On November 13, continuing the 10th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on Civil Servants (amended).
Discussing in the hall, National Assembly delegate (NA) Vuong Thi Huong (Tuyen Quang delegation) agreed to comprehensively amend the Law on Public Employees to improve the quality of the civil servant team and the operational efficiency of public service units.
Regarding the rights of civil servants in professional activities stipulated in Article 11 of the draft Law, this female delegate said that Clause 6, Article 11 stipulates: "Citizens may refuse to perform work or tasks if they consider that work or task to be contrary to the provisions of law".
According to delegate Vuong Thi Huong, the phrase "thinking" is subjective, without specific criteria or basis to determine what is "opposite to the provisions of the law".
"If not clearly regulated, there may be cases where civil servants abuse their right to refuse to avoid duties. On the contrary, those who dare to refuse to perform tasks contrary to the law can be bullied and assessed as not completing their tasks if there is no clear protection mechanism" - delegate Huong said.
This delegate cited that in reality, civil servants are often in a position of compliance, and the assessment of a task as "illegal" sometimes exceeds the ability to determine the expertise or does not have a clear legal basis.
On the other hand, if there is no specific review process or mechanism, civil servants, even if they find the order wrong and illegal, will not dare to refuse, for fear of being accused of resisting the order and violating discipline.
Although this regulation is meaningful in protecting civil servants from wrong and illegal orders, it is difficult to promote practical effectiveness.
Therefore, this delegate proposed to revise in the direction: When detecting signs of the assigned work or task violating the provisions of law, civil servants have the right to report in writing, clearly stating the basis to the person assigning the task and the head of the public service unit. The head is responsible for reviewing and responding in writing within a certain time limit.
While waiting for the conclusion, the civil servant is allowed to temporarily postpone the performance of the task within the scope of not causing serious consequences; if the head requests to do so in writing, the civil servant must comply but must not bear legal responsibility if consequences arise.
Sharing the same view, delegate Pham Thi Minh Hue (Can Tho delegation) said that the regulation as in the draft will make it difficult for civil servants, because "thinking" that some work is against the law will be subjective, without a basis for determination.
The delegate of Can Tho delegation suggested that it is necessary to specifically study this content to make it feasible, both protecting the rights of civil servants and ensuring the performance of public duties.
