Repealed as of 1 January 2024 by the Secretary General Decision of 20 December 2023 on the amendment of the Staff Rules implementing the Staff Regulations

Rule No. 1343 of 16 December 2011 on leave

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe,

HAVING REGARD to Articles 45 and 62 of the Staff Regulations;

HAVING REGARD to Articles 5 and 12 of the Regulations governing staff salaries and allowances (Appendix IV to the Staff Regulations);

HAVING REGARD to Rule No. 1205 of 1 January 2005 on leave;

HAVING REGARD to Rule No. 1317 of 3 September 2010 on benefits related to medical expenses;

HAVING REGARD to Rule No. 1331 of 24 March 2011 on the provisions applicable in the event of absence for reasons of health, maternity, paternity or adoption;

CONSIDERING that the provisions of Rule No. 1205 should be revised and a new rule should be adopted to take account of the developments in the Organisation’s internal regulatory instruments;

HAVING CONSULTED the Staff Committee in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 3, of the Regulations on Staff Participation (Appendix I to the Staff Regulations);

D E C I D E S:

PART I — ANNUAL LEAVE

Article 1 – Paid leave

1.       Staff members[1] shall be entitled to annual leave of two-and-a-half working days per month of service.

2.       They shall also benefit from two additional days’ annual leave on a pro rata basis per completed month of service and part-time work.[2]

3.       Annual leave entitlement in the event of sickness shall be calculated in accordance with Rule No. 1331 of 24 March 2011 on the provisions applicable in the event of absence for reasons of health, maternity, paternity or adoption.

Article 2 – Travelling time

1.       Staff members, recruited after entry into force of this Rule, who receive an expatriation allowance and whose home is more than 350 km from their duty station, shall once a year be entitled, in addition to the leave referred to in Article 1 of this Rule, to travelling time for a journey to and from their home, calculated according to the following table:

Distance between the staff member’s home and duty station	Travelling time for the return journey (in days)
350-600 km	1
more than 600km	2

2.       Staff members, recruited before entry into force of this Rule, who receive an expatriation allowance or residence allowance and whose home is more than 80 km from their duty station, shall once a year be entitled, in addition to the leave referred to in Article 1 of this Rule, to travelling time for a journey to and from their home, calculated according to the following table:

Distance between the staff member’s home and duty station	Travelling time for the return journey (in days)
80-300 km	1
301-600 km	2
601-900 km	3
more than 900 km	4

3.       Staff members recruited before 1 January 2005 shall continue to be entitled, pending any change in their duty station, to the travelling time specified in Article 2, first paragraph, of Rule No. 60 of 7 June 1950[3] (or to that deriving from the practice established in order to supplement Rule No. 60[4]) in cases where the earlier provisions are more advantageous to them.

4.       A change in duty station shall entail a revision of the travelling time.

Article 3 – Determination of a staff member’s home

1.       For the purposes of Article 2 and of Part III of this Rule, a staff member’s home shall be determined at the time of his or her recruitment. It shall be the place with which s/he has the closest ties: the place of residence of the staff member’s parents or closest relatives. Failing that, regard may be had to the staff member’s last place of permanent residence before his or her recruitment or to other relevant criteria.

2.       The place concerned shall be located in one of the Organisation’s member States (except in the case of staff members recruited before 1 January 2005 whose home, for the purposes of home leave, was established outside the member States at the time of their recruitment).

3.       If circumstances so warrant, the location of the staff member’s home may subsequently be changed by the Director of Human Resources provided that it remains within one of the Organisation’s member States.

4.       However, if at the time of recruitment or thereafter staff members no longer have family ties in their country of origin but only in a non-member State, they shall be authorised to locate their home in that state, but in such cases the travelling time and cost of transport shall be limited to those that would have applied to the capital of the country of origin.

Article 4 – Long service leave

1.       Staff members who have completed at least 20 years of service in the Organisation shall be entitled to annual leave on the grounds of length of service, calculated as follows:

a.       1 day per annum as from the 20th year of service;

b.       2 days per annum as from the 25th year of service;

c.       4 days per annum as from the 30th year of service.

2.       Staff members may take their long-service leave as from 1 January of the year during which they complete the requisite number of years of service. Staff recruited, with effect from 1 January, are deemed to complete their years’ service on the following 1 January.

3.       For the purpose of determining this entitlement, periods of service completed by a staff member in a temporary capacity shall be taken into account.

4.       Periods during which a staff member works part-time shall be counted as periods of full-time work.

5.       Periods of unpaid leave authorised for family events shall be counted as periods of full-time work.

6.       The period of parental leave is assimilated to periods of full-time work for determining long-service leave.

7.       The number of days of long-service leave to which staff members are entitled shall be calculated on the basis of their length of service with the Organisation as defined in Article 1 of this Rule.

Article 5 – Conditions governing the exercise of entitlement to annual leave

1.       In all cases the timing of leave shall be subject to the needs of the department to which a staff member is assigned, which may necessitate the splitting of leave into two or more parts.

2.       In all cases, the approval of the Secretary General must be obtained before departure on leave. For this purpose, staff members shall submit an application via the relevant information management tool applied in the Organisation to their hierarchical superior, stating the proposed period of leave. The hierarchical superior shall inform them of the decision taken on their application. Absence without prior authorisation will be treated as a disciplinary offence.

3.       During the first six months of service in the Secretariat staff members cannot be granted annual leave beyond the entitlement already acquired. After the aforementioned period of six months, the full leave due for the year may be taken during the respective year.

4.       Annual leave must be taken as far as possible during the course of the year for which it is due. Any leave remaining at the end of the year must be taken no later than 31 December of the following year. Hierarchical superiors shall ensure that these rules are complied with by the staff members under their authority.

5.       On the expiry of the aforesaid 31 December time-limit, any remaining leave shall be cancelled unless the staff member has undergone a protracted illness, been absent on maternity or adoption or parental leave or been prevented from taking all his or her leave by duly substantiated circumstances of an exceptional nature.

6.       A request to carry forward such leave shall be submitted to the Director of Human Resources as soon as the circumstances justifying the request arise and in any event before the expiry of the time-limit referred to in the preceding paragraph. It shall be accompanied by a schedule showing the dates on which the staff member intends to take the remaining days of leave.

Article 6 – Leave Savings Account

As an exception to Article 5 of this Rule, staff members may place up to five days of their annual leave entitlement they have not used within the required deadline in a Leave Savings Account. The maximum total number of days which may accumulate in this account is 25 days. These days shall be used up in full before the staff member leaves the Organisation, on dates taken in agreement with the staff member’s hierarchical superiors (except in the event of serious and unforeseeable family events).

Article 7 – End-of-contract settlement of annual leave

1.       Staff members should take all their annual leave before the expiry of their contract. Days which the staff member fails to take before leaving the Organisation shall not give rise to any financial compensation.

2.       Where it proves impossible, for health reasons, for the staff member to take all their annual leave before the expiry of their contract, s/he shall be entitled to payment for each day of leave not taken.[5]

3.       If, on leaving the Organisation, a staff member has not completed the number of months of service corresponding to the number of days of leave s/he has taken, the remuneration corresponding to the excess amount of leave shall be deducted from his or her salary.

4.       In the cases referred to in the second and third paragraphs of this article, the Directorate of Human Resources, when preparing the notification of termination of service, shall determine the number of days payable to the staff member or deductible from his or her salary in pursuance of this article.

PART II — PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AND OTHER OFFICIAL HOLIDAYS

Article 8 – Public holidays and other official holidays

1.       Staff members shall be entitled to 16½ public or other official holidays per annum. The dates of these holidays shall be fixed each calendar year by decision of the Secretary General. The dates of the following year’s public and other official holidays, which may vary from country to country because of differing public holiday calendars, shall be communicated to the staff each year.

2.       No compensation shall be granted for a public holiday or other official holiday missed because of sick leave or part-time work.

PART III — HOME LEAVE

Article 9 – Determination of the qualifying period for home leave

1.       A staff member in receipt of an expatriation allowance shall be entitled to eight working days of home leave for every two-year period of service, except where, at the time of his or her appointment or transfer, the staff member had solely the nationality of the country in which s/he is employed, to the exclusion of any other nationality.

2.       The place regarded as the staff member’s home shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 of this Rule.

3.       The probationary period is included in the periods of service qualifying a staff member for home leave, as are any uninterrupted periods of service on long-term temporary contracts immediately preceding the probationary period.

4.       Home leave shall be due only in respect of periods during which the expatriation allowance was payable.

5.       No home leave shall be due in respect of a period of unpaid leave or parental leave. Entitlement to home leave shall be suspended throughout the duration of unpaid leave or parental leave.

6.       Periods of part-time work shall entail a proportional reduction in a staff member’s leave entitlement.

Article 10 – Conditions governing the exercise of entitlement to home leave

1.       Each year the leave entitlement shall be credited with four days of home leave, making a total of eight days every two years. Staff members recruited in the course of the year shall be credited with home leave in proportion to the number of months remaining until the end of the calendar year.

2.       In the event of departure of the staff member before the end of the two-year reference period, the home leave entitlement accrued in proportion to the period of service completed shall be added to the annual leave entitlement provided for in Part I of this Rule, and treated as such.

3.       Staff members may benefit from home leave as of the 19^th month of the respective two year period and may take it at the latest twelve months after the expiry of the two year period for which it is due.

4.       Any request for exceptional postponement of home leave shall be submitted to the Directorate of Human Resources via the relevant information management tool applied in the Organisation as soon as the circumstances justifying such postponement arise and in any event before the expiry of the time limit mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Article 11 – Travelling expenses

1.       The travel expenses of staff members and their dependent children and spouse or partner[6] are covered by the Council of Europe. In the case of single-parent families and in certain exceptional and duly justified cases, particularly for health reasons of the staff member or his or her spouse or partner, the Council of Europe will also cover the travel expenses of a person accompanying the staff member’s child or children under 12 years of age.

2.       These expenses are reimbursed, as follows, on presentation of receipts proving that the journey actually took place:

a.       by air, rail or ship:

i)        When the shortest travel route the above-mentioned persons are reasonably expected to take exceeds 400 km, the amount reimbursed for each of them is equal to the cheapest economy class air fare available one month prior to departure on home leave.For children between 0 and 25 years of age the reference fare is that charged by airline companies for children of that age at the cheapest rate available one month prior to departure on home leave. If one of the persons whose travel expenses are covered by the Council of Europe cannot travel by plane for medical reasons, the Organisation reimburses the cost of the first-class train or ship fare instead.

ii)       When the shortest travel route the above-mentioned persons are reasonably expected to take does not exceed 400 km, the amount reimbursed per beneficiary is the first-class train or ship fare, the cheapest economy class air fare  available one month prior to departure on home leaveconstituting the ceiling for reimbursement.

iii)       When serious or unforeseen circumstances prevent the above-mentioned persons from making reservations at least one month before the planned date of the home leave, the expenses are reimbursed on the basis of the cheapest available fare at the date of the reservation. The cost of cancelling or changing tickets as a result of such serious or unforeseen circumstances is covered by the Organisation, provided the tickets to be cancelled or changed had been purchased at least a month prior to departure on home leave.

b.       by private car:

          i)        If the above-mentioned persons decide to use their private car, their expenses are reimbursed as a kilometric allowance based on the shortest route they are reasonably expected to take, at the same rate as staff undertaking official journeys.

ii)       If the person travelling transports any of the above-mentioned beneficiaries as passengers, they are entitled to an additional reimbursement equal to 10% of the full rate for the first passenger and 8% for each other passenger.

iii)       Special charges such as toll fees or transporting the car by sea or train are reimbursed on presentation of the corresponding receipts.

iv)      The total amount paid may under no circumstances exceed the cost of the corresponding fares which would have been paid under the terms specified in paragraph a) above.

v)       When applying for reimbursement for use of their private car, staff are required solemnly to certify the list of passengers transported. In so doing they also undertake, for a period of two years, not to request any further reimbursements for any of the above-mentioned persons declared to have travelled with them. Applications for reimbursement for children declared as travelling by car without any adult will not be accepted unless one of the children concerned has a driving licence.

c.       The cost of travel between the duty station and the airport of departure and between the airport of arrival and the staff member’s declared home will be reimbursed, on presentation of receipts, on the basis of the train, bus or other public transport fares. The cost of taxis, car hire or parking is reimbursed only within the limit of the public transport fare and on presentation of the relevant receipts.

d.       Staff based at the Organisation’s headquarters must purchase their tickets through the Organisation’s partner travel agency or by means of the Organisation’s electronic travel management solution. The Organisation will benefit from any fare reductions to which a staff member is entitled. Tickets may be purchased by other means if the fare obtained is more advantageous than that which could have been obtained by the Organisation’s partner travel agency or by the use of the Organisation’s electronic travel management solution as referred to above.

3.       The case, where spouses or partners are both staff members of the Council of Europe, or one is a staff member of the Council of Europe and the other of another international organisation and where both are entitled to claim home leave, shall be governed by the following rules:

a.       for each two-year period qualifying for home leave the Council of Europe will defray the cost of only one round trip for each of the persons referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, provided that the sum is not reimbursed by another organisation;

b.       however, the Council of Europe will not pay the travel expenses of a spouse or partner who is entitled to home leave from another organisation.

4.       Staff members who have had the cost of an annual round trip for one or more children refunded as part of the education allowance may not, during the same year, request repayment for the round trip on home leave for the same child or children.

5.       No sum is payable if the staff member leaves the Organisation before completing 24 months’ service.

PART IV – SHORT PERIODS OF PAID SPECIAL LEAVE

Article 12 – Authorisation of short periods of absence without suspension of remuneration

1.       Staff members may be granted an authorisation to be absent for a short period when exceptional circumstances of a personal nature temporarily prevent them from exercising their functions.

2.       For this purpose, they shall by means of the Organisation’s relevant information management tool submit a request to the Directorate of Human Resources specifying the relevant motive and the dates of absence. The Directorate of Human Resources shall consider in each individual case whether the request is acceptable by reason of the motive cited and the supporting documents presented, and shall inform the staff member concerned of the decision taken in response to the request.

Article 13 – Grounds for authorisation of short periods of absence

1.       On receipt of documentary evidence, the Director of Human Resources may authorise periods of absence for the motives specified as follows:

The staff member’s marriage or conclusion of a PACS[7] or equivalent[8]	4 days
Birth or adoption of a child[9]	3 days
Multiple births[10]	5 days
A child’s marriage	3 days
Marriage of a parent[11]	1 day
Change of the staff member’s place of residence (removal)	Up to 2 days per annum
Serious illness[12] of the staff member’s spouse or his or her partner[13]	Up to 3 days per annum
Serious illness[14] of a child  (per ill person)	Up to 3 days per annum
Serious illness[15] of a parent[16] (per ill person)	Up to 3 days per annum
Death of the spouse or of the partner[17] or of a child	4 days
Death of the mother or the father	3 days
Death of a grandparent or great grandparent	2 days
Death of a brother or sister	2 days
Death of a brother-, sister- or parent-in-law	Up to 2 days
Performance of electoral duty (where voting takes place on a working day and where voting by post or by proxy or in a consulate located in the city of the staff member’s duty station is not allowed)	1 day
Leave for trade union purposes	1 day per annum

2.            In the case of leave of absence to move house, to marry or conclude a PACS or equivalent or for a death in the family, the days of leave authorised may be split. If a death occurs during the staff member’s annual leave, the staff member may benefit from the corresponding leave of absence, which shall be credited to his or her annual leave within the limits stipulated above.

Article 14 – Travelling time

1.       Travelling time may be granted, where appropriate, in the following cases: serious illness or death of close relatives (including partners), change of address (removal), transfer to a country other than the one where the staff member previously worked, or leave for trade union purposes. In other cases travelling time may be granted by decision of the Secretary General.

2.       Where the distance between the place of the event for which authorisation of absence is granted and the staff member’s duty station is more than 350  km, travelling time may be granted by a special decision taking into account the circumstances which justified the authorisation of absence. Total travelling time for the return journey shall be determined as follows:

Distance between the staff member’s duty station and the place of the event	Travelling time for the return journey (in days)
350-600 km	1
more than 600km	2

Article 15 – Other grounds for authorisation of short periods of absence

Where authorisation of absence is requested for reasons other than those set out in Article 13, the Secretary General shall decide in each individual case whether the request is acceptable by reason of the motive cited and whether the authorisation may be granted without suspension of the salary and allowances payable to the staff member concerned.

Article 16 – Special leave to care for sick children

1.       The parents of, as well as the staff members responsible for, one or more children under 16 years of age who live at their home may be granted short leave of up to six days per annum for each child if the child contracts a minor illness, or undergoes a course of medical treatment, or if the staff member’s presence near the child is strictly necessary. By decision of the Secretary General and after examination of each case, such leave may also be granted, irrespective of the child’s age, if s/he is medically certified as suffering from a handicap. In this case the duration of the leave may be extended to up to 12 days per annum.

2.       Where both parents are Council of Europe staff members and the children live at their common home, this leave should in principle be used half and half by each parent. When the children are in the care of only one of the two parents, the parent who has the care has priority for the use of the leave.

3.       Authorisations of absence granted in connection with a child’s serious illness shall not be taken into account for the purpose of this leave to care for sick children.

4.       When the sick child is under 12 years of age the staff member must imperatively produce a medical certificate attesting the child’s illness on his or her second day of absence. When the sick child is between 12 and 16 years of age, the staff member must imperatively produce a medical certificate attesting the child’s illness on his or her first half-day of absence.

5.       Proof of attendance at a consultation shall not be deemed to justify an absence. As a general rule, staff shall arrange absences for medical or dental appointments of their children outside core time. Where that is not possible, a staff member may be authorised to accompany the child to a doctor or dentist during core time by his or her hierarchical superior up to twice per month, each time for one hour, provided this absence is compatible with the needs of the Organisation and the staff member makes this time up. Such absences need not be notified to the competent unit within the Directorate of Human Resources.

6.       Certified attendance at medical examinations entailing a half day’s or a full day’s absence (such as a full medical check-up) shall be considered as giving rise to special leave to care for sick children, provided the certificate is submitted within the time-limit and stipulates the duration of the attendance.

Article 17 – Training leave

Staff members who undertake external training courses may in accordance with the Organisation’s learning and development policies and the staff member learning plan be granted special leave on the following conditions:

a.       Requests for training leave are associated to a course request and therefore have to be validated by the hierarchical superior;

b.       All training leave is credited after the course or examination, subject to submission of documentary proof;

c.       Training leave for intensive language courses may be granted for half of the duration of the course up to a maximum of 10 days per year;

d.       Training leave, of up to a maximum of 15 days per year may be granted for study and/or sitting examinations for academic qualifications and of up to a maximum of 10 days per year for training on specialist professional skills, where training leave is appropriate;

e.       Training leave shall not be granted to staff members on unpaid leave.

PART V – PARENTAL LEAVE

Article 18 - Parental leave

1.       At each birth or adoption of a child, staff members shall be entitled to parental leave. In the event of childbirth, this leave, which shall not exceed 12 months, must begin immediately after the expiry of the maternity leave of the staff member or the staff member's spouse or partner and/or the paternity leave. In the event of adoption, it must begin immediately after the expiry of adoption leave. Where staff members have paid leave outstanding, however, such leave may be taken between maternity, paternity or adoption leave and parental leave.

2.       Under no circumstances may parental leave be broken down into separate periods.

3.       During parental leave, staff members shall not be entitled to any remuneration, with the exception, for a maximum period of 6 months, of dependent child allowance and, if applicable, of disabled child allowance granted and paid in accordance with Article 5 and Article 12 of the Regulations governing staff salaries and allowances (Appendix IV to the Staff Regulations).

4.       The right to parental leave may be shared between the parents if both are Council of Europe staff members. In this event the parents may not both take parental leave at the same time, but must take it in turn. The dependent child allowance and, if applicable, the disabled child allowance shall be paid to the staff member who continues to work or, as the case may be, to the staff member who received them beforehand.

5.       Staff members shall be entitled to take parental leave during their probationary period, in which case the probationary period shall be suspended throughout their absence and shall resume, upon their return to work, for the period that remained to be served at the time of their departure on parental leave.

6.       Staff members must inform the Directorate of Human Resources, under cover of their hierarchical superior, at least one month in advance, of their decision to take parental leave and of the duration of the leave.

7.       Time spent on parental leave shall not count towards the time lapse required to move up from one step to the next or from one grade to the next.

8.       During parental leave, the right to paid leave is suspended. Home leave entitlement decreases in proportion to the duration of the parental leave taken. The period of parental leave is counted as full-time work for the purposes of long-service leave.

9.       Provisions relating to maintenance of social security cover for staff on parental leave are governed by Rule No. 1317 of 3 September 2010 on benefits related to medical expenses.

10.     The pension rights of staff members and their dependants are governed by the applicable Pension Scheme Rules and instructions for their implementation.

11.     Staff members shall return to their post at the end of the period of parental leave requested.

12.     Any application to reduce parental leave must be submitted to the Directorate of Human Resources, under cover of the hierarchical superior, at least two months before the expiry of the parental leave and will be considered only in cases of force majeure or in exceptional circumstances. In fixing the date of return to work, the Secretary General shall take into account the interests of the Organisation, the staff member on leave and his or her replacement.

13.     Likewise, any application to extend parental leave must be submitted at least two months before the end of the leave in progress, without the total parental leave exceeding in any event 12 months.

14.     The duration of parental leave shall not count as part of the unpaid leave staff members are allowed to take during their careers under the provisions of the Regulations on Unpaid Leave (Appendix VII to the Staff Regulations).

PART VI —FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 19 - Records of leave

1.       The Directorate of Human Resources shall be responsible for calculating each staff member’s leave entitlement and for processing and maintaining records of leave in accordance with the internal regulatory instruments of the Council of Europe.

2.       All calculations made in application of Article 1, paragraph 2 and 3, and/or Article 4 of this Rule shall be rounded up or down to the nearest half day.

Article 20 – Entry into force

1.       This Rule shall come into force on the first day of the month following its signature by the Secretary General.

2.       This Rule shall repeal Rule No. 1205 of 1 January 2005 on leave.

Strasbourg, 16 December 2011

The Secretary General,

Thorbjørn JAGLAND