STAFF REGULATIONS

PART IV: Rights of staff members

Article 40 – Protection of staff members in their official capacity. 1

Article 41 – Remuneration.. 1

Article 42 – Payment of expenses by the Council 1

Article 43 – Pension and medical and social insurance. 2

Article 44 – Indemnity for loss of job. 3

Article 45 – Leave. 3

Article 46 – Personal administrative files. 4

Article 47 – Freedom of association.. 4

Article 47 bis – Right to strike. 4

Article 48 – Certificate of employment. 4

Article 40 – Protection of staff members in their official capacity

1.         Staff members may seek the assistance of the Secretary General to protect their material or non-material interests and those of their family where these interests have been harmed without fault or negligence on their part by actions directed against them by reason of their being a staff member of the Council.

2.         Where the Secretary General deems that the conditions set forth in the above paragraph are met, he or she shall decide what form such assistance may take and the amount up to which the Council shall pay the costs incurred in the defence of the interests referred to in paragraph 1, including the costs of any legal action taken. If the Secretary General considers that legal action may harm the interests of the Council, he or she may ask the persons concerned not to take such action; in such cases, if they do not take legal action, the Council shall make good the material damage suffered by the persons concerned, provided that they assign their rights to the Council.

Article 41 – Remuneration

1.         Staff salaries and allowances and the methods of paying them shall be laid down in regulations made by the Committee of Ministers as set out in Appendix IV to these Regulations.

2.         The Secretary General may award a special allowance to members of the staff performing duties of special responsibility beyond that normal for their rank.

Article 42 – Payment of expenses by the Council[1]

1.         The Council shall pay:

a.         the travel and subsistence expenses of a staff member on an official journey;

b.         travel, subsistence and removal expenses incurred by staff members when taking up their duties, when being subsequently transferred and on termination of their contracts;

c.         the staff member’s travel expenses on the occasion of home leave.

2.         Other expenses incurred by staff members in, or in connection with, the performance of their duties, provided they have been approved, shall be reimbursed.

3.         On the death of a staff member to whom expenses covered by the provisions of paragraph 1.b above were paid when he or she took up his or her duties, the Council shall defray:

a.         the cost of transporting the body of the staff member from the place of death to the place of funeral;

b.         the cost of transporting the deceased staff member’s personal belongings;

c.         the travel costs of the survivors who were dependent on the staff member and were part of the staff member’s household.

4.         The Council shall also, in the cases referred to in paragraph 1.b and c and 3.a, pay the expenses in respect of – provided they are part of the staff member’s household – the staff member’s spouse, children and other dependent persons as defined in Articles 5, 5 bis and 5 ter of Appendix IV and, where appropriate, of a person accompanying one or more of the staff member’s children aged under 10.

5.         In the case of home leave as referred to in the second sentence of Article 45, paragraph 2, expenses shall be paid in respect of only one journey for each person in any two-year period giving entitlement to home leave.

6.         The Secretary General shall issue rules setting forth the conditions and limits applicable to payment of the expenses referred to in this article.

Article 43 – Pension and medical and social insurance[2]

1.         All staff members shall be affiliated to one of the Organisation's pension schemes.

a.         The Pension Scheme Rules set out in Appendix V shall apply to staff members who:

·         were in service on 31 December 2002; or

·         were recruited on or after 1 January 2003  under the exceptional recruitment procedure open to long serving temporary staff members^[3]; or

·         having benefited, during their last appointment with an organisation mentioned in Article 1 of Appendix V, from the provisions of Article 11 of Appendix V, have repaid or are repaying the amount provided for under that article; or

·         were recruited on or after 1 January 2003 and have a deferred pension entitlement under the same pension scheme with an organisation mentioned in Article 1 of Appendix V.

b.         The New Pension Scheme “NPS” set out in Appendix Vbis shall apply to staff members         who:

·         were recruited between 1 January 2003^[4]and 31 March 2013, with the exception of those covered by subparagraph a; or

·         having benefited, during their last appointment with an organisation mentioned in Article 1 of Appendix Vbis, from the provisions of Article 11 of Appendix Vbis, have repaid or are repaying the amount provided for under that article; or

·         were recruited on or after 1 April 2013 and have a deferred pension entitlement under the same pension scheme with an organisation mentioned in Article 1 of Appendix Vbis or with the Defined Benefit Funded Pension Scheme (DBFPS) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) under the conditions laid down in Article 7, paragraph 2, of Appendix Vbis.

The age of entitlement to a retirement pension under Article 8 of Appendix Vbis shall be:

·         63 years for staff members having reached the age of 55 on 1 January 2013;

·         63 years and 6 months for staff members aged between 50 and 55, without having reached their 55th birthday, on 1 January 2013;

·         64 years for staff members aged between 45 and 50, without having reached their 50th birthday, on 1 January 2013;

·         64 years and 6 months for staff members aged between 40 and 45, without having reached their 45th birthday, on 1 January 2013;

·         65 years for staff members who have not reached the age of 40 on 1 January 2013.

c.         The Pension Scheme set out in Appendix V ter shall apply to staff members who were recruited on or after 1 April 2013, with the exception of those covered by subparagraphs a and b.

d.         Staff members who, during their last appointment with an organisation mentioned in Article 1 of Appendix V or Vbis, benefited from the provisions of Article 11 of Appendix V or Vbis and have not repaid the amount provided for under that article shall be subject to the Pension Scheme in force on the date when they take up their duties.

2.         Staff members shall be properly covered against the risks of accident, illness, old age, disability and death and for maternity expenses.

a.         The Medical and Social Insurance scheme applicable to staff from 1 March 1999 is set out in the Regulations on the medical and social insurance scheme (Appendix XII to the Staff Regulations).

b.         However, for staff members in service on 22 December 1998 and affiliated at that date to the French Social Security scheme, the scheme set out in Appendix XII to the Staff Regulations shall apply only to those members of staff who have opted for the said Scheme, the others remaining affiliated to the French Social Security scheme and a compulsory complementary insurance scheme. In the latter case staff members shall pay the employee’s contribution to the French Social Security scheme as applicable under the Agreement between the Council of Europe and France and one-third of the cost of their affiliation to the compulsory complementary insurance scheme.

c.         Whatever the health insurance scheme to which the staff member is affiliated, contributions in respect of the risk of accidents at work and industrial disease shall be wholly borne by the Council of Europe.

Article 44 – Indemnity for loss of job

An indemnity for loss of job may be awarded to any member of staff confirmed in his or her appointment, if the contract is terminated in the circumstances provided for in Appendix VI to these Regulations, which also sets out the methods of calculating and paying such indemnities.

Article 45 – Leave

1.         Staff members shall be entitled to paid leave of two and a half working days per month of service. The Secretary General may, with the consent of the Committee of Ministers, grant additional leave.[5]

2.         A staff member in receipt of an expatriation allowance shall be entitled to home leave of eight working days every two years, except where, at the time of his or her appointment or transfer, the staff member had solely the nationality of the country in which he or she is employed, to the exclusion of any other nationality. A husband and wife who are on the staff of the Council, or of whom one is employed by the Council and the other by another international organisation, and who are both entitled to claim home leave, may take such leave either together in the country where one of them has his or her home or separately in their respective home countries.

3.         Staff members may benefit from parental leave according to the conditions established by the Secretary General and as indicated in paragraph 5 of document CM(2006)38 revised.[6]^,[7]

4.         The provisions governing unpaid leave are set out in Appendix VII to these Regulations.[8]

5.         The Secretary General may grant short periods of paid special leave.

6.         The Secretary General shall determine the duration of paid sick leave and maternity leave.

Article 46 – Personal administrative files

1.         There shall be established a single personal administrative file for each staff member.

2.         The file shall contain solely the documents relating to the application of these Regulations and their implementing provisions to the person concerned and other documents concerning the staff member’s administrative situation, competence, work and conduct. The file shall be kept by the Human Resources Division, with the exception of the medical file, which shall be kept by the Council’s doctor.

3.         The file shall contain no document unknown to the staff member. The latter may comment on any document submitted to him or to her; any comments shall be attached to the document for inclusion in the file unless the author of the document in question amends the content thereof with the agreement of the staff member.

4.         The file shall not refer to the political, philosophical or religious views of the staff member.

5.         Staff members or their authorised representative may at any time examine their file, even after the termination of their employment.

6.         The file shall be confidential and may only be consulted at the headquarters of the Secretariat. The Secretary General shall issue rules stipulating which staff members, boards and committees shall, by reason of their official functions, be authorised to consult it.

Article 47 – Freedom of association

Staff members shall enjoy the right to associate; they may, in particular, belong to trade unions or professional organisations.

Article 47 bis – Right to strike[9]

1.         Staff members shall have the right to strike in order to protect their work-related economic, social and professional interests, under the conditions and in accordance with the procedures set out by the Secretary General in a Rule.

2.         The amount of remuneration corresponding to the period of strike shall be deducted from the participants’ salaries.

Article 48 – Certificate of employment

Staff members or former staff members may apply for a certificate of employment stating the length of service and duties performed. They may also request that the certificate include an assessment of their ability and the quality of the work performed.