ILLEGAL DISMISSAL FROM THE PUBLIC SERVICE AS A GROUND FOR APPEALING TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Authors: Kivalo L. V. 
Published: November 2022

The article analyzes the illegal dismissal of a public official from his position as a basis for applying for protection to an administrative court. It has been established that public service is an attribute of any civilized state. It is necessary for the functioning of society in a normal (that is, effective, planned, calm and productive) mode, because most of the issues that are decided by public administration bodies require close communication with society, its representatives and individual individuals. Attention is drawn to the fact that the quality and efficiency of public administration depends not only on the level of legal support for the activities of state bodies and local self-government bodies, but also on the filling of these bodies with professional personnel. Therefore, the legislation of Ukraine establishes, firstly, the grounds for the dismissal of a public official from his position, secondly, the procedure for legalization of the decision on dismissal, thirdly, the requirements for the evidence base of the employee’s incompetence or dishonesty; fourthly, the mechanism for appeal by a public servant against the decision to dismiss him. It is noted that the facts of constant appeals of persons to the administrative court on the issue of their illegal dismissal from public service positions indicate that this issue, being a subject of labor law, was almost not investigated within the scope of the science of administrative law and process. It was found that a public servant can appeal the decision to dismiss him in court if he considers such a decision to be illegal. In this regard, there is a need to define in the science of administrative law the criteria for distinguishing between “legal” and “illegal” decisions to dismiss an employee from a public service position. It is noted that the legality of the decision to dismiss a public servant is ensured by the provisions of the national legislation on public service, while the illegality of such a decision is derived intellectually based on the analysis of the provisions of the law. It has been proven that most of the grounds for disciplinary responsibility of civil servants in the form of dismissal from office are characterized by the presence of the following shortcomings: 1) are presented in the Law “On Civil Service” as a complex of numerous smaller grounds (for example, violation of the Oath of a civil servant); 2) formulated in violation of the doctrine on the composition of the offense, and therefore require interpretation both by official structures and by scientists; 3) take into account internal state factors and ignore external state factors affecting the illegal behavior of a civil servant; 4) are used in state administration as means of manipulation and development of a totalitarian system of governance; 5) do not take into account the principle of proportionality of the size of the sanction and the social harmfulness of the illegal act. All this can be the basis for numerous appeals of persons to the administrative court to challenge the decision on their illegal dismissal from the position of a civil servant.