Duty of confidentiality: definition
If you are a lawyer in a local authority or more broadly in the public service, please feel free to skip to Farah Zaoui's testimony.
The duty of confidentiality implies, as the name suggests, restraint in the written and spoken expression of personal opinions.
If you are preparing to become a lawyer in the public service, the duty of confidentiality does not prevent you from exercising your most basic rights as a citizen.
A lawyer in the civil service obviously has full freedom of opinion and expression. Nevertheless, they must exercise a certain discretion and restraint in the way they express themselves.
Characteristics of the duty of reserve for civil servants :
- Applies during and outside working time
- Compliance is assessed by the staff member's hierarchical authority
- Non-compliance may lead to disciplinary proceedings
If you are a lawyer in the civil service, your duty of confidentiality will apply more or less differently depending on your position in the hierarchy, the context in which you have expressed yourself, the extent to which your words have been disseminated and the wording of your words.
Other questions asked
Examples of non-compliance with the duty of confidentiality
- Public criticism of the management and functioning of the administration in a television report
- Publication of a work containing defamatory, insulting or violent statements against the administration and its employees
- Expressing disagreement with the policy of your local authority in a media interview
Feedback from Farah Zaoui, Legal Director @Anticor
What do you do when you are a lawyer in the civil service, under the authority of an elected official of a different political colour from your own?
A non-issue for some, a deep reflection for others.
"That was the whole point of finishing my Master II and that's what led me to Anticor Farah confided to us.
From the civil service to the fight against corruption - On TV sets or in courtrooms, Farah decided to put her commitments, values and expertise at the service of the general interest. Before joining Anticor and coming to this conclusion, Farah first worked as a legal officer in the Ministry of the Interior.
"I have a very good experience from my time at the Ministry of the Interior", she confided. In 2019, when the Yellow Vests crisis broke out, Farah worked in the legal team at Place Beauvau. "As a civil servant, normally political colour should not be a criterion. You are an agent of the public service above all else. If you are an agent in a town hall and there is an alternation, you don't leave the town hall because the mayor loses the elections for example."
From earning a living to finding meaning - Long synonymous with earning a living and necessity, work has become a true expression of self for the majority of working people. Finding meaning in work. Working for a structure that corresponds to our values. Combining professional and personal fulfilment. The concerns of employees have changed considerably over the last ten years. In fact, 87% of employees attach importance to the meaning of work, according to a survey. Deloitte and Viadeo study conducted in 2017.
Does this search for meaning also concern the lawyers in public administration and, more generally, civil servants? In addition to having a strong sense of public service, political colour can also have an impact on the functioning of a community.
According to Farah, one should not forget that "there are very practical issues that apply [depending on political colours]. Running a community is never neutral. It is never neutral," she insists. Beyond the personal political opinions of public officials, "it's the way we manage money, our services, how we subsidise associations. This can have an impact on our quality of work, our quality of life and our vision of society," explains Farah.
"I'm not going to name any communes to save myself the trouble, but there are communities that have changed radically once they have been subjected to a new sensitivity. Services have been totally reorganised, aid has been redirected, and this inevitably damages the local fabric. When you are in charge of the dialogue with associations within a community, when the majority changes and your contacts change: this has a concrete impact on your functions."
Cases that sow doubt - The question of meaning arises all the more in the face of certain situations encountered by Farah Zaoui The question of meaning arises all the more in the face of certain situations encountered by Anticor, an association founded in 2002 to fight against corruption and restore ethics in politics.
Conflicts of interest, favouritism, misappropriation of public property and funds, illegal taking of interest and influence peddling etc... the grievances pronounced against a territorial authority can be experienced as real traumas.
"When there are also cases that affect the community, it has an impact on the services. We don't think about it much, but when your elected representative is implicated in matters that take place in the community, when there is a search within the community, it is not necessarily something that is well experienced by the agents."
Now on the other side, Farah is very empathetic about it. "I have a lot of compassion when it happens. I don't take it sensationalist at all because I know how difficult it is.
It's a matter of choice - So is it possible to completely put aside your personal political views when you are implementing a policy of a different colour on a daily basis?
"It's a matter of choice. To say to yourself, I can knowingly get involved in a service, being a civil servant or a contractual employee, of a sensitivity that will not be mine and to accept it.
According to Farah, there are two scenarios:
- "Either you really go there with that in mind and tell yourself that the sensitivity of your elected representative is radically, significantly or slightly different from your own, and you integrate that the decisions that will be taken by the executive of the community will not be those that you would have liked to see come into effect: you are an agent, you apply, you execute."
- "We realise that it's too difficult and now we have to make other choices."
Farah took the second path.
"I think there are people who have this ability, which I admire, to put their individuality aside for the general interest. And that's what you should ideally do: to be the vehicle for the general interest."
When faced with certain situations, is there a risk in putting aside one's values when it comes to defending public service?
"It's a question of free will and how you see your exercise. I think there is also a risk in doing that. There are values that must be hammered out to preserve this general interest and the quality of public service. Everyone has their own values, you can't graduate, you can't gauge the values of one person or another."
It's a constant challenge and struggle. I don't think that there is anything linear and that we say to ourselves that we are going to put aside our values all our lives. That's why we sometimes have people who reveal themselves in the face of certain practices and sound the alarm.
Watch the full episode on Farah Zaoui on Paroles de Juristes 👇
Interview by Selma Khaled for the podcast Words from the Lawyers.
