The development of our administrative law has moved from the scope of relief of right to the importance placed on the due process of law. This article is primarily to discuss on the issues regarding what prior procedural protection is carried out before a personnel administration action (employment/transfer, reward/punishment based on performance evaluation, pay/benefit, and retirement pension/pecuniary aid/ severance pay) is taken by an administrative agency toward a civil servant?, to what extent the protection should be carried out to be due?, and how to compose its category by the principle of due process of law?, so as to propose the substantial and workable legal interpretation or suggestion on law amendment.
Also, this article is to provide the procedural requirement prior to a personnel administration action from the ideology of the due process of the law of the United States as a reference for the constitution of our civil service legal system. The Grand Justice Interpretation numbered Si-tze-491 of the Judicial Yuan can be deemed an indicative interpretation for the exercise of due process of law for civil service, which deserves further study. At present when the procedural system in connection with the civil service regulations is yet incomplete, I would propose the legal interpretation or suggestion on law amendment through the review of current practice so as to categorize the procedural protection prior to a personnel administration action.
Furthermore, this article is to probe into the prior procedural protection of civil service personnel administration action, and endingly propose the categories for the procedural protection prior to a personnel administration action for the four types of events (employment/transfer, reward/punishment based on performance evaluation, pay/benefit, and retirement pension/pecuniary aid/ severance pay) as follows: (1) no prior procedural protection is required; (2) to inform or to inquire for opinion by telephone (e-mail); (3) the procedure of opinion statement or of defense (statement of reasons); (4) hearing procedure; and (5) quasi-judicial (court) process. Those will enable us to achieve the optimum in the protection of civil servants' rights based on the principle "big action for big matter, and small action for small matter".