For instance, most employees of the RATP and SNCF (metropolitan and national rail transport authorities) are not civil servants.
Other French Civil Services have different organisations; for instance the Fonction Publique Territoriale is not divided between rigid "corps" but between "cadres d'emploi" (type of job).
This is facilitated by civil servants (of any level) being able to exercise elected office on a temporary leave (détachement) from government.
The main duties are: A civil servant should devote their full professional activity to their appointed task.
By exception, a civil servant may in addition to their regular activities write books; they may also accomplish certain tasks (teaching...) with the permission of their hierarchical supervisor.
In certain exceptional cases, certain aspects of the private life of a civil servant may be termed incompatible with their functions.
The academic freedom of university professors is a principle recognized (in theory) by the laws of the Republic, as defined by the Constitutional Council; furthermore, statute law declares about higher education that "teachers-researchers [university professors and lecturers], researchers and teachers are fully independent and enjoy full freedom of speech in the course of their research and teaching activities, provided they respect, following university traditions and the dispositions of this code, principles of tolerance and objectivity".
Furthermore, judges of the judiciary (magistrats du siège) as well as administrative magistrates cannot be removed from their position, even for a promotion, without their agreement.
Depending on a civil servant's corps, this obligation may be of varying intensity : while administrative magistrates are formally discouraged from making their profession in non-professional works and opinions, members of the military are expected to maintain a very high standard of discretion.
[5] This restraint on the side of the military has even led it to being nicknamed "the great mute" ("la grande muette").
As an exception to the general rules concerning workers, civil servants do not sign contracts; their situation is defined by statutory and regulatory dispositions, most notably the General Statute of the Civil Servants (Statut Général des Fonctionnaires).
On 31 December 1999, official statistics give for the state civil service: (1) Including 12,000 young employees on limited time contracts.