Judgment No. 4558
Decision
1. The EPO shall pay the complainant the sum of 2,500 euros as indicated under consideration 8 of the judgment.
2. The Organisation shall also pay the complainant moral damages in the amount of 2,500 euros.
3. It shall also pay him 750 euros in costs relating to these proceedings.
4. All other claims are dismissed.
Summary
The complainant impugns the decision not to reimburse the costs incurred in connection with his third complaint to the Tribunal.
Judgment keywords
Keywords
complaint allowed; costs
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant requests that oral proceedings be held. However, the Tribunal considers that the parties have presented sufficiently extensive and detailed submissions and documents to allow the Tribunal to be properly informed of their arguments and the evidence. That application is therefore dismissed.
Keywords
oral proceedings
Consideration 6
Extract:
The Tribunal observes that it is contradictory and regrettable that the Organisation submits before it that the decision communicated to the complainant was not final while it had nevertheless specified, in its email [...], that the complainant could not submit a request for review. While an organisation has a duty to correct any mistakes made by an employee in the exercise of her or his right of appeal, it has an even greater duty not to misdirect an employee to the wrong venue by incorrectly telling her or him that a request for review is not the right remedy or that her or his only possible recourse is to file a complaint with the Tribunal and then criticise her or him for having followed its directions.
Above all, however, the Tribunal notes that an organisation cannot exempt the complainant from the requirement to exhaust internal remedies when the applicable provisions of the staff rules and regulations do not authorise it to do so, and still less indicate wrongly to the employee concerned that she or he can file a complaint directly with the Tribunal.
Keywords
organisation's duties; final decision; waiver of internal appeal procedure
Consideration 9
Extract:
With regard to the complainant’s additional claim for payment of moral damages in the amount of 5,000 euros, the Tribunal notes that, in Judgment 4324, consideration 3, it stated as follows:
“[...] international organisations that have recognised the Tribunal’s jrisdiction are bound to take whatever action the decision in a judgment may require, which must be executed by the parties as ruled [...]”
It is true that consideration 9 of Judgment 4256 is not part of the decision in that judgment. This is not, however, a reason to ignore the meaning and scope of the Tribunal’s finding that “[s]uch costs should be considered in the resumed internal appeal proceedings”.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 4256, 4324
Keywords
execution of judgment
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