Election watchdog eases hiring rules, tightens overtime-pay discipline

The National Election Commission said Friday it had amended its staff regulations to allow shorter experience requirements in experienced-hire recruitment, the most consequential of a package of changes that also tighten discipline over fraudulent overtime pay and restrict transfers to other agencies.

The commission, which issued the revision as Rule No. 668, said the required work or research experience for so-called career-competitive recruitment can now be cut by up to one year at the secretary general's discretion, down from the previous minimum of three years. The change follows an amendment to the Civil Service Appointment Decree that took effect on July 1.

Officials who receive a disciplinary penalty for fraudulently claiming overtime allowances will face an additional six months of ineligibility for promotion, and supervisors connected to the offense will also become subject to disciplinary action, the commission said.

The revision also creates a new transfer restriction. Civil servants who pass the open competitive examination for Grade 5 positions may not move to another agency for three years from their first appointment, while those hired through career-competitive or other special recruitment channels face five years, or three years in cases falling under a specific category of the State Public Officials Act.

Separately, the commission scrapped bonus points awarded to promotion candidates assessed on performance, effective Jan. 1, 2027. Long-term service leave will be available after five years of service instead of ten, with employees who have served between five and ten years receiving three days, and the change applies retroactively to leave taken on or after June 23. Annual leave savings will now cover unused days for which leave compensation is payable and days converted under a separate provision, also effective Jan. 1, 2027.

The commission also added passive administration and hate speech to the categories of misconduct subject to discipline, and it will require supervisors involved in passive-administration cases to face disciplinary review.

The amended rule took effect on the date of promulgation, though several provisions, including the bonus-point abolition and the testing principles, apply from Jan. 1, 2027.