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GB.270/PFA/12
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Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee |
PFA |
TWELFTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Amendments to the Staff Regulations
Amendments approved by the Director-General
1. In accordance with a decision taken by the Governing Body at its 192nd Session (February-March 1974), the Director-General reports to the Governing Body in November each year on the amendments he has approved during the preceding 12 months under the authority delegated to him.
2. The Director-General hereby informs the Governing Body of the amendments to the Staff Regulations which he has approved under the authority conferred on him by the Governing Body at its 267th Session (November 1996),(1) "to give effect in the ILO, through appropriate amendments to the Staff Regulations, to the measures recommended by the International Civil Service Commission" (concerning net salary scales, staff assessment and children's and secondary dependant's allowances for staff in the Professional and higher categories, education grant and special education grant and the non-removal element of the mobility, hardship and non-removal allowance) "subject to their approval by the General Assembly".
3. As the Committee was informed at the 268th (March 1997) Session of the Governing Body,(2) the measures adopted by the General Assembly differed in certain respects from those recommended by the ICSC. The amendments to the Staff Regulations reported below reflect the decisions actually taken by the General Assembly.
Article 3.1 (Salary scales)
Salary scales for officials in the
Professional category and above
4. The Staff Regulations were amended to introduce, as from 1 January 1997, the new salary scales and staff assessment rates adopted by the General Assembly. The new scales represented an increase of 5.68 per cent in net (base) salaries, consisting of a 0.4 per cent real increase plus a consolidation of 5.26 percentage points of post adjustment in accordance with the "no gain no loss" principle. This increase in the base salary scale entailed a proportional increase in the mobility, hardship and non-removal allowance (article 3.11).
Article 3.12 (Family allowance in the
Professional category and above)
5. The Staff Regulations were amended from 1 January 1997 to reflect the General Assembly's decision to increase the children's allowance and the secondary dependant's allowance by 7.98 per cent. The children's allowance was thus increased from $1,400 to $1,510 and the secondary dependant's allowance from $500 to $540 per annum.
Article 3.14 (Education grant)
Article 3.14bis (Special education grant)
6. These two articles were amended to reflect, from the school year in progress on 1 January 1997, increases in the maximum allowable expenses, the maximum education grant, the flat rate for boarding and the special education grant for disabled children in selected currencies, based on the ICSC's analysis of education costs in the various countries.
Article 3.11 (Mobility, hardship and
non-removal allowance)
7. The amendment to this article reflects the General Assembly's decision, on the recommendation of the ICSC following its review of the mobility and hardship scheme, to limit the payment of the non-removal element of the mobility, hardship and non-removal allowance to five or seven years. As had previously been the case with the assignment allowance, which was abolished with the introduction of the mobility, hardship and non-removal allowance in 1990, the non-removal element will henceforth be payable for a maximum duration of five years at a duty station classified H (headquarters-type duty stations) and seven years elsewhere. The amendment was introduced with effect from 1 January 1997.
8. The Director-General also informs the Governing Body of amendments to the Staff Regulations which he has approved after consulting the Administrative Committee of the Office under the authority conferred on him by the Governing Body at its 192nd Session (February-March 1974).
Article 3.1 (Salary scales)
Salary scales for General Service
category officials in Geneva
9. Article 3.1 was amended in implementation of the mechanism for the interim adjustment of General Service category remuneration in Geneva. In this connection, the Director-General reported to the Committee in November 1996(3) that, as it had proved impossible to identify a suitable cost of labour/salary index for Geneva as recommended by the Commission, the Chairman of the ICSC had decided to revert to the earlier procedure providing for the adjustment of Geneva local salaries based solely on the movement of the Geneva consumer price index (CPI), and the Geneva-based organizations had accordingly applied the adjustment mechanism previously in force, consisting in applying 90 per cent of the movement of the Geneva CPI.
10. New salary scales and staff assessment rates were introduced with effect from 1 June 1997. The new scales, representing a net increase of 0.43 per cent, reflected a rise in the Geneva CPI of 0.48 per cent over the reference period 1 March 1996 to 1 March 1997. The new staff assessment rates, approved by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the ICSC (to take effect in conjunction with the first adjustment of General Service salary scales on or after 1 January 1997) are used to determine pensionable remuneration (as was reported to the Committee in March)(4) and gross salary. The new salary scales and staff assessment rates applied only to staff recruited on or after 1 December 1995, transitional arrangements remaining in force for staff recruited before that date.
Articles 9.3 and 9.4
Travel expenses upon appointment and transfer
11. These two articles were amended when the mobility, hardship and non-removal allowance was introduced in 1990, in such a way as to automatically suppress any payment of the non-removal component of that allowance as soon as an official received a without-limit-of-time (WLT) contract. This had the unfortunate and unintended consequence, for any official who happened to be in service at a field duty station at the time of receiving a WLT contract, of suppressing an important component of the Office's package of field service conditions. Articles 9.3 and 9.4 have been amended to remove this anomaly, which constituted a potential impediment to the Office's mobility policy and in any case did not reflect common system practice.
12. The financial implications of the increases in the family allowances for Professional staff and in the level of the education grant and of the modification of the mobility and hardship scheme (paragraphs 5-7 above) were reported in November 1996,(5) and the implications of the increases in the Professional salary scales (paragraph 4) in March 1997.(6) The very marginal cost associated with the new General Service salary scales introduced in June 1997 (paragraphs 9-10) are covered by the provisions made in the Programme and Budget for 1996-97. The financial implications of the amendments to articles 9.3 and 9.4 (paragraph 11), if any, will be negligible. All costs associated with the above amendments will be covered by the provisions made in the Programme and Budget for 1998-99.
13. Following a decision taken by the Governing Body at its 244th Session (November 1989),(7) all the above amendments were announced in Series 6 (Personnel) Circulars Nos. 566, 567 and 572, which were also distributed to the members of the Governing Body.
Geneva, 30 October 1997.
1. GB.267/PFA/12.
2. GB.268/PFA/10.
3. GB.267/PFA/10.
4. GB.268/PFA/10.
5. GB.267/PFA/12.
6. GB.268/PFA/10.
7. GB.244/PFA/8/15.