Supreme Court postpones decision on Finance Ministry cleaning staff

The Supreme Court on Tuesday postponed the hearing of an appeal by the Finance Ministry with regard to a First Instance Court instructing the ministry to rehire a group of 393 cleaners placed in a civil service mobility scheme last year. The Supreme Court will convene again over the matter on February 24, 2015.

The decision to postpone the hearing came following a request by the cleaning staff’s legal team whose members asked the court to reschedule pending new hirings in the public sector.

Previously, the First Instance Court had deemed the dismissals unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court judge Christoforos Kosmidis had been reportedly drafting a decision saying that cleaning staff cannot be deemed as having been fired, but, rather, that they belong to a category of state employee whose positions were abolished as part of government measures to reduce public expenditures.

On Tuesday, the cleaners staged a rally outside the Supreme Court.