Possibility of internal promotion of Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A1

The consultation is about the possibility of internal promotion from Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A1. Specifically, it is pointed out that in a local entity resources have been proposed by some officials belonging to Subgroup C1, who intend, on the basis of the third transitional provision of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October (hereinafter, TRLEBEP), to access directly by internal promotion to Subgroup A1 without going through Subgroup A2.

The local entity understands that the internal promotion from Subgroup C1 only belongs to Subgroup A2 but not to A1 and therefore requests the interpretation of the third paragraph of the Third Transitional Provision of TRLEBEP.

In this regard, it should be noted that Article 3.1 of the TRLEBEP provides that “the civil servants of the local authorities are governed by the applicable State legislation, of which this Statute forms part, and by the legislation of the autonomous communities, with respect to local autonomy”.

According to article 16.3 c) of this same rule, internal promotion is understood, “promotion from a body or scale of a Subgroup, or Professional Classification Group in the event that it does not have a Subgroup, to a higher one, in accordance with the provisions of Article 18”.

For its part, the third paragraph of the third transitional provision states that, “officials of Subgroup C1 meeting the required qualification may promote Group A without having to go through the new Group B, in accordance with the provisions of Article 18 of this Statute”.

This precept must be interpreted, in any case, in accordance with the general rules provided in article 3 of the Civil Code, according to which, “The norms shall be interpreted in the proper sense of their words, in relation to the context, the historical and legislative antecedents, and the social reality of the time in which they are to be applied, fundamentally attending to the spirit and purpose of the norms.”.

In accordance with the foregoing, following the express reference made by the third transitional provision, it is necessary to refer to article 18, which sets out the bases of the right to internal promotion applicable to all public administrations, guaranteeing, among others, the constitutional principles of equality, merit and capacity. In particular, the second paragraph of that article states the following:

“Civil servants must have the required entry requirements, have a minimum of two years of active service in the lower Subgroup, or Professional Classification Group, in the event that the latter does not have a Subgroup and pass the corresponding selective tests.”

As a general rule, in the light of the above, vertical promotion is carried out from the immediately lower Subgroup, except in the case of the current Group B which does not have a Subgroup, to the immediately higher Subgroup.

However, this general rule allows for an exception provided for precisely in the third transitional provision, which allows access by internal promotion from Subgroup C1 to Group A, without the need to go through the new Group B and in accordance with the provisions of Article 18. The express reference to this last precept implies interpreting this exceptionality as closely as possible to the rule governing internal promotion, that is, as the possibility of promoting from Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A2 exclusively.

By virtue of the foregoing, it is therefore considered that it is not possible to access Subgroup C1 to Subgroup A1 by internal promotion, but that Subgroup C1 could promote “the Subgroup immediately above”, i.e. Subgroup A2.

All of the foregoing is without prejudice to recalling 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, are not of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. Furthermore, in the absence of a mandatory or binding nature, the bodies receiving such replies may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The responses to queries contained in this bulletin address the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that such responses may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial decisions.