Judgment No. 3538

• Organization: European Patent Organisation (EPO)
• Date: 30.06.2015
• Original: English
• Judges: Barbagallo, Hansen, Moore
• Full judgment text - Full judgment text (french)

Decision

1. The EPO shall pay each complainant 2,000 euros in moral damages for the delay in the internal appeal proceedings.
2. The EPO shall pay each complainant 500 euros in costs.
3. All other claims are dismissed.

Summary

The complainants challenge their April 2007 payslip showing an increase in their pension contributions.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

complaint allowed; joinder; pension; contributions; increase; contribution rate

Consideration 12

Extract:

It is often the case that a court will be required to adjudicate on an issue where the opinion of an expert is an essential element in determining the outcome. Obvious examples would be the cause of illness and the prognosis of a staff member claiming some type of sickness benefit or sickness leave. Expert medical opinions would ordinarily underpin a court’s determination of whether an entitlement to the benefit or leave was established. It would be in rare cases indeed that a court would determine such issues on the basis of arguments advanced by non-experts in the field in question, however intelligent or knowledgeable they may be in other fields of human endeavour.

Keywords

medical opinion; medical examination; administrative decision