The High Council of Justice has repeatedly noted that employees of the court apparatus are the basis of the judiciary, one of the key figures in the system, because the work of courts largely depends on them. Therefore, all branches of government should make every effort to retain qualified employees in the courts and ensure their social guarantees, which are one of the important components of the independence of the judiciary.
In the sever conditions of the war, employees of apparatus of the courts continue to conscientiously carry out their work, often under shelling, with a threat to their lives. Many of them have had to move after the change of jurisdiction of the courts, many have had their homes destroyed, life circumstances have become much more complicated, and the level of wages does not allow even the minimum needs to be met. At the same time, so that justice does not stop, employees of apparatus of the courts work even after hours. Their competence and responsibility should be duly rewarded by the state.
At the moment, there is a significant outflow of personnel from judicial institutions, which jeopardizes the work of courts of all levels and ensuring the uninterrupted administration of justice. This problem is especially critical in the context of martial law.
The High Council of Justice calls on parliamentarians to urgently adopt a draft law to regulate the issue of remuneration of court employees.
The progressive draft law “On making amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” regarding the regulation of the issue of remuneration of court employees” (registry No. 6311), initiated by People’s Deputies of Ukraine Denys Maslov, Serhii Demchenko, Volodymyr Vatras and Roman Babii, has been pending for a year now, although the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Legal Policy recommended to accept it as a basis. The document was developed by joint efforts within the framework of the working group on the proper financing of the judiciary in Ukraine, chaired by People's Deputy Serhii Demchenko, and proposed to increase official salaries of court employees and consolidate their decisive role in the structure of payments, while reducing the share of additional incentive payments, which depend on the availability of financial resources.
The High Council of Justice in its advisory opinion supported the important draft law, noting that the determining a unified approach to remuneration of employees of courts and judicial authority bodies is a critically necessary step in order to strengthen the personnel potential of courts, increase transparency, predictability and fairness of wages, and establish its competitive level. A positive review was also provided by the Legislation Institute of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Council of Judges of Ukraine, the Supreme Court, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the Association for the Development of Judicial Self-Government of Ukraine.
Members of the High Council of Justice call for the immediate settlement of issues of decent remuneration for court employees. After all, the outflow of personnel will negatively affect citizens’ access to justice.