Review of disability during a selective process.

The consultation deals with the possibility of disability review during a selective process.

The Resolution of July 9, 2024, of the Secretary of State for the Civil Service, which calls for selective processes for entry and access into the bodies of the General Administration of the State, and entrusts them to the Permanent Selection Commission, points out in paragraph 5 the following regulation:

“5.1 The places reserved for the quota of persons with disabilities are included in each of the specific regulations.

The Permanent Selection Committee will adopt the appropriate measures to allow applicants with disabilities who have indicated so in the application, to participate in the tests of the selection process under equal conditions with the other participants, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 2271/2004, of 3 December, regulating access to public employment and the provision of jobs for persons with disabilities.

5.2 Persons with disabilities equal to or greater than 33 per cent may participate by the general access system or by the Reserve Quota for Persons with Disabilities (CRD), which must be indicated on the application form for participation in the selection process.

5.3 Regardless of the system of access through which they are presented, persons who, as a result of a disability equal to or greater than 33%, present special difficulties in carrying out the selective tests, may request in the application form the reasonable adaptations and adjustments of times and means appropriate in the tests of the selective process.

The interested persons must expressly indicate in the participation form the adaptations of time and/or means that they request for each of the exercises of the selective process. In order for the Permanent Selection Committee to be able to assess the origin or non-origin of the requested adaptation, the persons concerned must necessarily attach a copy of the optional technical opinion issued by the technical qualification body of the degree of disability in which the permanent deficiency/s that have given rise to the recognized degree of disability is reliably accredited, without any other document being valid for this purpose.

To this end, the Permanent Selection Committee will apply the corresponding adaptations of times provided for in Order PRE/1822/2006, of 9 June, which establishes general criteria for the adaptation of additional times in the selective processes for access to public employment of persons with disabilities. Once the valuation has been carried out, the Permanent Selection Committee will inform the interested applicants about the time and means granted, if applicable.

5.4 In the selective processes of access through free admission, places reserved for disabled persons who are left unoccupied may not be accumulated during the general shift. In the selective processes of access by internal promotion, the places not covered in the reserve quota for people with disabilities will accumulate to those of the general turn of this internal promotion.

5.5 Persons who participate for the quota reserved for persons with disabilities, in the exercises that exceed a score higher than 50 per cent of the maximum score, will be kept the score in the following immediate call, provided that it is similar in the content of the agenda and the form of score, unless there is a regulatory update. To make use of this right, they must submit a request to participate in the selective tests. However, if they choose to carry out the exercise in question, the result obtained in the previous immediate call will be null and void.

5.6 In the event that any of the applicants with disabilities who have applied for the disability reserve quota exceed the corresponding periods but do not obtain a place and their qualification is higher than that obtained by other applicants for the general access system, they shall be included in the general access system by their qualification order.”

The first thing that must be pointed out is that the accreditation of the handicap is not one of the essential ‘general requirements’ of article 56 of the consolidated text of the Law of the Basic Status of the Public Employee, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October to be able to participate in the selective processes; namely: to have Spanish nationality, functional capacity for the performance of tasks, to have reached sixteen years of age and not to exceed the maximum age of forced retirement, not to have been separated from the service or to be disqualified for public jobs or positions, as well as to have the qualification required in the call, in the terms stated there.

In this sense, the accreditation of the handicap is a condition to be able to access the places reserved for the quota of persons with disabilities and to have a series of adaptations aimed at compensating the handicap of the applicant.

Therefore, it is not necessary that this condition, or rather the accredited situation, be maintained from the time of submission of applications until the taking of possession, but it should only be accredited at the time of submission of the application.

In those cases in which there is a review of the disability during the selective process that determines a degree of disability lower than that required to participate by the turn of disabled persons, this Management Center understands that the applicant could continue to carry out the tests for the turn of disabled persons and that, in any case, the actions carried out so far must be respected.

In those cases in which an applicant with a degree of handicap lower than that required to participate in the disabled shift passes a review of the same that results in an increase in the degree of handicap equal to or greater than 33%, this Executive Center understands that the necessary adaptations and reasonable adjustments of time and means must be made available to the applicant to ensure their participation on an equal basis with the rest of the applicants, in accordance with the provisions of Royal Decree 2271/2004, of 3 December, which regulates access to public employment and the provision of jobs for people with disabilities.

In accordance with article 9 of Royal Decree 2271/2004, of 3 December, which regulates access to public employment and the provision of jobs for people with disabilities “Once the selection process has been completed, persons entering the bodies or ranks of officials or categories of labour personnel of the General Administration of the State and having been admitted to the ordinary convocation with places reserved for persons with disabilities may request the convening body to alter the order of precedence for the selection of places within the territorial scope determined in the convocation, for reasons of personal dependence, difficulties of travel or other similar, which must be duly accredited. The convening body shall decide on such alteration when it is duly justified, and shall confine itself to making the minimum modification in the order of priority necessary to enable the disabled person to access the post.”

Bearing in mind the above, in those cases in which, once the selective process has been overcome, there has been a change in the accredited disability situation that implies either a reduction in the degree of disability below 33%, or a new qualification of the disability, the only right that could be affected is the right to request the alteration of the order of priority of the places.

Finally, with regard to the classification of handicaps for the purpose of determining the time during which the process is accessed, this Executive Centre understands that this qualification is accredited by means of the medical opinion issued by the competent bodies of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (current Ministry of Labour and Social Economy) or, where appropriate, the competent autonomous community, in accordance with the provisions of article 2 of Royal Decree 2271/2004.

In those cases in which there is doubt about the correspondence between the accredited disability and the requested turn, the applicant must be required to provide, within the period of correction of errors, the necessary documentation to sufficiently prove his condition.

All of the above is without prejudice to remember that, according to the regime of competences of this management center, the answers to queries issued by this general directorate are merely informative and, consequently, do not have the character of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor do they imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. In addition, since they are not mandatory or binding, the bodies to which such replies are addressed may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The answers to queries contained in this bulletin deal with the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that these answers may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial resolutions.