Article 23 Home leave
Staff members who are entitled to expatriation allowance shall be eligible for home leave, except for those staff members who, when appointed, held solely the nationality of the country of employment. The following shall apply:
home leave shall amount to eight working days every two years, plus travelling time calculated on the basis of the fastest method of transport;
home leave may be taken six months before the end of the period to which it relates. If it is not taken within six months after the end of the period to which it relates, it shall be cancelled with respect to that two-year period. The date, on which home leave is actually taken, for any given two-year period, shall not affect the date on which the next home leave is to be taken;
where spouses, or registered partners, are both employed by the Centre and where both are entitled to home leave, it shall be granted in accordance with the following conditions:
- (i)
where both have their home in the same country, each shall be entitled to home leave in that country every two years;
- (ii)
where their homes are in two different countries, each shall be entitled to home leave in his or her respective country every two years;
- (iii)
the couple’s dependant children and, if appropriate, the person accompanying those children, shall be entitled to only one period of home leave every two years; where the parents have their homes in two different countries, the home leave may be taken in either of those countries.
A staff member who takes home leave shall be entitled, in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 18, to payment of the return travel expenses for himself, his children and, if he receives a household allowance, for his spouse or registered partner, but not to a daily allowance for the travelling time.
Staff members who do not take their home leave shall have no entitlement to compensation.
Home leave shall be granted on the following conditions:
the staff member concerned must undertake in writing to spend the home leave in the country of his official home.
the staff member concerned must undertake in writing not to resign from the Centre in the six months following the end of the period to which the entitlement to home leave relates (regardless of the date on which that leave is actually taken).
the head of division must certify that he will in all probability not require the services of the staff member during the period of the requested home leave.
Failure to comply with point (a) will result in the staff member concerned being obliged to reimburse to the Centre all the payments received in connection with the home leave and may also result in the staff member’s unexpended leave being reduced by the number of days of home leave granted. The Director may decide to derogate from the provisions in points (b) and (c) if he considers that their strict application would expose the staff member concerned to an injustice or to particular difficulties.