“There are no constitutional obstacles for layoffs in the public sector”

There are no constitutional obstacles for layoffs in the public sector, as K. Chrysogonos and An. Manitakis, the two constitutionalists from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, stress on prorothema.gr.

In response to what Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said from the podium of the Economist conference, as to redundancies in the narrow public sector as well, thus preparing the ground for layoffs even in ministries, the two constitutional experts explain that the layoff of public officials is not prohibited by the constitution as long as the position of the dismissed is abolished.

Their detailed statements are:

Kostas Chrysogonos, professor of constitutional law at AUTH: “Layoffs in the narrow public sector are legally feasible. The permanence of public servants does not prevent layoffs or redundancy labor, as long as the relevant post is removed.

What is forbidden by the constitution is to dismiss a civil servant and recruit someone else in their position. However, it is not prohibited to dismiss someone in order to cut the operating costs of a public service or of the state.

For public companies that operate in the form of limited companies with the majority or all of their shares belonging to the state, layoffs may occur, but of course with the obligation to meet the criterion of equal measure for all employees.

Beyond that, however, the economic shock that will hit society, the workers and their families in the short term will have more adverse effects than the benefits of the layoffs estimated by the Troika.

The public servants who will be fired or placed on redundancy labor have only one legal weapon; to dispute their dismissal if they possess the necessary data, arguing that someone else should have been dismissed and not themselves.”

Antonis Manitakis, professor of constitutional law at AUTH: “The principle of the permanence of civil servants applies for the post to which they were appointed. If it is eliminated and not reinstated, then the permanence is not valid. That is, if a public body is eliminated, then the civil servants lose their permanence. However, no Greek government has made such a move so far. I believe that the present government too, will not arrive at such an extreme position”.