An amendment bill that provides for the recognition of prior service for civil servants and permanent employees appointed to the public service for the purpose of calculating their retirement leave was was debated on Monday in the Parliament’s Finance Committee.

According to the Ministry of Finance, civil servants’ leave is scaled according to their years of service. Under the amendment, the years employees served in other public sector agencies—other than the one to which they were appointed—will also be taken into account when calculating their leave.

As a Ministry spokesperson noted, the bill primarily concerns permanent employees, but also includes several civil servants who were previously in the education system or the police force and have since transferred to the civil service.

Union representatives stated that they agree with the proposed amendment, noting, however, the need to extend the measure to the broader public sector.

A representative of PASYDY said that the union fully agrees with the amendment.

A representative of the Pan-Cyprian Union “Isotita” expressed agreement but raised the issue of discrimination against fixed-term employees, submitting a relevant memorandum and requesting that the issue be examined at a later date.

A representative of SIDIKEK PEO, after agreeing with the proposed amendment, stated that it applies only to appointments in the civil service, while prior service in other public organizations is disregarded; it does not cover local government employees who transferred to public enterprises, nor does it cover prior service from one quasi-governmental organization to another.

The representative of OHO-SEK, agreed with the previous union representatives and raised the issue of 600 permanent employees in the Ministry of Education’s support programs and in the broader public sector.

He also noted that for the same measure to apply to the broader public sector, it would have to be implemented either through a relevant directive from the Ministry for adoption by the boards of directors of semi-governmental organizations, or through collective bargaining agreements.

In response, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance stated that the regulation recognizes prior service with public-law entities for the purpose of appointment to the civil service.

Regarding employees in the Ministry of Education’s support programs, he said that this is a new category and, because their terms of employment are still pending, they cannot be covered by the change at this initial stage.

Speaking on behalf of DISY, MP Savia Orfanidou said that filling this gap is a matter of political decision and that DISY agrees in principle, while she called for the changes requested by the unions to be implemented immediately.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou requested responses from the Ministry of Finance to the unions’ requests.

ELAM MP Marios Pelekanos stated that he agrees with the proposed amendments and with the points raised by the unions.

The President of the Alma Movement, MP Odysseas Michaelides, asked whether the provision also applies to temporary employees with indefinite-term contracts who do not become permanent civil servants, with the Ministry responding that the equal treatment regarding leave has already been implemented.

Source: CNA