Legal Advice for Civil Servants: Job Evaluation

Questioner

Good evening, I have been working as a civil servant for a municipality for years. In my opinion, I and others with me have been classified too low. The employer indicates that they had engaged an independent agency and this indicates that the classification is correct. At various meetings and training courses, we often meet colleagues from other municipalities and they indicate that they themselves are sometimes classified 2 scales higher and perform the same work!!! Know that for various reorganizations the work was classified higher but not anymore, while you now get more with a higher degree of difficulty. Please advise from someone who knows what they are talking about!!! Kind regards

Lawyer

The rights and obligations of municipal officials are laid down in the collective labour conditions regulations and implementation agreement. Based on article 125 Civil Servants Act and article 160 Municipal Act, your employer in this case the board is obliged to establish a local and legal position regulation in the form of a generally binding regulation. Under Article 107 of the Municipal Act, the council has this authority for the registry. The functions are determined by the board and described on the basis of a job evaluation system. Based on your employment contract, the description of your function and the applicable evaluation system and the regulation, I can advise you on the content. For this you can contact me directly. I have experience in implementing job evaluation systems and conducting the necessary procedures. Do you have any questions? Please feel free to ask.

Lawyer

A civil servant who disagrees with the level in which his function is classified can submit objections to it. His employer considers these objections and then makes a decision. The civil servant can appeal against that decision. The Commission for Advisory Objections to Function Evaluation (CABF) advises the employer on the decision to be taken on such an objection. This independent and neutral commission assesses whether the weight of the function that the civil servant has actually been assigned has been correctly determined.

Lawyer

In a job evaluation system, example jobs are drawn up. Then they look at where your activities are closest. Then your job is classified. It is not about the job title, but about the actual work performed. It is therefore very important to see whether you do not perform more tasks/activities than your employer assumes. The employer often estimates things as little as possible in order to arrive at the lowest possible classification. Classification is partly arbitrary, e.g. how much responsibility do you bear? How independently do you work? Etc. etc. It is therefore very important to engage a lawyer who is an expert in this area. There are only a few. In my work at the FNV I have conducted countless such procedures. Complex and labor-intensive. There are deadlines for objections. Pay close attention to these deadlines. If you are too late, this can have major consequences.