1. When are the departure formalities documents sent out?

The procedure for issuing departure formalities documents depends on the category of personnel.

1.1 Staff members (STAF)

1.1.1 Staff members leaving before reaching the age limit

Within a maximum period of six months before the end of the contract of the staff member concerned, the HR Coordinator (HRC) of the People eXperience and Engagement group initiates the EDH document Review of Appointment Expiration (RAES).

The RAES is then approved by the various services. The departmental secretariat (DAO) completes the last working day, the contract end date is confirmed and recorded in the personnel database, and the EDH document is transferred to E-files.

The staff member subsequently receives an email containing a link to the personalized departure formalities on EDH.

1.1.2 Staff members reaching the age limit

Within a maximum period of 9 to 12 months before the end of the contract of the staff member concerned, the HR Coordinator (HRC) of the People eXperience and Engagement group initiates the EDH document Review of Appointment Expiration (RAES).

The RAES is then approved by the various services. The departmental secretariat (DAO) completes the last working day, the contract end date is confirmed and recorded in the personnel database, and the EDH document is transferred to E-files.

The staff member subsequently receives an email containing a link to the personalized departure formalities on EDH.

The HR Coordinator (HRC) of the People eXperience and Engagement group then sends two emails to the staff member concerned and to their supervisor, containing the following information:

Email to the staff member:

• notification of the launch of the contract termination process;
• reminder that any untaken annual leave will be forfeited;
• link to the brochure "When You Leave CERN";
• link to the Offboarding Survey;
• possibility of arranging a meeting with an HR Coordinator (HRC) from the People eXperience and Engagement group;
• contact points for any questions.

Email to the supervisor:

• notification that the departure formalities for their supervisee have been initiated;
• request to contact the supervisee in order to support them through this transition;
• contact point for any questions.

1.1.3 Subsequent steps of the process for both categories

The SFPA document should ideally be initiated three months prior to the staff member’s final working day. In all cases, it must be fully approved (routing completed) no later than 15 days before the payment of the final salary, to enable the Salaries Office to take the validated information into account during payroll processing for the staff member’s final contractual month. This deadline represents the latest date by which the procedure may be completed.

The HR Leave Service verifies the staff member’s last working day and the leave records entered in the system, and then completes the Staff Final Pay Action (SFPA) document. The Salaries Office and the Pension Fund are notified through the document routing process, after which the document is transferred to E-files.

N.B. It is important to distinguish between the end-of-contract process, which must comply with the six-month deadline, and the possibility for staff members to be registered under another status following the end of their contract. Once this information becomes available, it may be communicated to the relevant services (the Records Office and/or the Users Office) by email a few days before the end of the contract.

1.2 Other members of the personnel (excluding users, cooperation associate and visiting scientists and staff members)

Within a maximum period of three months before the end of the contract of the member of the personnel concerned, the departmental secretariat (DAO) initiates the EDH document Review of Appointment Expiration (non-staff) (RAEF) and completes the last working day.

The RAEF is then approved by the various services, the confirmation of the end of contract is recorded in the personnel database, and the EDH document is transferred to E-files.

The staff member subsequently receives an email containing a link to the personalized departure formalities on EDH.

N.B. It is important to distinguish between the end-of-contract process, which must comply with the six-month deadline, and the possibility for members of the personnel to be registered under another status following the end of their contract. Once this information becomes available, it may be communicated to the relevant services (the Records Office and/or the Users Office) by email a few days before the end of the contract.

1.3 Users (USER), cooperation associate (COAS) and visiting scientists (VISC)

The Users Office automatically sends USER, COAS, VISC an e-mail 28 days before termination of their contract, when contract duration in excess of three months. This email contains a list of items (identity cards, keys, etc.) that the members of the personnel must return to the relevant services before departure. It also includes a link to a standard departure form, which must be printed and submitted to the Users Office before leaving.

2. Description of personalised departure formalities

The departure formalities consist of two distinct and complementary documents:

2.1 Departure letter (pdf format)

The letter is generated when the member of the personnel clicks on the link received in the departure e-mail. This document appears in PDF but with links that you can click on.
 
The data contained in this document are personalised to take account of the relevant category of member of the personnel and of any financial benefits applying on termination of contract.

This letter is automatically recorded in E-files and can continue to be consulted by the authorised administrative services.

2.2 Termination sheet (EDH)

The termination sheet in EDH (example here) lists all the services which the member of the personnel must visit to complete the departure formalities. The advantage of this termination sheet is that the list of services to be visited is tailored to the contractual position of the member of the personnel and to the equipment recorded as being in their possession.

3. What the member of the personnel has to do?

Members of the personnel may have access at any time to their departure formalities, either by consulting their departure e-mail or the termination sheet on the EDH desktop (Fiche de départ / Departure sheet).

N.B. The member of the personnel’s computer account and the personal space(s) (e.g. my /eos/user/userid/ personal space, etc.) will be deactivated two months after the end of the contract and deleted after 6 months. For more details, please refer to the Knowledge Base Articles KB0000156 "What happens to my account(s) and my mail address when I leave CERN?" and KB0010071 "What happens to my data when my contract ends".

As CERN primary and secondary computer accounts are automatically disabled two months after a contract ends, members of the personnel must, before the end of their contract, link their CERN account with a personal account such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. This will allow them to, amongst other things, access their annual internal taxation certificate via MyFiles or access the CERN Alumni Network after leaving CERN. The different steps in this process are explained in detail in Knowledge Base Article KB0008305 – "How to link personal accounts to your CERN user".

If the members of the personnel do not have a Google, Facebook, etc. account or do not wish to link it to their CERN account, they must create a "guest account" by following the steps outlined in Knowledge Base Article KB0007539 - "Logging into CERN Single Sign-On with a Guest (or Lightweight) account" and then link it to their CERN account.

Specific cases (active members of the personnel and ex-members of the personnel) have been documented on the "Verified Guest Accounts" page.

The member of the personnel no longer has access to the departure formalities documentation 7 days after the end of contract.

Special case for staff members contributing to loss of earnings insurance:

When the staff member contributes to loss of earnings insurance, cover automatically ends when the contract expires. If the staff member would like to terminate the cover earlier, refer to paragraph 4. End of cover in the "Loss of Earnings Insurance".

3.1 Departure e-mail

When members of the personnel receive the departure e-mail, they must consult their departure letter by clicking on the link in the e-mail.

3.2 Departure letter (pdf format)

Members of the personnel familiarise themselves with the information contained in the letter and take the recommended steps. It is also advisable to print out this letter and keep a copy of it.

In particular, for staff members who may be entitled to benefit from various termination-of-contract benefits (e.g. termination-of-contract indemnity, reinstallation indemnity and payment of travel and removal expenses) this letter contains links to the forms that must be used in the corresponding procedures and need to be printed out.

The member of the personnel must click on the link to the EDH termination sheet in order to create it.

3.3 Termination sheet (EDH)

Members of the personnel record in the EDH termination sheet their private address and their personal e-mail address to which all future correspondence should be forwarded.

Before their contract expires, the members of the personnel then complete the formalities with all the services indicated on the termination sheet. The services may be visited in any order provided that the deadlines shown on the termination sheet are complied with. Thus, priority must be given to completing certain formalities, whereas others cannot be completed until the last day of contract.

The members of the personnel must contact all the services indicated on the termination sheet, failing which completion of the departure formalities will not be validated. These visits must be made even if the members of the personnel are staying on at CERN under a user contract (see the procedure for registering as a user, with the Users Office).

The members of the personnel must visit the CERN Community Support Centre [Building 33] in order to return their access card before contacting the Salaries Office. They will receive in turn a day pass.

Members of the personnel can return their key:

• during opening hours: to the Locks and keys service or to the CERN Community Support Centre [Building 33], or
• outside opening hours by placing it in a sealed envelope mentioning their name and CERN ID in the "After hours - key drop" box located in the entrance to Building 73 near the Locks and keys service.

N.B. The set of keys must always be returned to the Locks and keys service.

To facilitate the round of visits to the various services, the member of the personnel can print out an “itinerary” by clicking on the link “Please click here to print your termination sheet”.

N.B. The itinerary indicates only those services where the formalities have not yet been validated.

4. What do the services involved in the termination sheet process have to do?

The administrative services concerned consult the member of the personnel’s termination sheet in EDH (Overview) and then validate completion of the departure formalities by clicking the ‘signature' box. They may add comments for internal use.

Further information, in particular concerning the management of the access rights by the e-groups, may be found in the EDH departure formalities documentation.

5. Special case of departure formalities before special leave or authorised absence (unpaid)

Members of the personnel benefiting from special leave or authorised absence (unpaid) for more than 2 months must complete the departure formalities indicated on the following specific departure sheet, forwarded to them together with the amendment to their contract:

• For employed members of the personnel: specific departure sheet, before a special leave;
• For associated members of the personnel: specific departure sheet, before an authorised absence (unpaid).

It is important that the member of personnel concerned makes contact with the services indicated on the sheet prior to their departure on special leave or authorised absence (unpaid).

In particular, the member of the personnel’s Swiss Cards and French cards and those granted to any family members must be surrendered and the associated privileges cancelled.
If they have any further questions, members of the personnel must contact the Cards Service.