Violation of the Principle of Job Stability in the Public Sector: The Problem of Job Insecurity Through Occasional Contracts

Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between the repeated use of occasional service contracts in the Ecuadorian public sector and its impact on the right to job stability, based on the analysis of current legal regulations and their practical application within public institutions. A qualitative approach was used with a non-experimental design and a descriptive-analytical scope, applying techniques such as document analysis and interviews with ten public servants and five lawyers specialized in constitutional law. The results show that although this contractual modality is legally recognized in the Organic Law of Public Service and is intended to address temporary institutional needs, in practice its frequent and prolonged use has led to a distortion of its original purpose, turning it into a common hiring mechanism that limits job stability, generates uncertainty, and affects the professional development of workers. In addition, a gap was identified between constitutional provisions regarding the right to work and the prohibition of labor precariousness and the actual institutional practices. In this sense, it is concluded that the repeated use of occasional contracts may constitute an indirect form of labor precariousness, which makes it necessary to rethink its application from a constitutional perspective in order to effectively guarantee the right to job stability in the Ecuadorian public sector.