In this paper, a proposal for the restriction of the Euclidean functional integral to a region free from infinitesimal Gribov copies in linear covariant gauges is discussed. An effective action, akin to the Gribov-Zwanziger action of the Landau gauge, is obtained which implements the aforementioned restriction. Although originally non-local, this action can be cast in local form by introducing auxiliary fields. As in the case of the Landau gauge, dimension two condensates are generated at the quantum level, giving rise to a refinement of the action which is employed to obtain the tree-level gluon propagator in linear covariant gauges. A comparison of our results with those available from numerical lattice simulations is also provided.