Judgment 1333
76th Session, 1994
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainants had their pay docked for one day's strike action. The deductions the EPO made covered all elements of pay including allowances. The complainants sacrificed their family allowance from the EPO whereas other officials, who received an analogous allowance from the Dutch government, suffered no similar loss. "Employees whose families do receive the Dutch child allowance are not in the same position in law as those who receive the EPO family allowance, the source of the benefit not being the same. Since the principle of equal treatment applies only where staff members are in the same position in law, there is no breach of it in the present instance."
Keywords:
criteria; deduction; domestic law; elements; equal treatment; family allowance; general principle; right to strike; salary; strike;
Judgment 1041
69th Session, 1990
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 3-4, Summary
Extract:
The complainant, a member of the EPO staff, challenges the lawfulness of deductions made from his allowances following strike action. Relying on Article 65(1)(b) of the Service Regulations he says that "remuneration" in that provision covers basic salary alone. But Article 64(2) says that "remuneration shall comprise basic salary and, where appropriate, any allowances"; the plea fails.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLES 64.2 AND 65.1(B) OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
allowance; base salary; deduction; definition; right to strike; salary; strike;
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainant submits that, in keeping with epo practice, the deduction for work stoppage should have been limited to basic salary. "In making deductions from pay in 1983 on account of a strike in 1982, [the EPO did] leave untouched the dependants' expatriation and housing allowances. But the precedent does not hold good: in dealing with the matter again in October 1985 the organisation refrained from deciding on the deductions it would make from staff pay in the event of future strikes."
Keywords:
allowance; base salary; deduction; practice; right to strike; salary; strike;
Judgment 805
61st Session, 1987
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 18
Extract:
"It is beyond question that like any national civil service an international organisation has the right and indeed the duty, when its staff goes on strike, to take action to ensure its survival and the continuance of its work."
Keywords:
continuance of operations; organisation's duties; right to strike; strike;
Summary
Extract:
While acknowledging the complainants' right to strike, the Tribunal concludes that the organisation did not in this case exceed the proper scope of its authority. the number of staff ordered to work was relatively low with respect to the total number of staff members in the Office.
Keywords:
abuse of power; misuse of authority; requisition; right to strike; strike;
Consideration 18
Extract:
"An international organisation has the right [...] when its staff goes on strike [...] among other things [to] order staff to perform their duties. Provided it respects the principle of proportionality such order will not upset the proper balance between the parties' rights and duties in the event of a collective dispute."
Keywords:
proportionality; requisition; right to strike; strike;
Consideration 11
Extract:
"Delegation is the normal method of exercising authority within an organisation, and the competence of the head of personnel, who expressly mentioned the higher authority from whom he derived it, is unchallengeable."
Keywords:
competence; decision; decision-maker; delegated authority; requisition; right to strike; strike;
Judgment 616
53rd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"When there is a strike and someone stays at home instead of going to work it would, to say the least, be an oddity to treat him as not having gone on strike on his mere assertion that he was at his supervisor's disposal."
Keywords:
condition; right to strike; strike;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The stoppages were declared by the [Union], which called on the staff not to work: there was a strike in the technical meaning of the term. Even on the unproven assumption that the administration were not altogether opposed to the protest and indeed incited it, the nature of what happened would still be the same in law. A lockout presupposes a direct instruction or some other form of action by the competent authority to stop the staff from being at work".
Keywords:
condition; lockout; right to strike; strike;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Any concerted work stoppage amounts to a strike. Labour law does acknowledge other forms of collective stoppage, brought about by the employer. In a dispute with staff the employer may, for example, close down the workplace in a lockout or declare compulsory unemployment for a short while to get through a spell of financial stringency. But such tactics are unknown in international organisations."
Keywords:
lockout; organisation; right to strike; strike;
Judgment 615
53rd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
As a matter of principle, a strike is lawful; it follows that the consequences of a strike are covered by the Staff Regulations insofar as these are not are incompatible with the work stoppage. In this case, the regulation on salary deductions due to absence is applicable, and the organisation is invited to comply with it.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 65 OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
analogy; deduction; enforcement; provision; right to strike; salary; staff regulations and rules; strike;
Consideration 8
Extract:
"A dispute over the calculation of deductions to be made in the event of a strike is not tantamount to impediment of the right to strike. There will be such impediment only where some act is committed that is of such gravity as to disturb the proper balance between the rights and duties of the parties."
Keywords:
deduction; reckoning; right to strike; salary; strike;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"It is common ground between the parties that a staff member who goes on strike is not entitled to payment for the period during which he has ceased to work. This is a corollary of the principle which says that remuneration is due only for services rendered."
Keywords:
deduction; entitlement for service rendered; right to strike; salary; strike;
Judgment 566
51st Session, 1983
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"As a matter of principle a strike is lawful. It does not break the contract of employment or the administrative link between an organisation and its staff. The employee continues to be a member of the staff and the only provisions of the Staff Regulations to be suspended are those which are incompatible with the work stoppage. Salary is withheld by virtue of a provision in the Regulations, the requirement of payment for services rendered, and any provision which is not incompatible with the existence of a strike remains in force."
Keywords:
consequence; contract; entitlement for service rendered; right to strike; salary; strike;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Even where a strike is not an abuse of right an organisation would of course be entitled to make special rules on salary deductions different from the rules on absence from duty for other reasons. But such rules must be incorporated into the Staff Regulations in accordance with the prescribed procedure [...] The executive head is not competent to adopt such rules, let alone such rules which are retroactive."
Keywords:
applicable law; deduction; no provision; non-retroactivity; right to strike; salary; staff regulations and rules; strike;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The parties are agreed that a staff member who goes on strike is not entitled to payment for the period during which he has ceased to work. This is a corollary of the principle which says that remuneration is due only for services rendered. The sole point in dispute is the method of calculating the deduction."
Keywords:
deduction; entitlement for service rendered; reckoning; right to strike; salary; strike;
Consideration 5
Extract:
Following strike action, an administration decision led to a circular explaining that salary deductions would be calculated using a method different from that set out in the Service Regulations. "The executive head is not competent to adopt such rules [...] To accept the [organisation's] submissions would be to allow the imposition of a covert disciplinary sanction. The [...] staff exercised an acknowledged right and did not commit any misconduct." The deductions were calculated unlawfully and should be invalidated.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 65 OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
breach; deduction; hidden disciplinary measure; organisation's duties; provision; reckoning; right to strike; salary; staff regulations and rules; strike;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"If the strike involved the breach of obligations under the rules or contractual obligations or led to unlawful acts, it would be admissible for the administration to take special measures, but in that event there would not be a strike in the proper sense, and the measures would be disciplinary. The strike was not of such a kind in this case."
Keywords:
condition; disciplinary measure; misconduct; right to strike; staff member's duties; strike;
Judgment 314
39th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"According to a principle of international public service, salary is generally payable only for services rendered, and so the [organisation] was right to refuse to pay a staff member who went on strike for the period in which he did not work."
Keywords:
deduction; entitlement for service rendered; international civil service principles; right to strike; salary; strike;
Considerations
Extract:
The interveners "have an interest in the quashing of the impugned decision [concerning the with holding of salary for strike action] and their applications are therefore receivable."
Keywords:
deduction; intervention; receivability of the complaint; right to strike; salary; strike;
