FAQs

No. The European Labour Authority does not accept spontaneous applications. Please visit our website regularly and apply online for any post that you are interested in and for which you meet the requirements.

ELA will be publishing its vacancies on its own website, and on the EPSO website (section “job opportunities”). Each vacancy notice will contain detailed information about the application process. To process applications, ELA will be using EU CV Online, an electronic application system developed for the EU Institutions. Should you be interested in vacancies at ELA, you may already create a profile on EU CV Online, and apply once there are open vacancies.

To become a Seconded National Expert at ELA, you first need to be employed by a national Administration. The Agency may only consider applications validated first by the respective Member State. A specific recruitment procedure would then follow.

Each vacancy notice will contain detailed information about the conditions of employment for the respective job.

As a general rule, the remuneration package includes pension provision, health, accident and unemployment insurance. Additional allowances may be paid to staff depending on their family circumstances.

Salaries paid by the ELA are exempt from national taxation in all EU Member States, but subject to income tax (deducted at source) for the benefit of the European Union, and are paid by the 15th day of each month.

The salary is weighed with a correction coefficient based on the cost of living in the country hosting the Authority. Pay rates and correction coefficients are adjusted each year.

No. The on-line application form will not be available after the deadline. In addition, if you started to complete the form but you did not submit it before the deadline, you will not be able to do so afterwards. For reasons of equal treatment of all candidates, no exceptions can be made.

It depends on the type of post (AST/AD or Function Group for CA posts) and is clearly stated in each vacancy. Please read the vacancy notice carefully before applying.

It is very important that you choose and attach the correct degree giving you access, as the system will start counting your professional experience after the date you obtained this degree.

Please see some examples below:

For an AST post:

The vacancy notice may mention:

"Have completed a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma

or

a level of secondary education attested by a diploma which gives access to post- secondary education and, after having obtained the diploma, 3 years appropriate full-time professional experience

In addition to the above formal requirements the successful candidate must have a minimum of 6 years professional experience in the tasks listed above."

1. In this case you should mention in your application form either a secondary diploma + 9 years of experience OR
2. Your first university degree (with a normal duration of 3 years or more) obtained + 6 years of professional experience OR
3. A recognised post-secondary degree of less than 3 years + the required years of experience. E.g. where the normal duration of the post-secondary degree is 2 years, you would need 7 years of professional experience (one additional year of experience required as the post-secondary degree was less than 3 years. If the post-secondary was 1 year, 8 years of professional experience would be required)

For an AD post:

The vacancy notice may mention:

"Have a level of university education which corresponds to completed university studies (of at least three years), attested by a diploma

In addition to the above formal requirements, at least 2 years of full-time equivalent relevant professional experience"

In this case you should mention the date you obtained your undergraduate degree of the “completed university studies of at least three years” (e.g. bachelor). Any further degrees (masters or the like) should be mentioned in your CV and may be attached to the electronic application form under ‘other documents’.

ELA’s written tests are specifically designed to examine the competences mentioned in each vacancy notice. It is therefore not possible to provide sample tests.

You are free to submit your application. However, if you do not have the required level of education and years of work experience for the specific post, your application will be excluded as it does not meet the formal requirements and selection criteria.

Note that in assessing whether you have the years of experience required for the job, ELA solely takes into consideration the information entered into the electronic application form.

Degrees issued from any educational institution of a non-EU country must be recognised in at least one EU country. Proof of official recognition (e.g. Naric certification) should be attached to your application.

National Liaison Officers are seconded national experts designated by each Member State to contribute to executing the tasks of the Authority, including by facilitating the cooperation/exchange of information and coordination of inspections as per ELA regulation. They shall also act as national contact points for questions from their Member States and relating to their Member States, either by answering those questions directly or by liaising with their national administrations.

For more information on the duties and practicalities of NLOs, please see the call for expression of interest.

The starting date for NLOs is planned to be by summer 2020 provided that there will be a minimum number of Member States having appointed them by that time. Having a significant number of NLO’s from different EU countries is an essential prerequisite in order to guarantee exchange of information between them.

NLOs at ELA will have the same administrative status as Seconded National Experts (SNE). Hence, National Administrations should keep covering their regular salary. From ELA, according to the specific situation and if applicable, NLOs will receive a daily subsistence allowance and a monthly allowance.

As of 1 January 2020, the amount of the daily subsistence allowance is equal to 143,30€ for Brussels (i.e. hence 113,20€ in Bratislava. In a standard month of 30 calendar days, this would mean a total of 3.396€ for Bratislava). Please note that the daily subsistence allowance applies to each calendar day spent in ELA, not only to working days. This includes also possible days of holidays, absence due to sickness, etc.

The monthly allowance to be added on top depends on the distance between your place of origin and the place of employment. The annex uploaded on ELA website contains full details on both types of allowances.

These subsistence allowances shall be granted under the same conditions as the expatriation allowance for ELA staff members (N.B. on the condition that you have not taken residence in the place of employment during the preceding 5 years).

Daily and monthly allowances are subject to the correction of coefficient currently applicable to Slovakia, currently at 79% compared to Brussels values.

According to Article 14 of the decision on SNEs approved by the Management Board on 17th October 2019, NLOs are subject to ELA rules regarding leaves. This means that NLOs are not subject to the rules in force in your Member State.

According to the decision on leave (application by analogy of Commission decision – document to be found here), a day of annual leave is a working day (normally from Monday to Friday inclusive, not including public holidays) that is not worked. ELA staff is entitled to 2 working days’ leave for each complete month of service. Part of a month entitles a staff member to 2 working days’ leave if it is more than 15 calendar days and to 1 working day if it is 15 calendar days or less, in line with Article 1 of Annex V.

The basic annual leave entitlement for a staff member is 24 days. Other than in duly substantiated exceptional cases, staff members may take annual leave only after completing 3 months’ service, as laid down in Article 2 of Annex V.

Additional entitlement for age: NLOs are entitled to a number of days’ leave in addition to their basic entitlement depending on their age up to a maximum of 30 working days per calendar year, in accordance with Article 57 of the Staff Regulations. The age to be taken into account is that on 31 December of the current year. On entry into service, the additional entitlement for age is calculated pro rata for the number of months to be worked until 31 December.

Supplementary home leave: 2 ½ days of supplementary home leave are granted every year to officials entitled to the expatriation or foreign residence allowance for the purpose of visiting their home country. Supplementary home leave is granted once per calendar year to NLOs for the purpose of visiting their home country. Supplementary home leave cannot be carried over or reimbursed. Where the entitlement to expatriation or foreign residence allowance changes during the course of a year, the decision whether or not to grant the supplementary home leave will be based on the NLO’s situation on 1 January of that year.

On entry into service, the supplementary home leave is calculated pro rata for the number of months to be worked until 31 December.

Special leaves: in exceptional circumstances NLOs maybe granted special leave.

NLOs cannot transfer any holidays from their national employers to ELA and vice versa. At the end of your assignment you will any days of holidays in case your balance is positive. These days will also not be compensated.

In the case of a 2 year assignment, it is possible for NLOs who have some days left at the end of the first year, may transfer up to 12 to the following year.

According to the latest planning the move from Brussels to Bratislava is scheduled for before the end of 2020 (exact date to be confirmed). However, there are factors playing a decisive role which go beyond ELA’s control. This section is being updated on a regular basis.

 According to the promotional document prepared by the Slovak authorities, Bratislava currently has a fast-growing real estate market. All types of apartments are being added to the market and most of them are well-suited for family life (3 and more room units). Housing in Bratislava meets price variability requirements as all price options are available. Currently, there is a sufficient offer of rental flats on the market. Each NLO will be responsible to find his/ her own accommodation according to his/ her preferences. There are some websites where you can start to have a look: realestates.sk, real-estate-slovakia.com, 4expat.sk, byty.ba, 4expat.eu ELA HR team may help staff in the search by providing information about the real estate market, templates for contracts, etc.

The daily and monthly subsistence allowance that will be awarded to NLOs (as the same conditions to be applied to Seconded National Experts) are meant to cover all subsistence costs in Bratislava. Hence, there are no additional amounts to cover accommodation costs.

According to the decision on SNEs adopted by ELA's Management Board (Article 19), NLOs “shall be entitled for himself, to the reimbursement of the cost of his travel between his place of origin and the place of secondment, as defined in Article 18, at the beginning and end of his secondment”. 

Please note that there is also a specific provision which should help NLOs cover the costs related to getting installed in Bratislava, namely in Art. 17.10:

"10. When the SNE starts the secondment, the first 75 days of the subsistence allowances to which he is entitled shall be advanced in the form of a lump sum, and the allowances shall not be paid during the corresponding period. This lump sum shall be paid by the 25th day of the month for SNEs starting on the first day of the same month. For SNEs starting on the 16th day of the month, this lump sum shall be paid by the 10th day of the following month. If the secondment is ended during the first 75 days, the SNE shall return the amount corresponding to the remainder of that period".

Regarding missions, please note that NLOs may participate in business trips organised and financed by ELA subject to article 6 of the decision, which indicates that:

“An SNE shall take part in missions or external meetings only as part of a delegation led by an Authority statutory staff member or, if on his own, as an observer or for information purposes”.

There will be a decision to formalise the assignment of each NLO, the duration of the assignment, et It cannot be called a contract as there is no employment relation between ELA and NLOs. However, the conditions of employment are the ones defined in the decision on SNEs adopted by ELA’s Management Board.

ELA HR service will get in touch with you to ask for some additional documents such as a declaration on honour, the personal details form, the Legal Entity Form and the financial identification form or some documents from your employer, like declaration of conflict of interest, declaration of SNEs' time in service, declaration on expenses and allowances or the declaration on the nature of the employer.

This section is being updated on a regular basis.