A controversial proposal to overhaul the manner in which the nation’s civil servants are evaluated cleared the Examination Yuan yesterday in the face of virulent opposition from public workers who have vowed to lobby the legislature not to support the Examination Yuan’s proposal.
The National Civil Servant Association, which represents civil servants nationwide, said earlier this week it would encourage lawmakers to introduce their own version of the legislation.
As a sop to widespread opposition, the Examination Yuan made significant concessions in its amendment to the Civil Servants Evaluation Act (公務人員考績法) yesterday.
The initial version had directed that a minimum of 3 percent of staff at each government agency would receive a “C” grade on a five-point sliding scale of A plus, A, B, C, and D. Anyone who received such a grade three times in 10 years would be dismissed or forced to take early retirement.
Under the amendment approved yesterday, heads of central government departments and local governments were given the authority to adjust the minimum requirement as necessary.
“Hard-working civil servants do not have to worry about getting a “C” grade because it would only happen under extraordinary circumstances,” Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中) said.
Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) said the head of a central government department or a local government head could now decide that none of his or her employees deserve a “C” grade or demand that a minimum of 6 percent receive a “C.”
In accordance with the proposed amendment, civil servants who are found guilty in criminal cases, of sexually harassment or who are absent from work without sufficient cause for a period of two days can now be punished by being awarded a “C” grade.
A “C” grade can be expunged from a civil servant’s record on receipt of an “A plus” or three “As” in consecutive years, the proposed amendment said.
To ensure that the new system does not become a tool used by supervisors to “eliminate dissidents” they don’t get along with, the Ministry of Civil Service reserves the rights to audit evaluation results and hold supervisors who are found to have abused their power responsible, it said.
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