Postponement of the dismissal of a female staff member on an extension of her job due to serious family illness.

Last update: September 2025

The question raised concerns the effects on the extension of the cessation if, at the date of termination, the official is enjoying a permit.

Firstly, the legal framework for implementation needs to be analysed. With regard to the provision of posts, and in accordance with the fourth final provision of Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, approving the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees (TREBEP), the relevant provisions contained in Law 30/1984, of 2 August, on Measures for the reform of the Public Service and Royal Decree 364/1995, of 10 March, approving the General Regulations on the Admission of Personnel to the Service of the General State Administration and the provision of civil and professional posts, are still in force.

In relation to taking possession of the provision of jobs through competitive examination, article 48 of the aforementioned Royal Decree 364/1995, of March 10, establishes:

“1. The term 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 cessation, which shall take place within three working days following the publication of the resolution of the contest in the Official State Gazette.”

2. The Under-Secretary of the Department where the staff member serves may defer the termination for service needs up to twenty working days by contacting the unit to which the staff member is assigned.

Exceptionally, on the proposal of the Department, due to the requirements of the normal functioning of the services, the Secretariat of State for Public Administration may postpone the date of cessation to a maximum of three months, taking into account the extension provided for in the previous paragraph. (…)"

The question arises as to whether, in the event of an extension in the cessation for a period of three months, the day before the end of the aforementioned extension, the official began to enjoy a permit.

Article 48.3 of the Entry and Provision Regulations provides that “The calculation of the postponement periods shall begin when the permits and licences granted to the interested parties end unless for justified reasons the convening body agrees to suspend the enjoyment thereof.”

The use of the plural in the expression “postponement periods” is indicative that the mandate contained in Article 48.3 of the aforementioned Regulation refers not only to the term of taking office, but also to the term of cessation, since the cessation in the previous post is as necessary as the taking office itself in the new post for the official to exercise the functions of the latter.

According to this interpretation of Article 48.3 of the Entry and Provision Regulation, there is no postponement in the cessation stricto sensu on the occasion of the enjoyment of the permit, but the production of the effects of the cessation is differentiated to a later time in the interest of fulfilling the purpose intended with the permit.

From all the foregoing, it can be concluded that the effects of the cessation must be deferred until such time as the enjoyment of the permit by the interested party is terminated.

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.