Fewer temporary public workers: time limits and stabilization processes

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The Basic Statute of Public Employees is amended to reinforce the temporary nature of interim staff. Appointments to fill vacant positions last at most three years, substitutions only the strictly necessary time, temporary programs three years extendable by twelve more, and excess workload nine months within an eighteen-month period.
2. Selection of interim staff will be public and governed by equality, merit, capability and speed, aiming to fill the position immediately. Being appointed as interim staff never grants career civil servant status or any expectation of staying, and the end of the appointment is formalized by the administration for objective reasons, with no compensation.
3. A new provision adds a liability regime: any act or agreement that breaches the maximum time limits for temporary staff is null and void from the start. Breach gives the affected worker compensation of twenty days of fixed pay per year of service, up to twelve monthly payments, unless the service ends for disciplinary reasons or voluntary resignation.
4. A third stabilization process is authorized for structural positions held temporarily and continuously for at least the three years before December 31, 2020. Job offers must be published before December 31, 2021, calls before December 31, 2022, and processes must end before December 31, 2024. Selection will be by a contest plus exam system, with 40 percent of the score from the merit phase.
5. Interim or temporary staff who are active and fail the stabilization process will receive compensation of twenty days of fixed pay per year of service, up to twelve monthly payments. Those who do not take part in the process get nothing.
6. Municipalities may assign the practical management of their staff selections to provincial councils or other bodies; the Ministry will issue an annual report on temporary employment; interim staff may be appointed to retirement vacancies; and selection processes must be sped up. The new rules apply only to temporary staff appointed or hired after the law takes effect, and rules for teaching and health staff have one year to adapt.

Who it affects

• Interim civil servants (personal funcionario interino): Interim civil servants face maximum time limits, lose any expectation of a permanent job, and may receive compensation if deadlines are breached.
• Temporary labor staff (personal laboral temporal): Their selection follows publicity, equality, merit, capability and speed principles, and they may get compensation if they fail the stabilization process.
• Public administrations: They must fill vacant positions with career staff, prevent abuse of temporary hiring, and complete stabilization processes on the set deadlines.
• Municipalities: They may assign the practical management of staff selection to provincial councils or other bodies.
• Temporary public employees in structural positions: Those holding a structural position temporarily since before 2021 can enter the third stabilization process.

Words worth knowing

Personal funcionario interino

A person temporarily appointed to perform the duties of a career civil servant while a position is unfilled or there is an urgent need.

Funcionario de carrera

A permanent public employee who has passed a competitive selection process and holds a position in their own right.

Proceso de estabilización

A special selection process meant to turn positions long held by temporary staff into permanent ones.

Concurso-oposición

A selection system combining a merit phase (experience, training) and an exam phase.

Nulidad de pleno derecho

Null and void from the start, as if the act or agreement had never existed.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries