Judgment 886
64th Session, 1988
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
In Judgment 855, "under 16, the Tribunal upheld its earlier ruling in Judgment 657 of 18 March 1985 [...]: there was nothing improper about applying the eight-year rule, which was indeed in keeping with the Administrative Council's guidelines. [The complainant] had no right to fare better on the strength of a method of reckoning that had been superseded by the time he took up duty, the less so since he had been told of the terms of appointment in force at the time and had consented to them."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 657, 855
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; appointment; date; enforcement; professional experience; provision; reckoning; seniority; terms of appointment;
Judgment 884
64th Session, 1988
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant seeks to have his professional experience reckoned anew. He contends that new guidelines supersede the rule precluding the reckoning of experience gained before the age of twenty-five. The Tribunal holds that, although replacement of the rule has been proposed, "until a decision has been taken by the competent authority the 25-year rule remains in force."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; age limit; amendment to the rules; condition; professional experience; proposal; provision; reckoning; seniority;
Judgment 881
64th Session, 1988
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 12-13
Extract:
The complainant asks that his professional experience be reckoned anew. "Professional experience and further studies will count under the guidelines only if subsequent to the date of the degree or diploma that qualifies for recruitment. [...] Periods of study, training or other experience prior to obtaining the professional qualification required for appointment to the EPO do form part of the qualification for which they constitute preparation and cannot count all over again as professional experience."
Keywords:
appointment; condition; degree; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 14
Extract:
"Likewise immaterial are the level and length of the experience [the complainant] says should count, and how long such experience must be to be treated as exceptional under I.1 [of Circular 144]. Such questions arise only where the applicant has no degree but is recruited on the strength of exceptional practical experience."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: POINT I.1 OF CIRCULAR 144
Keywords:
appointment; degree; exception; professional experience; subsidiary; terms of appointment;
Judgment 870
63rd Session, 1987
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"It would be in breach of an official's rights as such and a denial of his entitlements under the procedure for personal promotion to discount any of his service, including periods he may have spent on secondment to technical assistance projects. But the complainant is in a quite different case since he was not yet an official when employed on such projects."
Keywords:
equal treatment; field; general principle; headquarters official; official; personal promotion; professional experience; project personnel; promotion; status of complainant;
Judgment 861
63rd Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
"The complainant was recruited and graded on the strength of his degree. It is clear from [the circular] that those who get in on their university training will be credited only with professional experience gained after the award of the qualifying degree."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; date; degree; interpretation; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Judgment 851
63rd Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 13
Extract:
"As the Tribunal ruled in Judgment 819 [...], it is not discriminatory to credit military and comparable service in full; indeed the purpose and the effect are to restore parity between those whose professional training has been held up by having to serve in the national interest and those who have been able to get on with their training without discharging that duty."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 819
Keywords:
equal treatment; military service; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 14
Extract:
"There is no breach of the principle of equal treatment in the fact that the guidelines, so as to attract qualified people, set a higher value on a few kinds of experience, particularly those that are closely relevant to EPO work."
Keywords:
difference; equal treatment; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 10
Extract:
"Some differences will have to be allowed in the content and standard of engineering degrees until there is international standardisation. For an international organisation like the EPO the only fair and practical approach is to demand for an examiner's post the qualifications required for equivalent duties in the applicant's home country."
Keywords:
date; degree; difference; equal treatment; general principle; professional experience; reckoning; seniority; terms of appointment;
Summary
Extract:
The complainant objects to provisions in the new guidelines which discount periods of professional activity to the detriment of staff members on duty at 31 December 1984, since such experience may, in certain cases, be counted in full only for staff recruited after that date. The Tribunal observes that the Circular concerns recruitment and is intended to draw the skilled people needed by the Organisation. Accordingly, the Tribunal finds that the distinction at issue answers a need within the Organisation.
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; equal treatment; organisation's interest; professional experience; provision; reckoning; seniority; terms of appointment;
Considerations 22-23
Extract:
Circular 144 limits total reckonable experience to twelve years. The purpose of this provision is "to deter late-comers and those who would otherwise hamper the advancement of others who have preferred to spend most of their career in the EPO. [This limit] reflects a reasonable policy on recruitment and career development."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: CIRCULAR 144
Keywords:
administrative instruction; career; limits; organisation's interest; professional experience; purpose; reckoning; seniority; terms of appointment;
Judgment 850
63rd Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 9 and 11
Extract:
The complainant claims that useful experience he gained doing scientific work before receiving the academic degree on the strength of which he was appointed to the Office should count. That degree "is the qualification that determines what prior experience shall count. [...] The complainant may not avail himself of the opportunities provided by the [new] guidelines in favour of staff members who have been admitted as exceptional cases on the strength of their practical experience. The appointment of such staff members presupposes in each case a specific assessment of their experience, and no such assessment is made for university graduates."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; date; degree; equal treatment; professional experience; reckoning; seniority; terms of appointment;
Judgment 847
63rd Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
What the complainant "is really challenging is the reckoning of his seniority for promotion as originally determined. He could of course at one time have challenged it but [...] it is now too late."
Keywords:
internal remedies exhausted; professional experience; receivability of the complaint; reckoning; seniority;
Judgment 819
62nd Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"'Periods of professional experience after completion of studies may be credited only from the documented date on which university studies were successfully completed'. Military or 'comparable' service counts as reckonable professional experience, [...] no distinction [being made] between periods before and after graduation. [...] Yet the impugned decision was no breach of the principle of equality: the principle holds good only as between those who are in the same position in fact and in law".
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: CIRCULAR 144
Keywords:
date; degree; equal treatment; military service; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Judgment 818
62nd Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant may "impugn the decision because it was based on a new method of reckoning. The change is of such a kind as to warrant challenging a method that has the effect of revising the system of steps within grade."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; cause of action; general decision; professional experience; provision; receivability of the complaint; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The Tribunal will [...] consider [...] whether the purpose or even the mere effect of the rule is to put some members of the staff at a severe disadvantage. If the new method of reckoning seniority did have that effect the Tribunal would have to see whether it was warranted by broader considerations, the organisation being allowed a large degree of discretion in the matter."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; discretion; equal treatment; judicial review; professional experience; provision; reckoning; seniority; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 809
61st Session, 1987
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 20
Extract:
"The Director-General's authority is not absolute and quite plainly he failed in this case to pay due regard to the complainant's qualifications and experience in picking P.5 posts."
Keywords:
assignment; degree; discretion; disregard of essential fact; executive head; grade; limits; professional experience; qualifications;
Judgment 794
60th Session, 1986
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
According to PAHO provisions in force, the holder of a professional post must have a university degree [the general rule]. However, an exception may be made for a person who "has attained a body of theoretical knowledge in a recognised field through personal application or effort".
Keywords:
appointment; condition; degree; exception; professional category; professional experience;
Judgment 755
59th Session, 1986
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The distinction between the reckoning for starting step and the reckoning for promotion is plain from the actual wording of the rules. The distinction warrants different treatment, and there is no breach of the principle of equality where the treatment is a fair, reasonable and logical outcome of circumstantial differences."
Keywords:
appointment; difference; equal treatment; professional experience; promotion; reckoning; seniority; step;
Judgment 739
58th Session, 1986
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
In this case, the Office took the view that the Council's new guidelines on how professional experience should count in the reckoning of seniority did not apply to the complainant. "The EPO was therefore under no duty to inform the complainant of the guidelines or to explain to him how his own position differed from that of staff members to whom the guidelines applied."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; decision; duty to inform; executive body; organisation's duties; professional experience; provision; reckoning; seniority;
Summary
Extract:
In 1984, after the President of the Office adopted new rules to take account of the Tribunal's case law, the complainant was awarded a further step in his grade and additional seniority. He is asking that the impugned decision take effect not as from 1 January 1984 as called for by the new rules but as from 1 June 1982, the date when he took up his appointment. The plea fails. The Tribunal observes that, far from discriminating, the impugned decision corrects an existing element of inequality and if there remains inequality it is due to the terms of the complainant's appointment, which were not challenged within the prescribed time limits.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; appointment; date; effective date; enforcement; equal treatment; grade; professional experience; provision; reckoning; seniority; step;
Judgment 734
58th Session, 1986
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant alleges breach of the principle of equality by a change in the rules governing the reckoning of professional experience from 1 January 1981 which is unfavourable to officials who, like himself, were recruited after that date. The Tribunal holds that the principle of equality does not require that officials appointed at different times should be treated alike.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 694, 695
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; appointment; date; difference; enforcement; equal treatment; professional experience; provision; reckoning; seniority;
Judgment 657
55th Session, 1985
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The job descriptions require five years' experience for promotion. It is clear from the guidelines that is a minimum requirement. "The President therefore acted correctly, when he came to apply the provisions on the minimum requirements, in adopting a requirement of eight years' experience for both recruitment and promotion [...] A requirement of eight years' experience is compatible with the rules."
Keywords:
appointment; condition; post description; professional experience; promotion;
Judgment 656
55th Session, 1985
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Although the experience of examiners and translators counts only in part the reason is that it is of limited use to them in performing their duties at the EPO. But the reason why the experience of lawyers counts in full is that, as the EPO actually admits, they are able to adapt quickly to their new duties [...]. In other words, the difference in the calculation of seniority is due to a difference of fact and there is no tipping of the balance that needs to be offset. What the EPO describes as a kind of compensation in the counting of months is in fact a breach of the principle of equality."
Keywords:
difference; equal treatment; professional experience; rate; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The EPO may determine questions of seniority according to more or less formal criteria. Thus it may, for example, discount months altogether in reckoning different groups of staff. Accordingly, the practice of discounting months short of one year in reckoning the seniority of all who are lawyers is not in itself a breach of the principle of equality. The breach of the principle lies in treating examiners and translators more favourably than lawyers."
Keywords:
criteria; difference; equal treatment; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Judgment 598
52nd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
By assimilating military and technical co-operation, the President erred in law. "The error of law does not mean that the Tribunal gives the complainant full satisfaction. Not every form of co-operation service necessarily has to count. Subject to review by the Tribunal, the President is free to exercise his discretion, having regard to the [relevant] guidelines."
Keywords:
cooperation service; discretion; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Military and technical co-operation service cannot be assimilated. [...] When the council decided to discount military service in reckoning professional experience, it meant and indeed could only mean military service as such. The President therefore erred in law in founding his decision on an assimilation of military and technical co-operation service."
Keywords:
cooperation service; difference; flaw; military service; professional experience; reckoning;
Judgment 597
52nd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
Vide Judgment 598, consideration 6.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 598
Keywords:
cooperation service; discretion; professional experience; reckoning; seniority;
Consideration 6
Extract:
See Judgment 598, consideration 5.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 598
Keywords:
cooperation service; difference; flaw; military service; professional experience; reckoning;
Judgment 572
51st Session, 1983
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"While [the system] gives the President a discretionary power [with respect to the calculation of seniority], it is not disputed that the rules themselves and the decisions made thereunder must conform with the principle of equality of treatment."
Keywords:
discretion; equal treatment; limits; professional experience; reckoning; seniority; step;
