State employees and official discipline

The Law Office of Ali Barakat Al-Taae follows cases of State employees and official discipline in Baghdad. Where a civil servant in a State department or in the public sector is accused of breaching official duties, the path that usually opens is the Law on the Discipline of State and Public Sector Employees No. 14 of 1991, not the Labour Court. This page sets out the framework: who is covered, how an investigative committee is formed, what the disciplinary penalties are, when an employee is suspended from duty (sahb al-yad), and how a penalty is challenged before the Court of Employees’ Judiciary.

Who is covered by the discipline law?

Law No. 14 of 1991 was published in the Official Gazette, issue 3356, on 3/6/1991. Its title was amended by the First Amendment, Law No. 5 of 2008. The Second Amendment, Law No. 51 of 2012, was published in issue 4250 on 10/9/2012.

Under Article 2 as amended in 2008, the law applies to those who work in State departments and in the public sector. It does not apply to members of the armed forces, the internal security forces, the National Intelligence Service, or members of the ordinary courts and public prosecutors, unless their own statutes say that it does. Accountability of those groups is read from their own legislation.

A public post, in this law, is a charge bound by written duties. A breach may be a failure of duty, a departure from official conduct, or an act tied to the work. Not every breach is a criminal offence, and not every administrative investigation means the employee has been sent to an investigating judge.

The head of department, as defined in the law, includes a person authorised by the minister to impose certain penalties, such as a deputy minister, a governor, or a director general, within the written limits. The first questions are therefore: who ordered referral to investigation, and who had power to impose the penalty that was imposed? The answer is read from the decision itself and from Articles 1 and 11 after the amendment, not from the job title alone.

Official duties are set out in the body of the law: performing the work, safeguarding public property, impartiality, and not exploiting the post. How a particular act is classified turns on Chapter II of the law and on what the investigative committee establishes from the facts and papers.

The investigative committee and the employee’s rights

Under Article 10, the minister or the head of department must form an investigative committee of a chair and two members with experience of the work, one of whom holds a first university degree in law. The committee investigates in writing: it hears the employee and witnesses, examines the papers it needs, and records reasoned recommendations. Those may be that the employee is not to be held to account and that the file be closed; that one of the penalties in Article 8 be imposed; or that the employee be referred to the Court of Investigation, and then the Court of Misdemeanors or the Criminal Court according to the nature of the act if the committee considers the act a crime arising from the post or committed in an official capacity.

By way of exception, the minister or head of department may, after questioning the employee, impose certain lighter penalties in Article 8 without a full committee. That exception is not stretched beyond its written limit. The right of defence appears in the investigation itself: the employee is confronted with what is attributed, is enabled to give a statement, and counsel may inspect the papers within the limits the law allows.

The detail is on The investigative committee and the employee’s rights. The line between a disciplinary file and referral to the criminal courts is explained in When is a State employee referred to the courts?.

Disciplinary penalties and their effects

Article 8 lists the penalties that may be imposed: a written reminder (laft al-nazar), a warning, a deduction from salary, a reprimand, a reduction of salary, a lowering of grade, dismissal (fasl), and removal (azl). Each penalty has a written effect on promotion or increment. Dismissal is removal from the post for a period fixed in the decision. Removal is final, and re-employment in State departments is not permitted except within the limits of the text.

Article 20 forbids imposing more than one penalty under this law for the same act. Power to impose penalties is divided: some may be imposed by the head of department or a delegate; heavier ones go to the minister. See Disciplinary penalties under the State employee discipline law.

Suspension from duty (sahb al-yad)

Sahb al-yad is separate from a penalty. If the Investigating Judge, or another body empowered to order detention, detains the employee, the department must suspend the employee from duty for the whole period of detention (Article 16). The minister or head of department may also suspend the employee for up to sixty days if remaining in the post appears harmful to the public interest or may affect the investigation, and the committee may recommend suspension at any stage (Article 17). A suspended employee receives half pay during the period (Article 18); the withheld half is then settled according to the outcome of the investigation or trial (Article 19). Suspension is not dismissal or removal, and it does not mean the breach has been proved. See Suspension from duty: when it is ordered and how it affects pay.

Grievance and appeal to the Court of Employees’ Judiciary

Before an appeal against a penalty, the law requires a grievance to the authority that issued the decision, within thirty days of service of the decision on the employee. That authority must decide the grievance within thirty days of filing; silence is a deemed refusal. An appeal is then filed within thirty days of actual or deemed refusal (Article 15 after the 2008 amendment).

The body named “the General Discipline Council” in the 2008 text was replaced by the Court of Employees’ Judiciary under the Fifth Amendment to the State Shura Council Law, Law No. 17 of 2013. The State Council Law No. 71 of 2017 then renamed the State Shura Council as the State Council and transferred its courts, including the Courts of Employees’ Judiciary, to it. The court may uphold the decision, reduce the penalty, or set it aside. Its judgment may be challenged in cassation before the Supreme Administrative Court within thirty days of notification.

The time limits are set out on Grievance against a disciplinary penalty and appeal to the Court of Employees’ Judiciary. The difference between that court and the Administrative Judiciary Court (Mahkamat al-Qada’ al-Idari) is on The Court of Employees’ Judiciary and the Administrative Judiciary Court. Appeals against other administrative decisions are discussed in Challenging State administrative decisions before the Administrative Judiciary Court.

The disciplinary path and the criminal path are independent within the text. If the employee is referred to the Court of Investigation, and then the Court of Misdemeanors or the Criminal Court according to the nature of the act, an acquittal or a discharge in respect of the same act does not, under Article 23, prevent the imposition of a disciplinary penalty. Conversely, a service penalty does not replace a criminal case if the elements of an offence are made out.

Service disputes and leaving the post

Not every dispute with a department is a disciplinary penalty. Promotion, increment, transfer and day-to-day service may give rise to a dispute read from the civil service law in force and from the department’s orders, and may reach the Court of Employees’ Judiciary if they fall within its jurisdiction. See Service disputes: promotion, increment and transfer. Absence, abandonment of the post and resignation each have their own rules: Absence, abandonment of the post, and resignation.

Private-sector employment claims are brought before the Labour Court. Retirement procedures before the National Pension Authority (Hay’at al-Taqa‘ud al-Wataniyya) are a different path: Retirement procedures. Referral of a job-related crime usually begins before an investigating judge, not before the Court of Employees’ Judiciary.

Papers usually reviewed include the order forming the committee, the investigation minute and recommendations, the penalty or closure decision, proof of service, any grievance, and any judgment of the Court of Employees’ Judiciary. These papers identify the competent forum and the time limit. The office follows these files from its premises in Baghdad, Al-Yarmouk. The sub-pages below take each path in turn, and are read with this page.

What this practice area must not be mixed with

• Referring the employee to the criminal courts, if the act appears to be a job-related crime, is a separate criminal path. It usually begins with an investigating judge, not with the Court of Employees’ Judiciary.
• Private-sector employment disputes are brought before the Labour Court, under the labour law in force, not under the discipline law.
• Retirement procedures before the National Pension Authority are a separate path, set out in Retirement procedures.

Legal basis and sources

1. Law on the Discipline of State and Public Sector Employees No. 14 of 1991
2. Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 3356, 3/6/1991
3. First Amendment Law No. 5 of 2008
4. Second Amendment Law No. 51 of 2012 (Official Gazette, issue 4250, 10/9/2012)
5. Fifth Amendment to the State Shura Council Law, Law No. 17 of 2013
6. State Council Law No. 71 of 2017
7. State Shura Council Law No. 65 of 1979, as amended

Frequently asked questions

Topics in this area

• 01Disciplinary penalties under the State employee discipline lawDisciplinary penalties in Law No. 14 of 1991, from a written reminder to removal (azl), and how each penalty affects promotion.
• 02The investigative committee and the employee’s rights during the investigationHow an investigative committee is formed under Article 10 of Law No. 14 of 1991, the employee’s rights, and when referral to the courts is recommended.
• 03Grievance against a disciplinary penalty and appeal to the Court of Employees’ JudiciaryA disciplinary penalty is first challenged by grievance, then appealed to the Court of Employees’ Judiciary under Article 15 of Law No. 14 of 1991.
• 04Suspension from duty (sahb al-yad): when it is ordered and how it affects paySuspension from duty (sahb al-yad) under Articles 16 to 19 of Law No. 14 of 1991: when it is ordered, how long it lasts, and half pay.
• 05The Court of Employees’ Judiciary and the Administrative Judiciary CourtThe Court of Employees’ Judiciary hears disciplinary penalty appeals; the Administrative Judiciary Court hears other administrative decisions.
• 06Service disputes: promotion, increment and transferDisputes over promotion, increment and transfer of a State employee: when the matter is a service issue, not a disciplinary penalty.
• 07Absence, abandonment of the post, and resignationAbsence from duty, abandonment of the post, and resignation of a State employee: how the three paths differ, and when an investigation may open.
• 08Erasure and cancellation of a disciplinary penaltyWhen a disciplinary penalty may be cancelled under Iraq’s State employee discipline law, and how that differs from the expiry of its effect on promotion.
• 09May a State employee be punished without an investigative committee, or twice for the same act?When a disciplinary penalty may be imposed after questioning without a committee, and why two penalties may not be imposed for one act.
• 10Duties and prohibitions of the public employee under the discipline lawDuties of a State employee under Iraq’s discipline law, and prohibitions including holding two posts, work outside official hours, and accepting gifts.
• 11Cassation of decisions of the Court of Employees’ JudiciaryHow a judgment of the Court of Employees’ Judiciary is challenged in cassation before the Supreme Administrative Court
• 12Time limit for challenging a decision before the Administrative Judiciary CourtTime limits for a grievance and a claim before the Administrative Judiciary Court: thirty days to grieve, thirty to decide, sixty days to file
• 13Time limit for an administrative investigation of a State employeeWhether the State employee discipline law sets a deadline to complete an administrative investigation
• 14Iraq’s Council of State and the framework of its two courtsWhat Iraq’s State Council is after Law No. 71 of 2017, and how it relates to the Court of Employees’ Judiciary.
• 15The difference between dismissal and removal under the State employee discipline lawWhat dismissal (fasl) and removal (azl) mean under Iraq’s discipline law, and how they differ in duration and return to public service.
• 16May a dismissed or removed State employee be reinstated?When a person punished with dismissal may later be re-employed, and why the law forbids re-employing a person punished with removal.
• 17Step-by-step procedure for imposing a disciplinary penaltyThe path for imposing a disciplinary penalty on a State employee: from referral and investigation to the written order and notification
• 18Duration of suspension from duty and challenging the orderHow long suspension from duty (sahb al-yad) may last under Iraq’s discipline law: sixty days in Article 17, the period of detention in Article 16
• 19Ending a State employee’s serviceHow a State employee’s service ends in Iraq: resignation, deemed resignation under Article 37, discharge during probation, dismissal and removal
• 20The probationary period for a State employeeProbation on first appointment under the Civil Service Law: one year, extendable by six months, discharge if the employee is not fit
• 21Conditions for appointing a State employeeConditions for a first appointment to a government post under Article 7 of the Civil Service Law: nationality, age, a medical examination, good conduct
• 22Stay of execution of an administrative decision in Iraqi lawFiling a claim does not automatically stay an administrative decision. Article 7 provides no automatic stay; civil procedure applies if no special text.
• 23Study leave for a State employeeStudy leave under Article 50: two years of actual service after the last certificate, in Iraq or abroad, counting the period, the guarantee, and failure.
• 24Challenging an administrative decision before the Administrative Judiciary Court: for individuals and companies, not only employeesWhen a citizen or a company can challenge an administrative decision before the Administrative Judiciary Court, which decisions fall inside and outside its jurisdiction, the grounds of challenge, and what the court can do (annul, amend, award compensation), under article 7 of the State Council law as rewritten in 2013.

Articles in this area

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

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