Judgment No. 4196

• Organization: European Patent Organisation (EPO)
• Date: 03.07.2019
• Original: Anglais
• Judges: Barbagallo, Hansen, Kreins
• Full judgment text (anglais) - Texte intégral du jugement

Decision

The complaint is dismissed.

Summary

The complainant challenges the decision to reject as time-barred his application for an inward transfer into the EPO’s pension scheme of pension rights previously accrued under a German pension scheme.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

internal appeal; transfer of pension rights; complaint dismissed

Consideration 4

Extract:

Consistent case law has it that “[t]he principle of good faith and the concomitant duty of care demand that international organisations treat their staff with due consideration in order to avoid causing them undue injury; an employer must consequently inform employees in advance of any action that may imperil their rights or harm their rightful interests” (see Judgment 2768, under 4, and the case law cited therein). It is clear that the Organisation fulfilled that duty in the present case. The Tribunal notes that its case law also holds that staff members have a duty to inform themselves; i.e. they are expected to know their rights and responsibilities or to ask for clarifications when there is any doubt (see, for example, Judgments 3878, under 12 and 17, and 4032, under 6).

Reference(s)

Jugement(s) TAOIT: 2768, 3878, 4032

Keywords

duty to be informed; ignorance of the rules; duty to know the rules