The report indicates that the annual working time actually performed by departmental staff varies between 1326 hours and 20 minutes and 1607 hours, from 2013 to 2021.
The Departmental Council of Bouches-du-Rhône is pinned for non-compliance with the legal working hours of its approximately 8,000 agents, estimated at 10 million euros in loss, in a final report by the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC ) made public on Monday.
According to the calculations of the administrative and financial jurisdiction, the annual working time actually carried out by the departmental staff varies between 1326 hours and 20 minutes and 1607 hours over the period examined, from 2013 to 2021. But, underlines the institution, only “11 agents are on a work cycle respecting this legal durationof 1607 hours, fixed by a decree of July 12, 2001. This deficit is evaluated by the CRC at an annual loss of 203 full-time equivalents, representing nearly 10 million euros for the Bouches-du-Rhône departmental council , the third most populated department in France with more than two million inhabitants.
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In the Bouches-du-Rhône,the working time of departmental staff is defined by general internal regulationsfor 60% of staff and 35 regulations specific to certain departments or professions for the remaining 40%, explains the inspection body, for whom “non-compliance with the legal duration of working time is explained in particular by the granting of additional leave not provided for by the regulations“, who have “fluctuated from 3.5 days to 6.5 daysfrom 2013 to 2020. Staff covered by the general internal regulations also benefit from 27 days of annual leave instead of 25. As a result, in 2020, the annual working time amounted to at best 1554 hours 30 instead of 1607 regular hours, or 52.5 hours less, states the report.
In addition to these holidays, the departmental assembly authorized additional working time reductions intended to “take into account constraints related to the nature of the missions“. Thereby, “sapper foresters benefit from 8 additional days off due to their availability during the summer period“, specifies the CRC. But “regardless of the reality of the hours worked by each person over the said period“, adds the room.
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The Regional Chamber of Accounts therefore invites the community “to regularize this situation no later than January 1, 2023” and “strengthen its control system for overtime worked and paid to agents“. Contacted by AFP, the departmental council of Bouches-du-Rhône has not yet reacted to the publication of this report.
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