The economic crisis and its influence on legal status of public employees

Abstract

The economic crisis is affecting all sectors of society and also to the field of legal relations. The need to reduce the public deficit has led to the various authorities to the adoption of new policies in public employment in order to reduce the costs associated with the departure of staff. There has been, to this end, significant changes in the framework of the legal status of public employees, both labor and the civil servants, the government service, introducing new and legislative changes affecting the matter not only retributive, but also matters of activities, such as working hours, union rights, etc.

The most prominent feature is the addition of rules allowing the administration, in view of the new situation, closely related to the covenants and agreements which had been signed with representatives of public employees mechanism that gives management a tool extremely broad downward modify working conditions that public employees had been enjoying essentially the workforce.

Some of these measures have already begun to be controlled by the ordinary courts and others, which have raised questions of constitutionality, await the final verdict of the Constitutional Court.