■ The “grade-to-grade” promotion applies to the police.
For several years, a deep injustice has continued to gnaw at the morale of many police officers: those who, having been the subject of an investigation, a suspension or a case in court without being guilty, have seen their career unfairly slowed down. However, recommendations exist to correct these situations, but they are still slow to be applied.
Traditionally, in the public service, when an official is promoted, the effective date of his promotion is that to which he assumes his new functions. But when an official is suspended or under investigation during a promotion exercise, he is not promoted. His colleagues, sometimes just behind him in the order of merit, obtain their progress in his place. Later, once bleached, this civil servant is promoted to the next exercise, but only from the date of taking office, which leaves him permanently behind his comrades and impacts the whole continuation of his career.
Aware of this injustice, several officials have seized the Public Bodies Appeal Tribunal (PBAT) To demand the restoration of their seniority position. If the PBAT has recognized injustice, it did not rule in their favor because of the existing regulations. Faced with this dead end, complaints were made to the Pay Research Bureau (PRB) and the Ministry of the Public Service. In its 2016 report (to 11.23 to 11.27), the PRB recommended that in such cases, the date of promotion for seniority placement corresponds to that of their colleagues from the same batch, while retaining the actual effective date for remuneration. This approach aims to guarantee that their career course is not permanently penalized.
The police, given the sensitive nature of their functions, is particularly exposed to these situations. Many police officers victims of these irregularities today insist that their due be restored. But despite the clear recommendation of the PRB, their situation remains blocked. THE Police Headquarters (PHQ) then opposed the application of this measure to the police, advancing that any promotion in the police force would be type class-to-class They don’t grade-to-grade. However, according to the Human Resource Management Manual of the Ministry of the Public Service, the promotion grade-to-grade Applies to the police: this is a rise in grade in the same hierarchy, with increased responsibilities but of the same nature.
During a conciliation meeting on July 26, 2022, in the presence of the president of the PBAT, of the HR Manager police, representatives of Police Fighters’ Unionof the PRB and the Ministry of the Public Service, it was unambiguously confirmed that promotions in the police are indeed a grade-to-grade type. THE Standing Order of the police claiming the opposite has been deemed wrong. The president of the PBAT even asked the PHQ to request an opinion from the prosecution – which has never been done. The former police commissioner continued to deny the application of the measure, without legal basis, even going so far as to give a misleading answer to the National Assembly during a parliamentary question.
It is crucial to recall that this recommendation of the PRB endorsed by the ministerial office aims to repair an injustice, to respect the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence and to allow victims to regain their right place without their career being broken. For the police concerned, it is not only a question of career, but justice and dignity. Many have been affected psychologically, some have left the service by bitterness. Those who are still in post demand that before any new promotion exercise, an audit be carried out to rectify past injustices.
These police are asking that this correction be extended not only to the post-2016 victims, but also to those who have suffered from this practice before the publication of the 2016 PRB report. “The government, which is committed to promoting justice and equity, has today an opportunity in gold to concretize its promises: restoring the dignity of these police officers by fully applying the recommendations of the PRB, with equity and transparency. It is time to put an end to this imbalance so that men and women in uniform, who devote their lives to serving and protecting, can also be protected against administrative injustice ”underlines a police officer who is still waiting.
