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GB.273/PFA/10
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Programme, Financial and Administrative Committee |
PFA |
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TENTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Exceptions to the Staff Regulations
1. Article 14.6 of the Staff Regulations states:
No exception may be made to these Regulations unless the official concerned consents and only if such exception does not prejudice the interests of any other official or group of officials. Any such exception entailing additional expenditure shall be notified to the Governing Body.
2. The Director-General accordingly brings to the attention of the Committee and of the Governing Body the following case in which an exception has been made to article 3.14 of the Staff Regulations. The case involves a decision to authorize the continued payment of the education grant to a non-locally recruited official who has been transferred to a duty station which is formally considered as the country of his home, although he is a national of another country.
3. The official in question was recently transferred, in the context of the Office's mobility policy, from a post at Geneva headquarters to a post in one of the external offices. Several years ago the official had, as provided for in article 4.4 of the Staff Regulations, changed the country of his home due to prolonged civil strife in his original home country, which had made home leave impracticable. The country he chose to be regarded as home was where his immediate family members had emigrated and is where he is now assigned on mobility.
4. Article 3.14 of the Staff Regulations states:
(a) An official, other than a locally recruited official, whose duty station is not in the country of his home shall receive a non-pensionable education grant for each child for whom the official provides the main and continuing support and who is in full-time education at a school, university or similar educational institution.
5. The official has two children attending educational institutions in Europe. Not counting an older child for whom the education grant is no longer payable, the educational expenses of these children are expected to amount to around US$35,000. Had the official not been transferred to a duty station in his home country, he would have been eligible in accordance with article 3.14 to receive an education grant of around US$23,000 for the current academic year.
6. Assignment to a duty station in the home country leads to at least temporary loss of expatriate benefits under the Staff Regulations. The Office avoids as far as possible assigning officials to posts in their home country, but the Active Partnership Policy together with the Office's staff mobility policy render this difficult in a growing number of cases. As mentioned in a separate paper before the Committee,(1) the Director-General has requested a review of certain provisions of the Staff Regulations where these represent an impediment to the implementation of the mobility policy in the interest of the Office and in a manner that is fair and equitable to the staff members concerned. The results of this review will be brought to the Committee's attention in due course in the usual manner.
7. With these considerations in mind, the Director-General has decided that the official should retain his entitlement to education grant under article 3.14 as if the duty station to which he has been assigned were not in his designated home country, and that he should retain this entitlement for the duration of the assignment.
8. The cost of the official retaining his entitlement to education grant, estimated at $23,000 for the current academic year, will be charged to Professional category staff costs.
Geneva, 20 October 1998.
1. Doc. GB.273/PFA/14/1.