Civil service law

Civil service law is a key branch of law in terms of the management of state personnel. It includes the regulations governing the general legal status of civil servants, i.e. their rights and duties. Civil service law regulates the state's role as an employer.

Duties involving the exercise of public authority can primarily be performed only by civil servants in a public office relationship. For this reason, such a relationship is the chief form of service relationship used for government employees. Public office relationships are governed by specific responsibilities laid down in the Constitution (731/1999) as pertaining to holders of public office.

According to the State Civil Servants Act (750/1994), a public office relationship is a service relationship governed by public law, in which the state is the employer and the civil servant is the performer of the duties in question. A public office relationship is formed based on the required, unilateral administrative action involving a recommendation to recruit, i.e. an appointment. The duties of civil servants cannot be agreed separately.

The legal status of employees with an employment contract is regulated by the Employment Contracts Act (55/2001).