Civil Service Agency of the Republic of Srpska violated the law

Upon the complaint submitted to its Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre, Transparency International BiH determined that the Civil Service Agency of the Republic of Srpska violated the law while having conducted the employment procedure for vacancies in the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Srpska, TI BiH determined that, besides having announced the vacancy which has already been occupied by a certain person to formally employ that person, the Civil Service Agency of RS allowed the same person not to take the professional exam, although there was no legal grounds for such decision.

During the employment procedure, TI BiH requested from the Republic Hydrometeorological Service the record made by the commission which investigated the applications of the candidates, and thus discovered that the candidate, who has already been employed with the aforementioned institution, was released from the obligation to take the professional exam for the work in administrative bodies by the decision brought by the Civil Service Agency of RS. This exam is a precondition for the employment with the civil service and is taken before the commission designated by the Agency, and only in specific cases the Agency may issue a decision to release the candidate from taking the exam – e.g. if the candidate has already passed the bar exam, if the candidate holds a Master’s degree in Law, or if the candidate has passed the professional exam within some other profession. The candidate we mentioned above did not meet any of these conditions so TI BiH asked the Agency to explain the legal grounds for releasing the same candidate from the obligation to take this exam, especially due to suspicions that this very candidate was going to be elected for the job position.

The Agency responded that the candidate was released from the obligation of taking the professional exam since he had passed the professional exam at the level of BiH. This is not the legal basis for releasing someone from the obligation of taking the exam and TI BiH warned the Agency about this. In spite of the warning, the Agency appointed the candidate to the position of civil servant with the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic of Srpska. TI BiH reported this to the Administrative Inspector of the Republic of Srpska who investigated it and found the irregularities, and ordered to the Agency to annul the decision based on which the candidate was released from the obligation to take the professional exam. The Agency refused to act upon the inspector’s order and filed an appeal to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government trying to protect the elected candidates at all costs. TI BiH also addressed the Ministry and the Ombudsman for Human Rights, emphasizing that the elected candidate has already been employed with the institution and that he has never passed the professional exam, while all other candidates, who met all requirements prescribed by law, were rejected. After this the Agency annulled the decision by which the mentioned candidate was released from taking the professional exam, in which way it finally admitted that it was a precedent with no legal grounds..

TI BiH considered the case should not end like this, so it requested from the Administrative Inspector to annul the decision on the disputable employment, for it would be unfair to have the candidate, who had not even met the requirements for application, employed with this position and take the professional exam after the employment, at the expense of all other candidates who met all requirements. Acting upon the request submitted by TI BiH, the Administrative Inspector of RS ordered to the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of RS to terminate the employment to the mentioned candidate. At the same time, the Ombudsman for Human Rights in BiH in this case issued a Recommendation ordering to the Republic Hydrometeorological Service and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Srpska to annul the disputable decision on the employment.

Finally, the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of the Republic Srpska informed TI BiH that it acted upon the Inspector’s order and terminated the employment to the civil servant.

The given case showed it is possible to prevent the possible abuse in the employment area by persistent insisting and use of all legal means. TI BiH will continue to insist on the fact that none of the candidates who do not meet the requirements to apply for the job position is hired to the same. Also, having in mind that this is not the only case of illegal release from taking the professional exam, TI BiH will insist on investigating all similar cases, in order to end the bypass of regulations and preferential treatment in employment with public administration institutions.

Civil Service Agency of the Republic of Srpska violated the law