On Thursday, the Plenary Session of the Parliament unanimously approved the amended regulations governing the granting of permits in the civil service, which recognize the prior service of employees transferring to the civil service so that it is counted toward their leave entitlement.

The regulations amend the existing framework for granting leave, providing that the prior service of permanent employees (EAX), as well as employees transferred to the civil service from other government agencies or organizations, will be taken into account when determining the number of days of rest leave to which they are entitled.

Specifically, the new regulations cover permanent employees, as well as civil servants appointed to the civil service following service in the security forces, in the armed forces, in the public education system, or in public-law entities. The goal is to ensure that they retain the number of vacation days they had under their previous employment status and that their years of service count toward the future accrual of their vacation time.

At the same time, the regulations are extended to hourly-paid government employees and to hourly-paid staff of public-law entities who are appointed to a position in the civil service. In these cases, the more favorable leave entitlement is maintained until they become eligible for the next leave tier through their service in the new position.

The regulations also provide for retroactive application as of January 1, 2018.

In presenting the regulations, Christiana Erotokritou, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and a member of the DIKO party, stated that they concern the prior service of permanent employees, which until now had not been taken into account when calculating their days of rest leave upon their transfer to the civil service. As she said, these regulations “correct a distortion” and promote equal treatment of employees.

AKEL MP Aristos Damianou stated that the regulations resolve a long-standing problem and for this reason his party will vote in favor of them. He added, however, that the broader comments submitted by labor unions during the discussion of the issue in the Finance Committee should also be considered.

DISY MP Savia Orfanidou stated that the regulations are moving in the right direction, noting that the issue should have been resolved long ago so that this particular form of discrimination would not exist. She added that certain comments submitted by the unions should be examined at a later stage.

AKEL MP Christos Christofides said that, while the government is introducing legislation to address issues concerning civil servants, it continues to deny permanent teachers the established rights enjoyed by civil servants. He described this situation as a “paradox” for which, he said, there is no logical explanation.

The amended regulations were approved unanimously, with 50 votes in favor.

Source: CNA