An association of civil servants is taking the government to court over the elimination of teleworking for senior officials.

BarcelonaThe government's decision to abolish teleworking for senior officials has reached the courts. The trade union Forum of the Generalitat Lawyers has filed an administrative appeal against the decision. the elimination of remote work for deputy general managers, according to AHORA. The entity had already attempted to get the Department of the Presidency to back down by filing an appeal with the Generalitat (Catalan Government). But, faced with the Government's rejection of its requests, it is now taking the battle to court, according to Catalunya Ràdio. What are its arguments? The main one is that the Catalan government has bypassed union negotiation procedures and intends to unilaterally modify the working conditions of the affected civil servants.

At the time, the Department of the Presidency argued that it was eliminating the possibility of remote work because it was "incompatible" with the nature and duties of the position. The Government wants the top managers of the departments to be in the office every day. It maintains that this is essential for them to lead. in situ the teams and, if they have time to spare, they must travel across the country to see the problems firsthand. The measure affected deputy directors who were granted the right to telework a maximum of two days a week.

Now, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia must decide whether, as the association claims, the department used an instruction in a "distorted and biased" manner to change their working conditions. In its response to the internal appeal, consulted by this newspaper, the Presidency argued that it could introduce these changes through an instruction in the exercise of "the Administration's power of self-organization." "Instruction 1/2025, of January 7, the subject of the challenge, does not incorporate regulatory content intended to be integrated into the legal system, but rather limits itself to issuing guidelines or interpretative guidelines of the current legal framework, without innovating or contravening it in any way," states the secretary's resolution.

"Lack of technical arguments"

Beyond the political reasons, the Generalitat's Legal Forum regrets the lack of technical arguments behind the government's decision. It was not made with any efficiency study in hand, they argue, but rather due to prejudices toward a way of working that they maintain has been functioning without any problems since its implementation during the pandemic. It must be taken into account that, as discretionary positions, they are chosen from within the senior civil service: they are the last step before the political leadership of departments and are granted positions after passing a competitive examination. The association rejects any attempt to treat them as comparable to positions of trust, which have specific hours and dedication requirements. A hundred deputy directors also rebelled against this decision. in a letter expressing their displeasure.

The elimination of teleworking for senior executives at the Generalitat (Catalan Government) is part of the Government's stated desire to improve the functioning of the public administration. The Department of the Presidency He maintains that he has found a Generalitat that is running at half speed and that it must increase its speed.To this end, it has implemented new management and indicator systems within the Government and has increased interdepartmental coordination, with more than twenty committees under the supervision of the Department of the Presidency.