DISCIPLINARY RESPONSIBILITY OF CIVIL SERVANTS AS AN ELEMENT OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS RELATED TO THE PERFORMANCE OF STATE FUNCTIONS ELEMENT OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS RELATED TO THE PERFORMANCE OF STATE FUNCTIONS

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive study of
the peculiarities of disciplinary responsibility of civil
servants based on an analysis of scientific works by
leading legal scholars and experts in the field of public
administration.
The current state of the socio-political and
economic life of the state is characterised by reforms
and transformations taking place against the
backdrop of the struggle for sovereignty and the
introduction of military action for the fourth year in a
row. Reforms in public life are also driven by
European integration processes, which can be
regarded as vectors of democratic change and
liberalisation of society. The reform of the civil service
is also of great importance during this period, as it is
an important means of ensuring the effective
functioning of all spheres of life. The civil service is a
complex systemic entity, and civil servants perform the
functions of the state and are vested with state
authority by law. The introduction of effective,
transparent, and fair disciplinary procedures is
intended not only to strengthen service discipline and
accountability, but also to prevent abuses of authority
by subjects exercising disciplinary jurisdiction. In this
context, it is essential to take into account standards
of good governance, the principles of legal certainty,
proportionality, and fairness, as well as to harmonize
national legislation with European approaches to the
protection of the rights of public servants, which will
contribute to increasing trust in the institution of
public service and enhancing the overall effectiveness
of public administration. This is what made the study
relevant.
The Strategy for Reforming Public
Administration for 2022–2025, adopted in 2021, set
the goal of increasing the prestige of the state and its
competitiveness as an employer and creating
opportunities to attract and retain the most qualified
employees in the civil service in the area of
professional public service and personnel
management.
In addition, the Strategy in the area of human
resource management capacity and organisational
culture provides, among other things, for
strengthening guarantees to prevent unjustified
dismissals of civil servants. A distinctive feature of the
legal status of civil servants is the combination of
regulatory control over their activities and moral and
ethical principles of conduct both on and off duty,
which is particularly important in the current period
of active implementation of European values while
preserving the uniqueness of the national mentality.
The purpose of this article is to examine the specifics
of the disciplinary responsibility of civil servants as an
important element of their legal status in the current
period of state building.
To achieve this goal, the author identified a
number of tasks, including: determining the specific
features of the legal status of civil servants, which is
determined by the performance of state tasks and
functions; establishing the basis for disciplinary
liability of civil servants; describing the procedure for
bringing civil servants to disciplinary liability; and
analysing the types of disciplinary penalties. A
disciplinary offence by a civil servant as the main
basis for bringing them to disciplinary responsibility
is an unlawful, harmful, culpable action or inaction by
a civil servant, consisting in a violation of the
normatively established rules of conduct or failure to
perform functional duties for which disciplinary
responsibility is provided.
Disciplinary proceedings against civil servants
are understood to be activities regulated by law and
carried out by authorised entities with regard to the
application of disciplinary sanctions, which
guarantees the rights and legitimate interests of civil
servants. Disciplinary proceedings against civil
servants have the following characteristics: 1) they
are related to the authoritative activities of competent
bodies or officials; 2) the implementation of such
activities is regulated by the norms of administrative
law; 3) these activities are aimed at making legal
decisions, primarily of an individual nature.
Keywords: disciplinary responsibility, civil
servant, state building, labour relations, labour rights,
civil service, legal regulation, labour, principles, legal
status.