Senior promotion appeal thrown out

Appeals to overthrow a decision concerning a senior promotion in social welfare services have failed.

The appeals were against a first instance ruling, which annulled a civil service committee decision promoting Maria Kyratzi to the permanent post of director of social welfare services on July 15, 2019, over Eftychios Hadjichristodoulou.

The appeals court ruled on July 3, 2024, in the framework of its revisional jurisdiction, that the first instance court had examined by priority the reasons for the annulment promoted in relation to the director general’s recommendation, in favour of Kyratzi.

The court decided on Wednesday that the two candidates were on an equal par regarding their rated value, with emphasis on the past five years.

The first instance court had dismissed the applicant’s claim that the interested party did not hold the necessary qualifications and also threw out the allegation that the applicant excelled in qualifications for having followed a course of seminars and ruled that as per qualifications they were, in substance, equal.

Furthermore, the first instance court decided that the applicant’s seniority was higher than that of the interested party by 3 years and 8-and-a-half months.

Citing legislation that in the case of equal qualifications seniority would determine the successful candidate, the first instance court annulled the disputed original decision.

The ruling was taken to the appeals court, which decided that none of the appeals stand and they are dismissed.

Explaining its decision, the appeals court said that it could not be proven that the civil service committee would have taken the same decision had the director general not made a recommendation.

It added that it did not find anything wrong with the ruling of the first instance court regarding the candidates’ qualifications or the issue of seniority.

The appeals court also noted that the results of oral exams were of no consequence, as they are not taken into consideration when preparing a recommendation.

Furthermore, it dismissed the appeal that the first instance court did not examine the applicant’s superiority.

“For the reasons explained above, none of the appeals stand and are dismissed,” the appeals court concludes.