Welcome to the Generation 2004 Newsletter of 19 November 2020. And to week 36 of telework for most of us.
A lot has happened since our last instalment: the promotions and reclassification [1] lists were published on Thursday 12 November, congratulations to those with happy news and for those who are less than happy, check out for the options still open to you (you have until 11 February to act). On the topic of promotions, we address the selective amnesia [2] on display from our peers on our continued abstention from the final vote of the joint promotions committee to endorse the flawed promotions system.
We also show how you can apply the recently-published Eurostat yearly salary update [3] to your salary and have a rough idea of how much is due to you. Also on the topic of money, the Commission has announced that it will contribute to the costs of [4]purchasing a screen and/or office chair: check out on how the just-published reimbursement process.
The modernisation of HR is still in our sights, this time from the point of view of non-permanent staff [5] who provide examples of where to start making the institutions a better place to work for all of us. Our Petition in support of Contract Agents [6] is open until Friday 27 November. We also provide information on the extended deadline for local agents [7] to agree new conditions: the implications of this and what has to happen next. DG HR announced that we can telework pre-Christmas for a week from abroad [8][1], and we’d still like your opinion on this being made more permanent. Our survey on teleworking from outside the place of employment [9] is open until Friday 27 November: participate! let us hear what works for you!
Finally, we have a look at a recent CJEU Brexit [10]/second nationality case, debunk an office urban legend in the process, while showing that the kind words of June 2016 were just that, kind words.
[1] This was increased to 2 weeks [11] on 20.11.2020: p.7, Point 5.1b: ‘Staff may be authorised by their line manager to telework from abroad as of 10 December and until the start of the end-of-year period of the Commission (24 December)’.
toolTips('.classtoolTips23','Contract Agents (CAs) were created by the 2004 staff regulations Reform. There are two types of CA: those with unlimited contracts, 3A [12] (‘indefinite’) and those with time-limited contracts [13], 3B [14]. CAs can belong to 4 different function groups (\'GF\') with different responsibilities and salaries [15].
As the use of contract staff becomes increasingly common, there has been a corresponding increase in the diversity of status and pay of the Commission’s workforce. For example, GFIV contract staff meeting the same minimum recruitment requirements (education and experience) as junior administrators may earn 28 % less. (European Court of Auditors, 2019, Special report no 15/2019 [16]: Implementation of the 2014 staff reform package at the Commission – Big savings but not without consequences for staff, point 61, page 34)
We have a working group dedicated to the dossier, and in December 2012 we addressed the first of many letters (\'notes\') about Contract Agents to Human Resources of all Institutions and agencies [17] (here is the cover e-mail [18]).
As a background you can see the report of the Commission to the Council regarding the recruitment of the contract agents in 2010 [19] (in French, COM(2011)802 final 23.11.2011).
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