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STAFF RULES OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT
SOCIAL SECURITY
(a) Staff members who, because of illness or accident, are prevented from performing their work, or who cannot report for work because of measures taken for the protection of public health, shall be entitled to sick leave in accordance with the following provisions:
(i) All sick leave must be approved by the corresponding Department or Office director.
(ii) Staff members holding short-term contracts may be granted sick leave at the rate of two working days per month of service.
(iii) Members of the career service shall have the right to sick leave for up to six months on full salary and up to six months on half salary during any calendar year. The sick leave authorized in any period of four consecutive years may not exceed eighteen months, including nine months on full salary and nine months on half salary.
(iv) Staff members holding long-term contracts shall have the right to sick leave of up to three months on full salary and up to three months on half salary during any calendar year. The sick leave authorized in any period of four consecutive years may not exceed eighteen months, including nine months on full salary and nine months on half salary.
(v) Staff members shall be responsible for informing their supervisors as soon as possible of their absences due to illness or injury. Where possible they should report to the Health Unit of the General Secretariat before absenting themselves.
(vi) Except with the authorization of the Secretary General, no staff member may be granted sick leave for a period of more than three consecutive working days unless he presents a medical certificate to the effect that he is unable to perform his duties and stating the probable duration of the absence. Such certificate shall, except in circumstances beyond the control of the staff member, be presented immediately upon his return to duty.
(vii) A staff member who takes seven days of sick leave during one calendar year, or a proportional number of days when his period of service is less than one year, without presenting a medical certificate, must justify any other sick leave absence during the same year with a medical certificate; otherwise, the time of such absence shall be deducted from his annual leave or charged as special leave without pay.
(viii) A staff member may be required at any time to submit a medical certificate as to his condition or to undergo examination by a medical practitioner named by the Secretary General. Further sick leave may be refused or the unused portion withdrawn if the Secretary General is satisfied that the staff member is able to return to his duties, provided, however, that if the staff member so requests the matter shall he referred to an independent practitioner or a medical board acceptable to both the Secretary General and the staff member.
(ix) A staff member shall not, while on sick leave, leave the area of the duty station without the prior approval of the Department of Human Resource Services.
(b) Sick leave may also be granted in the following cases:
(i) For illness or confinement of a member of the staff member's immediate family residing in his household when his personal attention is required, as attested to by a medical certificate. This leave may not exceed five working days in a calendar year.
(ii) Death in the staff member's immediate family, wherever the deceased resided, or of a relative who was part of the staff member's household at the time of death. This leave may not exceed five consecutive working days.
(iii) For these purposes, the following shall be considered immediate family: the spouse, children, parents, and brothers or sisters of the staff member.
(c) A staff member on annual or home leave may be granted sick leave after he has been ill for more than three consecutive days, if he presents an appropriate medical certificate or other satisfactory evidence. In this case, the staff member, or any other person on his behalf, must notify the Department of Human Resource Services as soon as practicable of his condition and later present as soon as possible, or immediately upon his return to duty, a request for sick leave with supporting certificate or other evidence.
(d) A staff member shall immediately notify the General Secretariat's Health Unit of any case of contagious disease occurring in, or any quarantine order affecting, his household. A staff member who, as a result of these circumstances, is directed not to attend the office shall receive his full salary and other allowances for the period of authorized absence.
(e) Charges to certified sick leave shall be made in multiples of one hour, with a fraction thereof being considered one hour. The minimum charge without presentation of a certificate shall be four hours. In the case of medical, dental, or optical examination or treatment duly certified, or when the staff member is excused by the staff nurse, the time shown on the corresponding certificate shall be charged.
(f) Entitlement to sick leave shall lapse on the final date of a staff member's appointment.
(a) A female staff member who is a career staff member, the holder of a long-term contract, an appointee to a position of trust, or the holder of a short-term contract, and who will have served continuously for at least one year at the anticipated time of confinement:
(i) Shall be entitled to absent herself from duty until the date of confinement upon producing an acceptable medical certificate that her confinement will probably take place within six weeks.
(ii) Shall be entitled to absent herself from duty for six weeks after confinement.
(iii) Shall receive maternity leave on full pay for the entire duration of her absence in accordance with (i) and (ii) above. No miscalculation on the part of the doctor or midwife as to the date of confinement shall prevent the staff member from receiving full pay to the actual date of confinement.
(b) A female staff member who is a career staff member, the holder of a long-term contract, or a holder of a position of trust, who will have served continuously for less than one year at the anticipated time of confinement shall be entitled to use her sick leave under Rule 107.1 for up to twelve weeks, i.e., six weeks prior to confinement and six weeks immediately after delivery.
(c) A female staff member with a short-term contract and less than one year of continuous service at the anticipated time of confinement shall be entitled to use her accrued sick leave, as well as her accrued annual leave, and on her request, special leave without pay for the rest of her absence in accordance with (a)(i) and (ii) above.
(d) Sick leave, other than that provided for in paragraphs (b) and (c), above, shall not normally be granted for maternity cases except in the event of serious complications requiring a longer absence than that provided by the maternity leave.
(e) Return to duty after maternity leave must be supported by a medical certificate.
(f) Annual leave shall accrue during the period of maternity leave provided that the staff member returns to service for at least six months after the completion of maternity leave.
(g) When a female staff member makes use of special leave with partial pay or without pay, or is suspended from her duties without pay, she shall not lose the rights to maternity leave she has acquired by service rendered. However, when the periods of absence cover one or more complete months, they shall not be counted as qualifying service for maternity leave. Periods of less than a complete month shall be counted for this purpose.
(h) Absence from duty prior to confinement shall not be obligatory, but a female staff member whose confinement is expected to occur within six weeks and who wishes to continue to work must present a medical certificate stating that she is fit for duty.
Rule 107.3 Health and Life Insurance
(a) The General Secretariat shall contribute to a group health insurance plan for any staff member with an appointment of six months or longer. It shall also maintain a group life insurance plan and a 24-hour accidental death insurance plan for each staff member with an appointment of one year or more. These plans must be approved in consultation with the Staff Committee.
(b) The staff member shall participate in the group insurance plans from the day on which he reports for duty. He shall not be obligated to participate in the health insurance plan if he can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Department of Human Resource Services that he has comparable benefits under another plan. In this case, the General Secretariat shall not bear any part of the cost of the insurance.
(c) The contributions of the General Secretariat to the insurance plans shall be based, where applicable, on the premium rates established by the respective insurers.
(d) The benefit for life insurance shall not be less than 200 percent of the annual basic salary. The benefit for accidental death insurance shall be an additional 200 percent.
(e) The scales of contributions for payments of health insurance shall be published periodically. The General Secretariat shall pay the whole of the life and accidental death insurance premiums.
(f) A staff member in leave-without-pay status for a period of one year or less shall retain his right to all benefits as a participant, and the General Secretariat shall continue its contribution toward payment of the corresponding premiums. It shall be the responsibility of the staff member to make appropriate arrangements with the Office of the Treasurer before going on leave without pay, for the payment of his share of the premium for health insurance. If the leave without pay is extended for more than a year, the Secretary General may, in exceptional cases, decide that the General Secretariat shall continue its contribution toward the payment of premiums for such period as he may determine.
Rule 107.4 Workers' Compensation for Work-Related Injury and Illness
In accordance with Article 47 of the General Standards:
(a) The General Secretariat shall provide for an adequate system of workers' compensation for its staff members.
(b) When a staff member, regardless of his duty station, is absent from duty because of work-related illness or injury, the absence shall promptly (normally within no more than 48 hours), be reported to the appropriate official of the General Secretariat. For staff members who are injured or who become ill in the United States of America or in a non-member State, or in a Member State where the General Secretariat does not maintain an Office, the appropriate official to contact is the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services. For staff members who are injured or who become ill in a duty station outside headquarters, where the General Secretariat maintains an Office, the appropriate official to contact is the Director of the Office of the General Secretariat in that duty station, who shall immediately forward the information to the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services. After investigating the claimed injury or illness, the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services shall prepare a report on the matter. If the Director concludes that the injury or illness is work-related, the staff member shall be placed on administrative leave in accordance with Rule 106.3, retroactive to the date on which he was unable to report to work as a result of his injury or illness, and all future leave taken in relation to that injury or illness shall be recorded as administrative leave.
(c) In the case of a work related-injury or illness confirmed under this Rule, all reasonably related medical expenses shall be paid by the General Secretariat from a fund maintained for that purpose. Such expenses include, for example, medical, surgical, and vocational rehabilitation services, nurse and hospital service, home care, medicine, crutches, wheel chairs, false teeth or the repair thereof, and or any necessary artificial or prosthetic appliance for such period of time as the nature of the injury or illness or the process of recovery may require.
(d) When an injury from a work-related accident is a principal factor which proximately causes a staff member's death within one year from the date of the accident, the staff member's duly designated beneficiary, or his estate if no such designation was made, shall receive a benefit of three hundred percent of his annual basic salary at the time of the injury, not to exceed three hundred percent of the then-current annual basic salary at the last step of the D-2 level on the with dependent salary schedule. This payment shall be made in addition to his life insurance and, if applicable, his accidental death insurance under Rule 107.3(d).
(e) If, as a result of a work-related accident, a staff member does not die but loses a portion of his body and/or the ability to speak or hear within one year of that accident, the staff member shall, if applicable, receive the payment provided for in the schedule set out in the General Secretariat's insurance policy covering loss of that body part or function. In the event that payment for loss of a particular body part or function is not provided for in that insurance policy, but is included as a compensable loss under the schedule set out in the workers' compensation statute then in force at the "seat of the General Secretariat" under Article 126 of the Charter, then the staff member shall receive a payment for the loss equal to the amount authorized for that body part or function by that statute. With thirty days' advance written notice, the Secretary General may modify or replace the schedule provided for in the insurance policy and statute, provided that any such modification or replacement is reasonable.
(f) Absences resulting from work-related illness or injury that total 12 months in a consecutive two-year period or total 18 months in a consecutive four-year period, which result from work-related illness or injury, shall provide sufficient cause for the staff member's termination from service in accordance with Rule 110.4(a), regardless of whether the staff member has unused sick leave under Rule 107.1. In addition, a staff member who is unable as a result of work-related injury or illness to perform the functions of his post satisfactorily for a total of 12 months in a consecutive two-year period or for a total of 18 months in a consecutive four-year period may be terminated from service in accordance with Rule 110.4(a), regardless of whether he has unused sick leave under Rule 107.1.
(g) Where a physician designated by the Department of Human Resource Services or by the General Secretariat's insurer certifies that a staff member is totally and permanently disabled, and work-related injury or illness is the principal cause of that disability, and: (i) the staff member is less than 62 years old at the time of the onset of the injury or illness, the staff member shall be entitled to receive a benefit equal to two-thirds of his basic annual salary at the time that he is declared totally disabled until he reaches age 65; or (ii) the staff member is at least 62 years old at the time of the onset of the injury or illness, the staff member shall be entitled to receive a benefit equal to two-thirds of his basic annual salary at the time that he is declared totally disabled until he reaches age 65 or such other subsequent age in accordance with the General Secretariat's workers' compensation insurance policy. Any disability benefits to which the staff member is entitled under the OAS Retirement and Pension Plan or under the Provident Plan, including lump sum or periodic annuity payments, shall be applied to the payment of that amount. The General Secretariat may terminate the disability benefit upon receipt of evidence which shows that the staff member is no longer totally and permanently disabled or may withhold or reduce the disability benefit accordingly upon receipt of evidence which shows that the staff member is gainfully employed.
(h) As a condition of receiving and continuing to receive payments of any kind under this Rule, the recipient shall, when so requested by the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services, provide the Director with copies of his medical records, and he shall submit to periodic medical examinations as required by that Director. Such examinations shall be paid for by the General Secretariat. Refusal to provide the records or refusal to submit to any such medical examination shall be grounds for the automatic termination of payments and other benefits under this Rule, and shall result in the person's forfeiture of any rights to receive payments or other benefits from the General Secretariat in relation to said injury or illness.
(i) Where there is a question as to whether a staff member who claims to be disabled is working at another job, as a condition of his receipt of payments or other benefits and/or the continuation of receipt of payments or other benefits under this Rule, he shall, upon the request of the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services, promptly provide the Director with copies of his Federal, State and local tax returns and records. Failure to provide this information on a timely basis shall be grounds for termination, reduction, or withholding of payments and other benefits under this Rule.
(j) Where there is a question as to whether a person receiving benefits under this Rule is working at another job, that person shall, upon the request of the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services, promptly provide the Director with copies of his Federal, State and local tax returns and records. Failure to provide this information on a timely basis shall be grounds for termination, reduction, or withholding of payments and other benefits under this Rule.
(k) Nothing in this Rule shall be construed to accord a non-career staff member whose contract expires while he is suffering from a work-related illness or injury a right to renewal or extension of employment beyond the expiration date of his contract or appointment.
Rule 107.5 Compensation for Loss of or Damage to Personal Effects
(a) Staff members shall be entitled, within the limits and under the terms and conditions listed herein, to reasonable compensation in the event of loss of or damage to their personal effects determined to be directly attributable to the performance of official duties on behalf of the Organization of American States.
(i) The staff member shall submit a claim listing the items lost or damaged, their value at the time of the loss or damage, and the circumstances under which the loss or damage occurred.
(ii) The staff member must have taken proper precautions with respect to safeguarding his personal valuables.
(iii) The reimbursement shall be limited to those personal effects that the staff member should reasonably carry or have transported in the light of the duties he is to perform.
(iv) Reimbursement from the General Secretariat shall not exceed the actual value of the personal effects at the time of the loss or damage, less any reimbursement from insurance, transportation companies, or other agencies that may have been responsible, in whole or part, for such loss or damage.
(b) Reimbursement will be denied if such loss or damage was caused by the negligence or misconduct of the staff member.
(c) Reimbursement will be denied for any loss or damage sustained by a private vehicle which was being used for official business, including travel in connection with home leave, when such use of a private vehicle was solely at the request of and for the convenience of the staff member.
(d) Additional guidelines regarding coverage and the corresponding limitations are set out in the administrative issuances of the General Secretariat.
Rule 107.6 Participation in the Pension Plan and the Provident Plan
(a) The participation of career staff members in the Retirement and Pension Plan of the Organization of American States is obligatory and shall be governed by the regulations of that Plan.
(b) The Secretary General, in consultation with the Retirement and Pension Committee, shall determine, by means of directives, the participation of staff members who are not members of the career service in the Retirement and Pension Plan and in the Provident Plan.
