The Union of Public Employees of the Valencian Community (SEP-CV) has filed a lawsuit before the contentious administrative court of Alicante, against the bases of consolidation by competition for the position of director of the Santa Llúcia de Dénia residence. The position, qualified as a management technician, violates the current legislation in several of its points, in the opinion of the union.
The bases establish as an exclusive requirement to be able to apply for the position having a degree in legal and/or social sciences and it so happens that the current director is a lawyer. With this degree requirement, many professionals are eliminated from the outset, such as graduates in health sciences; that is to say, despite being a socio-health center, doctors, not even specialized in geriatrics, nor nurses, nor physiotherapists, nor psychologists will be able to apply for the position, however, they will be able to apply for degrees in law, anthropology or geography and history, for example. «This exclusion of health sciences, apart from blatantly violating the Ministry's legislation that governs these positions, is nevertheless revealing about the vision that the current managers of the residence have about it, such as that of an administrative or bureaucratic unit that they want to get rid of as quickly as possible, instead of seeing it as a person-centered care center, ”they argue from the SEP-CV. In addition, the bases do not include the compulsory complementary training that the Ministry requires for these positions in geriatrics or dependency, among other subjects. "In this way, the government team follows in the wake of Ayuso in his contempt for health professionals, and represents the Mayor's final applause for the health professionals who kept COVID in Dénia at bay."
On the other hand, the union understands that the position is not susceptible to benefit from the consolidation processes by competition, since these processes were approved to stabilize long-term interim personnel, at least prior to 2016, and the current director has less 3 years in the position. "It is a pity that they have not been in such a hurry to start up the second residence, recently postponed, as they have been to consolidate this place," they criticize.
It must be added that previously the place had a different name, nature, requirements and occupants, "so the union understands that we are not talking about the same place." When opting for this exceptional route, the City Council takes it out by competition, that is, without an examination, in the case of a position in group A1 with a salary of more than 70.000 euros per year.
«The Mayor is perfectly aware of this situation, since since April there has been a prior lawsuit pending resolution in the contentious administrative court number 3 of Alicante, from one of the applicants for the position, requesting the annulment of the appointment of the director, for failing to comply the requirement of a complementary degree in 2020 when he accepted the position ». The SEP understands it as that while this dispute is not resolved, there is a preliminary ruling that affects the current selection process, "and that the government team intends to skip through the fait accompli route." For all these reasons, together with the annulment of the bases, the SEP has requested the precautionary suspension of the process, while the two demands are not resolved.
«The way in which all the consolidation processes initiated in Dénia are being carried out is disappointing for many officials, but in this particular case it is a mockery of the constitutional principles of equality, merit and capacity that the SEP is the only union that he has publicly denounced. The contentious-administrative lawsuit has already been presented, the union is now studying sending a letter to the prosecutor's office in case the facts could constitute a crime of prevarication of the technicians and politicians who have participated in the call.
The Union is absolutely right, Lawyer? It is not surprising that afterwards the service offered is so poor.
Nor is the Valencian requirement required in the bases, which is mandatory for A1s, as is the case with this director, and which only excludes toilets