The R&D Handbook — Your rights, your career, your daily life

Knowing your rights is your most effective tool.

We tend to forget it: a precise knowledge of your rights is probably the single most effective tool you have when you find yourself in a situation that puzzles you. How many half-days have you made up without being required to? How many times have you accepted a journey in a lower travel class? How many self-assessments have you completed believing they were compulsory?

This handbook brings together, in a deliberately compact form, the essentials of the Staff Regulations, Bureau decisions and case-law that affect your daily working life. It will not replace case-by-case advice: it gives you the right reflexes and the right questions to ask.

— The R&D team · List N° 10

Chapter I

Taking up duties

Settling in at Parliament — far more than mere formalities.

Joining the institution — the essentials.
Car Park — car, public transport: how to combine?

Chapter II

Rhythm and balance

Organising your time — Parliament's tempo is not set in stone.

Brief absences — must time always be made up?
Leave — annual, special, personal-leave: which scheme?
Parental leave — how many months, on what terms?
Family leave — caring for a seriously ill relative.
Part-time work — can it actually be refused?
Medical part-time — return at 50 % on full pay.
Sickness absence checks — when the institution doubts a sick note.
Teleworking — do not let yourself be forced back full time.
Working hours — overtime: where are the limits?

Chapter III

Moving forward

Building your career — never an automatic trajectory.

Job description — tasks beyond your scope?
Mobility — the 5 / 7-year rule.
Promotions — eligible does not mean promoted.
Reclassification (Art. 2(a)) — the "promotion" of temporary staff.
Annual appraisal — how to defend your report?

Chapter IV

Pay, expenses, allowances

Following your pay — what's left at the end of the month.

Pay — what working for the EU really pays.
Missions — under just any conditions?
Socio-financial assistance — an internal safety net (Art. 76).
Person treated as dependent — extend the allowance to a relative.

Chapter V

Other lives, other projects

Life beyond the institution — your life does not stop at Parliament's door.

Outside activities — a second activity outside?
Honours — accept a medal without formality?
Publications — you are writing a book.

Chapter VI

Defend, respond, challenge

Asserting your rights — procedure becomes your closest ally.

Discipline — the Secretary-General is summoning me.
Harassment — how to respond to abusive behaviour.
Complaints — how to challenge a decision.

The R&D Handbook.