Staff on secondment who maintain a lien on their post have certain “return rights” as stated below in the Administrative Issuance on Staff Selection (ST/AI/2010/3 – section 6.7). Please note that OHR is revising this issuance which will address the issue of “return rights”.
6.7 A staff member who is considered an internal applicant and who is on secondment to a separately administered United Nations fund or programme, specialized agency or organization of the United Nations common system shall be granted a lien against a specific post for up to two years. If the staff member, while on secondment, applies for positions in the Secretariat he/she will be considered an internal applicant and is eligible to apply for a position one level higher than the one he/she currently has in the receiving organization in which the staff member is on secondment. After two years should the staff member wish to remain on secondment, the lien on the specific position shall be surrendered but the staff member retains return rights to the Secretariat up to a maximum of five years. At the end of the five years, a transfer to the receiving organization shall be initiated unless the staff member indicates that he/she would like to return to the Secretariat. In order to return to the Secretariat, the staff member is eligible to apply for positions at the level he/she had at the receiving organization or one level above. If the staff member is unsuccessful in his/her applications, he/she will have the right to return to the Secretariat at his/her level at the time of his/her release on secondment.