Duties and prohibitions of the public employee under the discipline law

The text gathers duties in Article 4 and prohibitions in Article 5, then opens in Article 6 a narrow door to work outside official hours, under conditions.The table of penalties is on disciplinary penalties.

The wider framework is on State employee discipline in Iraq.

Duties the employee must observe

Public office, under Article 3, is a national charge and a social service aimed at the public interest and at serving citizens within the legal rules in force. On that basis, Article 4 lists duties that include: performing the work personally, honestly and with a sense of responsibility; keeping official hours and not being absent except with permission, and devoting official time to the work; respecting superiors, addressing them with courtesy, and obeying their orders relating to the duties, within the limits of the laws, regulations and instructions.

If a superior’s order contains a violation, the employee must set out the nature of that violation to the superior in writing, and is not bound to carry the order out unless the superior confirms it in writing, in which case the superior is responsible for it. That limit protects the employee from executing an apparent breach, and at the same time imposes a duty of written warning, not a silent refusal and not blind execution.

Other duties include treating subordinates in a way that preserves their dignity; respecting citizens and facilitating their transactions; safeguarding State property and using it prudently; and keeping confidential information and documents that are secret by nature, or whose disclosure would risk harm, or that the employee has been ordered to keep secret. The duty of confidentiality continues after service ends, and official secret documents may not be retained after retirement or after service ends in any other way. The employee must also preserve the dignity of public office during and outside official hours, refrain from using the post for personal profit, return tools to their place at the end of the working day unless the nature of the work requires otherwise, observe health and safety instructions, and perform the duties of the post as the laws, regulations and instructions provide.

Prohibitions on the public employee

Article 5 prohibits, among other things, holding two posts in a principal capacity, or combining the post with any other work except under the provisions of the law. It prohibits engaging in commercial activity, founding companies, and sitting on their boards, with limited exceptions: buying shares in joint-stock companies; and dealings in property that has come to the employee by inheritance, or managing property of a spouse or relatives to the third degree that came to them by inheritance, provided the department is informed within thirty days. If the minister considers that this affects the performance of duties or harms the public interest, the employee may be required to choose between remaining in the post and liquidating those assets or giving up the management within a year of notification, or requesting resignation or referral to retirement.

The article also prohibits participation in public tenders, and in auctions held by State departments in the cases it defines, including where the employee is authorised to confirm a sale or sits on valuation or sale committees. It prohibits using State property and official transport for private purposes, using a production machine the immediate superior has not assigned the employee to use, neglect that harms production, services or property, tampering with a project or destroying its equipment, deliberately reducing production, and delay that holds up the work of others.

Other prohibitions set out in the text are: borrowing from, or accepting a reward, gift or benefit from, members of the public, contractors or undertakers contracting with the department, or anyone whose work is connected with the employee by reason of the post. Also prohibited are attending the workplace intoxicated, or appearing clearly intoxicated in a public place; retaining the original of an official paper or removing it from its file for non-official purposes; and making a statement to the media about the department’s work that directly touches the employee’s duties, unless authorised by the competent superior.

Work outside official hours

Article 6 sets a conditional exception to the ban on other work. An employee who holds a post within grade seven of the grades in Civil Service Law No. 24 of 1960, or its equivalent or below, may work outside official hours for his or her own account or for another, provided the department is informed annually of the place and nature of the work, and provided that work does not affect official duties. For those not covered by that paragraph, the minister or a delegate may permit outside work for one year, renewable. Employees appointed by republican decree, staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and those in external service are excluded from this article.

Questions about holding two government posts, or about work after official hours, are answered from this framework: the rule is prohibition; the exception is written and limited; notice or permission is part of the condition, not a formality.

If the employee breaches a duty or a prohibition, he or she is liable to one of the Article 8 penalties, without prejudice to other measures under other laws, as Article 7 provides. The investigation path is on the investigative committee.

The office reads the duty or prohibition from the text and from the referral order.

Legal basis and sources

1. Law on the Discipline of State and Public Sector Employees No. 14 of 1991
2. First Amendment Law No. 5 of 2008

Frequently asked questions

Related topics and articles

• 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.
• 03May 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.
• 04Grievance 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.
• 05Suspension 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.

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

To ask about your matter