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Contract Agents - rights transferable?
I used to work at the European Parliament as an assistant and then transferred directly to the EC as contractual agent. At the EP, I received the 16% xpat allowance (based on me not residing for five years in Belgium prior to taking up work), and I was told by several sources that if you transfer directly from one EU institution to another, you automatically get to keep your rights. The PMO at the EC seems to have a different idea in this respect. Do you happen to know whether the transfer rules are written down anywhere?
I've been working on contracts for the EU institutions for 9 years. I transferred from the EP (where I was a temporary agent) to the Commission (as a contract agent) in 2008 and my rights were transferred (I kept my xpat allowance, as I had only lived in Belgium for 1 year before starting at the EP). I've since left the Commission and transferred to an EU Agency (as a contract agent)and still kept my allowances. I've also now just passed a concours and am being recuited to the Council, where I've been told I will also keep my xpat allowance.
So, in conclusion, I think you should have the right to keep your xpat allowance. Do you have the letter from the EP that you should have got when you started stating your rights? I used this when I transferred to the Commission back in 2008, which seemed to help. You should note, however, that when you transfer between institutions there is ALWAYS a delay on establishing your rights. It took 2 months for PMO to establish my rights at the Commission. So, I just got my basic pay for those 2 months and then my pay was adjusted accordingly. Are you sure this isn't just what's happening in your case too?
