Court axes pay appeal

He asserted that the decision was applied retroactively, thus, undermining his rights to job security and social protection and constituting an abuse of authority. In its reasoning, the court stated that for a constitutional challenge to be considered serious, a ruling on the constitutional issue is necessary for resolving the underlying dispute and there must be a genuine indication that the challenged provision conflicts with the Constitution. The court found that neither of these requirements was satisfied. The court explained that Decree-Law No. 63/2025 stipulated the suspension of the internal regulations of the National Assembly, while maintaining the application of Article 178, which provides for the affiliation of the Secretariat with the Office of the Prime Minister upon the dissolution of the Assembly.

The decree also suspended all decisions and regulations issued pursuant to the internal regulations, particularly those governing the affairs of employees of the Secretariat, until the expiration of the period specified in the Amiri decree or until the election of the first National Assembly, whichever occurs first. The court pointed out that Article Two of the decree stipulates that the Civil Service Law and its executive regulations shall apply to employees of the Secretariat from the date the decree took effect. It added that, pursuant to the decree, the CSC, during its Meeting No. 10/2025, decided to permanently apply the general salary scale to employees of the Secretariat and to grant them a monthly personal allowance equal to 30 percent of their total monthly salary under the general salary scale before social security deductions, for a period of one year. It stated that the explanatory memorandum accompanying the decree clarified that the dissolution of the Assembly and the suspension of the constitutional provisions related to it resulted in the suspension of the internal regulations and rendered them inapplicable.

The memorandum explained as well that the employees of the Secretariat were transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister and no longer perform the duties that justified the special benefits previously granted to them. The memorandum added that it was necessary to unify the employment systems applicable to employees working within the same entity, whether appointed directly or seconded, in order to achieve equality among employees and ensure consistency between applicable laws and the prevailing constitutional situation. The court stressed that the decision of the CSC is in line with Article Two of Decree-Law No. 63/2025, which subjects employees of the Secretariat to the Civil Service Law and its regulations as the general legal framework governing state employees.

It continued that the CSC did not exercise legislative authority beyond its powers and therefore did not violate the principle of separation of powers. It also clarified that the decision did not infringe upon the acquired legal rights, since a public employee can neither claim rights or benefits exceeding those provided under the applicable employment regulations, nor continue receiving benefits linked to a previous employer when the legal basis for those benefits no longer exists. It added that the decision was not applied retroactively, as it rather took immediate effect upon the transfer of Secretariat employees to the Office of the Prime Minister following the issuance of the decree-law, to unify their financial benefits with those of other employees within the same entity. It concluded that the appellant’s allegations of constitutional violations lacked legal or constitutional foundation. It affirmed that the appealed judgment was correct in determining that the constitutional challenge was not serious and therefore ruled to reject the appeal, uphold the appealed judgment, and require the appellant to pay the associated legal expenses.