Press release, 29 June 2018
The Seimas adopted a new updated version of the Law on Civil Service (Draft No: XIII-1596 (3). It was adopted by 79 votes in favour, 9 votes against and 33 abstentions.
The Law lays down the basic principles of the civil service, the rights and obligations of a civil servant, the liability, remuneration, social security and other guarantees, and the legal basis for the management of the civil service. The new version of the Law has changed the notion of the civil service, stipulating that the concept of the civil service does not cover functions of economic and/or technical nature, i.e. under the proposed legal regulation, civil servants will not be considered to be persons engaged in economic and/or technical functions.
The Law changes the remuneration of civil servants. Civil servant positions are divided into 10 groups. The highest level is set for Group 1, while group 10 is considered to be the lowest.
In order to allow for the flexibility in determining the job salary, the employer can now apply a coefficient from the range of salary coefficients. The persons in the highest positions (Secretary General of the Seimas, Chancellor of the President’s Office, Chancellor of the Office of the Government) shall receive a fixed remuneration.
Civil servants will receive premiums only for deputising and for the performance of additional tasks formulated in writing as well as the supplement for the length of service for the Lithuanian State.
It is established that the official activities of the Head of the office will be assessed by the staff member recruiting the person, and where the Head of the institution is appointed by a collegiate body, by the Head of that authority. Official activities of a career civil servant and alternate civil servant will be assessed by their direct superior. A civil servant will be entitled to invite a representative of the authority, which represents budgetary institution employees, to participate in his assessment by the direct superior.
The possibility of remote work is also laid down in the Law, i.e. a civil servant will be able to perform the functions assigned to him in part or in whole, upon the consent of his direct superior and in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Government, remotely (at another agreed location using information technologies).
In addition, the Law on Civil Service stipulates that the Heads of institutions will be appointed to their positions for a 5-year term on competition basis, or, in the cases laid down by law, without a call for competition. A person will not be allowed to head the same state authority or body for more than two consecutive terms. The terms of office of the Head of a municipal authority or body are governed by the Law on Local Self-Government. In the cases provided for by law, Heads of institutions shall be appointed to their respective positions on the basis of a political/personal trust.
The new version of the legal act clarifies certain provisions of the Law on Civil Service in line with the recast Labour Code. The number of civil servants’ leave days will be counted in working days, giving them 22 working days’ annual minimum leave. A civil servant single parenting a biological child (or an adopted child) under 14 years of age or a biological disabled child (or an adopted disabled child) under 18 years of age, and a civil servant recognised as disabled himself, will be granted annual minimum leave of 27 working days. The annual additional leave of 3 working days will be granted for each 5 year of service, but the total annual duration of the civil servants’ annual leave will not exceed 37 working days.
The Law provides detailed rules on severance pay and compensations. If a job position of a civil servant is eliminated, he will be paid a severance grant equal to the average salary received before the position is cancelled, having regard to the years of service:
(1) up to one year — 1 month;
(2) between one and five years: 2 months;
(3) between five and ten years: 3 months;
4) between ten and twenty years: 4 months;
(5) for more than twenty years: 5 months.
Finally, it is stipulated in the Law that the civil servant must compensate for the damage if he has made it in the course of the public administration service. The amount of damage to be recovered is not limited in cases where the damage was committed intentionally. The Law also includes the provision on centralised selection of persons to the civil service, without detailing specific selection procedures, as these will be described in the procedure to be approved by the Government. Centralised selection of civil servants will be carried out by a body authorised by the Government (central institution).
Saulė Eglė Trembo, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: egle.trembo@lrs.lt