Over 170 Public Workers Petition Full Restart of Invalid Job Reclassification Process

More than 170 public administration workers have now signed petitions demanding a full restart of the 2023-2024 job reclassification process, which the Batllia court has ruled invalid in three reviewed cases for procedural failures.

The petitions urge a complete redo, rejecting the government's position that the flaws affect only those three instances. The Interior Ministry's Public Function department skipped required steps, including prior approval of a supporting regulation and consultation with the Technical Committee on Organisation and Management (CTOG). The government did not appeal the rulings but issued a new regulation, published in the BOPA official gazette on Wednesday, which it claims resolves the issues and limits reviews to the litigants.

The Sipaag union, representing general administration staff, is analysing the regulation with lawyers and weighing a legal challenge. Union representatives describe it as an opaque "patch" that ignores their contributions in the personnel commission, contradicts the Public Function law, and invites discretionary rulings. Key criticisms include allowing classification via government or external firm methods—despite Batllia clarifying that only the administration sets rules, with outsiders in advisory roles only. It references scoring factors from the law but provides no point values, predefined scales, or minimum score intervals for levels.

Workers remain sidelined: they cannot initiate their own reviews, which are restricted to directors or the Public Function department, and they will receive only score ranges, not precise figures. Sipaag argues this undermines legal certainty, transparency, and defence rights by lacking technical detail and enabling unchecked decisions.

Public Function Minister Marc Rossell stated last week that the regulation passed through the personnel commission and addresses court concerns, though union sources note their input was disregarded. The ministry has two months to respond to the swelling requests—now nearing the scale of initial internal complaints—and its stance will shape next steps amid warnings of renewed court battles.