The ball is in the government’s court

In the context of cases brought by a large number of police officers with baccalaureate degrees who want to be reclassified in B1, the Administrative Court has just issued appeals. In it, the Court points out that “although, in the light of the Constitutional Court’s findings, the intervention of the legislature appears to be necessary, the Court itself cannot remedy this situation, for fear of encroaching on the powers of the legislature”.

The conclusion is therefore clear: since the Court finds discrimination but cannot intervene in the legislative process, the responsibility now lies with the relevant minister. The current state of the law must therefore be amended to comply with the constitutional principle of equal treatment.

In its judgment, the Court also speaks of a missed opportunity: “The choice thus made by the legislature, in adopting the law of July 18, 2018, not to automatically reclassify police officers […], holders of a diploma of completion of classical or general secondary education or an equivalent diploma […], in treatment group B1, is a political choice […].”

The OGBL, which has been working with ADESP since February 2020, fully agrees with ADESP’s demand to be reclassified in B1 and supported the legal steps taken to achieve this.

Indeed, it is unjustifiable that police officers who perform the same tasks, have largely the same level of work and have the same job description, are nevertheless classified in different pay grades depending on whether they were hired before or after August 1, 2018. It should be recalled that before August 1, 2018, the civil servants concerned did not have a choice between B1 and C1 careers, and anyone who wanted to become a police officer had to become an inspector, which corresponds to today’s C1 career.

It is now up to the government, which has so far shown no inclination to reverse its 2018 decision, stating that it wants to “wait for the decision of the Administrative Court”, to act quickly and present a draft law within a short timeframe.

ADESP has already drawn up a draft law – a proposal supported by OGBL – on which Minister Kox could base his draft law.

The main points of ADESP’s proposed law are as follows:

• All officers in career C1 of the police cadre whose first appointment took place before August 1, 2018 and who held a high school diploma on August 1, 2018 will be reclassified to career B1;
• they will be reclassified in the salary grade corresponding to their seniority;
• Agents will be exempted from the promotion exam if they have already passed a promotion exam in career C1;
• all civil servants who meet the conditions for reclassification but who have been transferred to career B1 after August 1, 2018 by means of the “out-in” (Article 66) or “Voie Expresse” (Article 94) mechanisms will also be reclassified retroactively as of August 1, 2018. The effects of these mechanisms are considered not to have occurred. However, civil servants who have passed the B1 career promotion exam since 2018 will not have to retake it.

The OGBL and the ADESP call on Minister Kox and the government as a whole not to waste any more time and to present as soon as possible a draft law corresponding to these proposals, in order to prevent the situation within the Grand Ducal Police from getting worse.

It should be noted that the civil servants who have already been wronged have been saddled with the additional responsibility of training a large number of trainee police officers. The ADESP has already been informed of various facts, always pointing out that the necessary professional supervision of trainee officers is not guaranteed due to low morale. This predictable and harmful scenario has been repeatedly reported to the Minister of Police.

OGBL and ADESP press release,
May 8, 2023