autonomous Communities and the need to resolve problems derived from human resource management.
• Enable each Administration to form its own human resource policy, without detriment to the necessary elements of cohesion and coordination mechanisms.
The Civil Service Basic Statute is currently in the development phase, both in the State and the Autonomous Communities, which must take place in the audience of the sectors involved and the employee representatives, which requires an in-depth study into its aims and consequences, which is why it has not yet been finalized.