The question raised concerns how to compute, for the purposes of recognition of personal status, the postponed period.

Thus, first of all, it is necessary to analyze the legal framework of application, which in this case is the General Regulation of Admission of Personnel to the Service of the Administration, approved by Royal Decree 364/1995, of 10 March (RGI, hereinafter).

In view of the above, the question raised focuses on determining the attribution of the times of dismissal and takeover in a new post and, in particular, what happens when a staff member meets a grade during the post-sessional period.

In this regard, Article 48 GDPR states the following:

“1. The period for taking office will be three working days if it does not involve a change of residence of the official, or one month if it involves a change of residence or re-entry into active service.

The period for taking office shall begin on the day following the day of the termination, which shall take place within three working days following the publication of the resolution of the contest in the ‘Official State Gazette’. If the decision involves re-entry into active service, the period for taking office must be counted from that publication. (…)

4. Once the inauguration has taken place, the postponement period shall be considered as active service for all purposes, except in the cases of re-entry from the situation of voluntary leave or leave for child care after the first year has elapsed.”

In these cases of change of post there are no gaps in the provision of services since the official has worked interruptedly so that each period (termination and takeover) will be applied for the consolidation, where appropriate, of one degree or another, which will have to be analyzed in the light of the provisions of art. 70 RGI (in accordance with the provisions of art. 21 of Law 30/1984, of 2 August, on Measures for the Reform of the Public Service, in force in this matter in accordance with the provisions of Additional Provision quarter 2 of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Public Employee, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October), which includes the general rules on personal degree and, in particular, regarding those of the interruption or not of the deadlines to consolidate a certain personal degree.

Therefore, given the active service nature of the postponement period provided for in Article 48 of the Regulation approved by Royal Decree 364/1995, of 10 March, such postponement period must be included for the purpose of consolidation of degree with respect to the post in which it is taken possession when appropriate, taking into account, for the purposes of the post of origin, only those of the period provided for its cessation.

As an example of the application of this criterion for the purpose of determining whether or not the consolidation of a particular grade has occurred, the case arises of a staff member who has consolidated a grade 28, occupies a level 30 since 1 August 2011 and ceases on 9 July 2013, but does not take office at his new level 28 duty station until 1 August 2013.

That is to say, given that for 22 days it is in the post-sessional period (in the specific case the official had ceased in Madrid and was going abroad), it is considered whether he could consolidate level 30 (since if it is understood that during that period he continues to consolidate at level 30, the two years necessary for this would have elapsed as provided for in art. 70 RGI) or on the contrary it would not be possible.

From the information provided, it follows that the staff member’s dismissal from the post at level 30 has taken place on a voluntary basis, in which case and given the active service nature of the post-sessional period, they have to be taken into account for the purpose of consolidation of degree with respect to the post in which he takes office, as mentioned in Article 48.4 RGI. Taking into account for the purpose of consolidation of level 30 of the previous post, only those of the deadline foreseen for the cessation in the same (in this case, until 9 July 2013).

As a result, the time limit for taking office (from that date until 1 August) will be charged only to the new level 28 post, which does not make it possible to finally consolidate level 30. And this is because once the period stipulated for the cessation of the service expires, there is an interruption in the provision of services in the latter, the two-year period necessary to have consolidated the 30.

In conclusion, as has been pointed out, the postponement period must be taken into account for the purpose of consolidating the degree with respect to the post in which it is taken up when appropriate, taking into account, for the purposes of the post of origin, only those of the period provided for its cessation.

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.