Título IV

For purposes of the application of this law, the National Civil Service Office shall prepare a classification plan, determining the duties and responsibilities of all positions included in the Competitive and Non-Competitive services, and shall group said positions into classes. For this purpose, the Director of the National Civil Service Office shall keep up to date:

1.A list of the classes of positions and of the occupational series or grades as determined;

2.A Manual of class specifications, defining the duties, responsibilities and minimum qualification requirements of each class of position;

3.A manual establishing the standards for the classification of positions.

Each of the classes must comprise all positions that require the performance of similar duties as to authority, responsibility and nature of the work to be performed, so that analogous requirements of education, experience, capacity, knowledge, abilities, skills and aptitudes are necessary to perform them efficiently; that the same aptitude tests may be used in selecting candidates; and that the same salary scale may be applied in circumstances of work performed under equality of conditions, efficiency and seniority.

Each class must be designated with a title describing the required duties, and said title must be used in the records and documents relating to appointments, personnel administration, budget and accounts.

No person may be appointed to a position in the Service by Opposition and in the Service without Opposition under a title that has not been previously approved by the National Civil Service Office and incorporated into the Classification Plan.

Classes may be organized into groups or grades, determined by differences in importance, difficulty, responsibility and value of the work in question.

OF CIVIL SERVICE. The Director has authority and responsibility to make modifications to the Classification Plan and to periodically review all positions subject to the plan. These modifications shall take effect immediately after being approved by the President of the Republic.

The Director has authority to assign any position to another class, after previously hearing the corresponding nominating authority.

Before establishing a new position within the Competitive Service or introducing permanent substantial changes to the duties, authority and responsibilities of a position, the nominating authority must notify the Director of the National Civil Service Office thereof for the purpose of ordering the assignment or reassignment of the affected positions to the corresponding classes, if applicable.

The following is prohibited:

1.To appoint or promote a public servant without the prior existence of the respective salary-scale class and its corresponding minimum and maximum remuneration level; or when the public servant is not registered in the respective eligibility lists;

2.To abolish a salary-scale class or a position solely for the purpose of dismissing a public servant protected by this law;

3.To transfer a position to a higher salary-scale class for the purpose of promoting the public servant who occupies it, without such servant being subject to the promotion requirements;

4.To transfer a position to a lower salary-scale class without observing the procedures indicated in Article 38;

5.And in general, any act or omission that entails violation of the procedures established by this law and its regulations.

Public servants affected by any assignment or reassignment of a position have the right to request review thereof from the National Civil Service Office, in accordance with the respective regulation. The Director's decision in this matter may be appealed before the National Civil Service Board.

Assignments and reassignments ordered do not affect acquired rights of public servants in the Service by Opposition.

The assignment or reassignment of any position or the creation of new classes of positions in the Competitive and Non-Competitive Service, made in accordance with this law and its regulations, must be immediately notified to the Technical Directorate of the Budget and to the Directorate of State Accounting for purposes of control and determination of the wage corresponding to the employee occupying said position, in accordance with the respective scale.