Neringa Glebovė
Vilniaus universiteto Teisės fakulteto
Viešosios teisės katedros doktorantė
Saulėtekio al. 9, I rūmai, LT-10222 Vilnius
Tel. (+370 5) 2 36 61 75
Summary
Different concepts of the civil service had been implemented after the restoration of the independance of the Republic of Lithuania in 1990: firstly, Law on the Officials in 1995, where narrowest concept of the civil service was applied (regulated only the status of civil and other servants, however their activities have been determined by other legal acts), the Act of the Civil Service in 1999, where general concept of the civil service was enshrined (the employees, even if they did not have public administration functions, had a civil service status), finally, the aforementioned Act was amended and the new version of the Law on Civil Service adopted in 2002, (narrow concept of the civil service, and only in relationship with the activities of public administration). It is important to mention, that significant influence to the legislation and regulation of the civil service was made by the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court (Decision on 18 of December 2001, Decision on 13 of December 2004, and Decision on 20 of March 2007 made the significant impact and developed constitutional doctrine of the civil service).
The aim of the civil service is to support the implementation of the public interest, ensure public service legal relationship. These legal relationships are strictly regulated by the legal acts, however they are of the specific manner, and differs from the legal labor relationships by higher requirements and responsibility. Civil service could be determined as the legal relationship originating, growing and changing for the management of human resources in the public sector, and as a legal relationship of the civil servants’ professional activity as well.
The notion of the civil service could be defined by the concept of the civil service according to the legal regulation. Since restoration of Lithuanian independence, civil servants used to be differently determined: e.i., officials of the government public administration and law enforcement, officials, civil servants, public or equivalent servants. According to the current Law on Civil Service – governs the legal status of the civil service, rights and duties of a civil servant – activities of the civil servant are linked with public administration. However, despite the fact that specific aspects are regulated under the Law on Civil Service, the provisions of the Labor Code are applied to the civil servants in a case when their status, rights and duties are not covered by the special legislation (i.e., the Law on Civil Service). In a broader manner, a civil servant is an employee as well, but the service legal relationship have their own features. The employee working under an employment contract and a person working in a civil service have significant differences, i.e., special legal regulation, more restrictive rights and obligations ratio, the special requirements for persons applying to civil service, etc.