THE SECRETARY GENERAL,

    In the exercise of the powers vested in him under Articles 114 and 118 of the Charter of the Organization of American States and Articles 8 and 12 of the General Standards to Govern the Operations of the General Secretariat, and

CONSIDERING:

    That by Resolution AG/RES. 954 (XVIII-O/88), the General Assembly directed the General Secretariat to base the salaries of locally recruited personnel in the offices of the Secretariat in the Member States on local salary and wage scales and to pay those salaries in local currency with due respect for the pertinent legal provisions,

RESOLVES:

1.    The following principles shall govern salaries of general services category staff                                                            members (grades A-H) recruited locally for service in the offices of the General Secretariat in the Member States (the "duty stations" away from the headquarters country).

a.    Salaries shall be fixed and paid in the national currency of the duty station.

b.    For each duty station, the Department of Human Resources shall periodically prepare salary scales based on local salary surveys conducted in the Member States and provided to the General Secretariat by other inter-American agencies or other reliable sources. The salary scales shall establish salary levels by grade and step for the general services staff in each Member State. The Department of Human Resources shall make copies of the salary scales available to affected staff members upon request.

c.    The salaries set out in the salary scales shall also be considered the pensionable remuneration of staff for purposes of computing individual and institutional contributions to and entitlements from the Retirement and Pension Fund and Provident Fund.

2.    Except as otherwise provided in this Executive Order, general services category staff members recruited locally in the offices of the General Secretariat of the Member States away from Headquarters are entitled to the same emoluments provided general services staff stationed at Headquarters, subject to the following conditions:

a.    Contributions to the General Secretariat's Retirement and Pension Fund and Provident Fund shall be deducted from the salary of each staff member paid at the end of each month. They shall then be translated from local currency into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate used by the OAS five working days prior to the payment of the end of month salaries (the payroll exchange rate), for deposit in the Fund. Lump-sum withdrawals, pension, and other retirement-related payments are to be paid in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the Retirement and Pension Fund and Provident Fund.

b.    At a staff member's written request, the Secretariat may agree, for the staff member's convenience, to make deductions from the staff member's monthly salary for deposits and payments to the OAS Credit Union. Such deductions, if made, will be in local currency and converted into dollars at the payroll exchange rate.

c.    For those duty stations in which health insurance premiums must be paid in dollars, the General Secretariat will deduct in local currency, an amount equal to the dollar value of the premium due at the payroll exchange rate. Health insurance benefits shall be paid in the national currency of the duty station where the health services covered by the insurance are rendered to the staff member.

d.    The Dependency Allowance provided under Staff Rule 103.16(a) in each duty station for each primary dependent shall be three percent (3%) of the salary which corresponds to a general services category staff member at the Grade E, Step 10 level on the salary table for that duty station; for each secondary dependent, it shall be one half of the amount paid for a primary dependent in the duty station.

3.    In the event of any conflict between this Executive Order and rules and regulations (including the Staff Rules) of the Secretariat in force upon the date of the issuance of this Executive Order, this Executive Order shall govern.

4.     The Secretariat will amend the employment contract forms, Staff Rules, and other applicable norms to conform to the policies and terms set out in this Executive Order. Until such amendments are made, a copy of this Executive Order shall be attached to the contract of every general services staff member recruited locally pursuant to the terms of this Executive Order in the Member States.

5.    This Executive Order enters into force on the date of its signature; however, no general services staff shall be contracted under this Executive Order in a duty station away from headquarters until the Department of Human Resources has prepared a salary scale for that duty station and this Executive Order shall not apply to any general services staff member who is listed in the December 1990 Personnel Register unless otherwise provided by a subsequent Executive Order or written agreement between the Secretariat and the staff member. The Department of Human Resources shall prepare salary scales for implementation in all the Member States no later than March 1, 1991.

Joao Clemente Baena Soares
Secretary General

Date: February 27, 1991
Original: English