Fuengirola has been hiring detectives to monitor employees on sick leave since 2005

The controversial hiring of detectives to monitor public employees who are on sick leave that Fuengirola town hall has announced is not the first time this practice has been done. According to municipal sources, the first contract of this nature was in 2005, when Esperanza Oña was mayor (the first mayor of the town to serve in two non-consecutive terms: the first from 26 May 1991 to 6 June 1993 and the second from 18 June 1995 to 25 May 2015). The last contract of this type was signed in 2020, when the town hall was headed by curent mayor Ana Mula.

As the town hall has explained, there have been around 20 detective cases in the past two decades, "always within the legal framework of very specific and justified actions", which have resulted in the dismissal of only one worker, back in 2005. The hired detective discovered and proved that the former public employee was carrying out activities at another workplace while on sick leave.

According to municipal sources, hiring detectives for such work is an "exceptional tool", intended to "correct conduct that may harm" municipal staff. "Fortunately, they are the exception," because "we have workers who are an example of professionalism and dedication and who carry out their work responsibly, except in those minimal exceptions," said the town hall.

The town hall has not specified the exact number of detectives that have been hired to investigate workers on sick leave since 2005, nor the results obtained. In order for the detectives' work to be effective, a disciplinary file must be opened, to which trade unions have access.

Union sources in the town hall said that they are aware of at least three sanctioning proceedings in the last 20 years, but the activity of the detectives was only successful on the aforementioned occasion in 2005.

For salaried staff, as was the case with this employee, labour regulations apply, including the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (workers' statute), as well as the collective agreement of the administration where they provide services. Salaried staff, in any of the three modalities (permanent, indefinite or temporary) are contracted, unlike civil servants, who are appointed, whether as career civil servants (meaning, they have passed a selection process and have a permanent post), interim (who do not hold a permanent position, even if they may have passed a competitive examination) or temporary staff (positions of trust). Their activity is governed by administrative law, starting with the basic national legislation (the Trebep text), as well as the regulatory agreement in the case of Fuengirola town hall.

Contrary to what is probably widely believed, the Trebep provides for the possibility of a civil servant, even a career civil servant, losing their status. This requires a "disciplinary sanction of dismissal from service that has become final" following the opening of the corresponding proceedings, which must be conducted by a civil servant. The imposition of a "principal or accessory penalty of absolute or special disqualification from public office" by the courts in a final judgment also results in the loss of civil servant status.