Working conditions of UN consultants: still a long way to go

22 | International Union Rights | 26/1 FOCUS | UNION RIGHTS OF STATE ADMINISTRATION AND ESSENTIAL SERVICES WORKERS It is estimated that consultants represent almost half of the worldwide UN workforce. The CCB wants fees and benefits for consultants to be more transparent and consistent In the course of the last ten years, the recruitment of consultants within the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations has dramatically increased and expanded to include core work in their duties. It is estimated that consultants represent almost half of the worldwide UN workforce1, and this is even more frequent in duty stations outside New York and Geneva, where it is ever more common to see full-time in-house consultants performing staff-like duties. However, the CCB considers this situation as abusive towards consultants, who are not acknowledged as UN officials and may receive as little as a third or even a quarter of the UN staff net salary, taking into account the absence of other benefits such as pension, health insurance, maternity leave and educational grants. Furthermore, unlike international civil servants, consultants working for the UN and other international organisations are not exempted from income taxes, Swiss health insurance and social security obligations in Geneva. For a long time, the Swiss authorities hardly ever enforced these obligations with respect to them, a situation which has also contributed to the UN management turning a blind eye on consultants’ obligations, and ultimately led to the increase of this cheap labour force. This changed in September 2018, with the entry into force of an agreement for the exchange of fiscal information between the Swiss Confederation and the EU and other countries (100 countries altogether). All residents in Geneva, both national and non-national, were requested to update their tax declarations and consultants had not only to register but also declare and fulfil their obligations from the date of their arrival in Geneva. Many consultants were faced, for the first time, with the new financial burden of Swiss income taxes, social security, and health and accident’s insurance. This has generated a great deal of consternation, stress and uncertainty about unexpected and potentially ruinous fines and back payments. The change also brought to light one of the greatest contradictions in the system. On the one hand, consultants are considered ‘salarié d’un employeur non tenu de côtiser en Suisse’ (employee of an employer not required to contribute in Switzerland) by the social security administration (their status within the fiscal administration is yet unclear). On the other hand, most UN internal rules on consultancies consider individual contractors and consultants as independent experts temporarily recruited, not employees nor staff that work full time for one organisation. Although some consultants fit into the former description, the vast majority are ‘de facto’ employees, working full time for one organisation and carrying similar tasks than UN staff. As a result, the UN and other international organisations do not pay the usual 50 percent share of social contributions for the ‘employed’ consultants. This means the consultants must pay social security contributions equal to 17 percent of their ‘salaries’, double to that of any other employee in Switzerland. Overall, with health and accident insurance as well as social security, consultants could pay up to 40 percent of their incomes. This increases the already important gap in remuneration levels between staff and consultants, the former receiving a salary exempt from these taxations in addition to benefits provided by the UN system. Even more importantly, the visa status of consultants (Carte de legitimation type ‘H’) restricts them in practice from benefitting some social security allowances that they contributed to, in case of need. Unemployment, maternity and invalidity allowances require indeed a resident status in Switzerland, which for the clear majority of consultants is limited to their contracts’ duration. It is estimated that more than 2000 consultants in Geneva are in this situation. Since the UN and other international organisations are immune to Swiss law and jurisdiction, misclassification of workers as consultants and other abuses can only be dealt with within the UN system justice system, such as the ILO Administrative Tribunal, a path that those who are seeking a long-term or permanent position within...

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