Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Sickness of the EPO – Part II: Background Information and Insights

Mercenary doctors at the Office

CIA Paid Torture Teachers More Than $80 Million
Reference: CIA Paid Torture Teachers More Than $80 Million



Summary: With a privatised, in-house (sometimes outsourced and for-profit) force for surveillance, policing, justice, public relations and now medical assessment (mere vassals or marionettes of the management) the EPO serves to show that it has become indistinguishable from North Korea, where the Supreme Leader gets to control every single aspect (absolutely no separation of powers)

YESTERDAY we kicked off a series of articles about EPO problems pertaining to health and other medical issues, which the EPO not only ignores/disregards but actually exploits. We have been hearing many stories about it for quite some time; it's clearly part of a pattern. Not only personal tragedies of employees are being exploited but also health problems of relatives (like dying parents or spouses) are being exploited. We wrote about one such example yesterday. In any normal place of work this would probably lead to lawsuits and high levels of compensation, but the EPO as a workplace is 'exceptional'; it is effectively above the law or a law unto itself. It's truly incredible that in a supposedly civilised society -- more so in an institution which employs a lot of people with doctoral degrees -- such abhorrent abuse of human rights can be tolerated for so long.

"In any normal place of work this would probably lead to lawsuits and high levels of compensation, but the EPO as a workplace is 'exceptional'; it is effectively above the law or a law unto itself."We are hearing from a growing number of people who are intimately familiar (first- or second-hand) with these abuses. One person wrote to us: "thank you for starting a series of articles on this sensitive topic. Here again there is a lot I could write about, but in order to keep me protected I unfortunately cannot disclose many details. Anyway, I can tell you general considerations as a "longtime insider". Being ill wasn't a problem decades ago. Having a flu, catching a cold or being more seriously ill was nothing that would have led the management to bully you to the exit door of the EPO, and condemn you to stay home ad vitam. I remember a time, when the office was even generous -- or better said empathetic -- about your personal case. I mean, when something extremely serious happened to you or in your family and you were absent off your duties they wouldn't ask too much, because they knew that things would be all right again. That was the time when the Office considered itself as an "example of international organisation". However, the EPO has never been very understanding for psychic illnesses. Mainly because those affected were not "visibly" ill. As a consequence, those suffering psychic disorders were quickly rubber-stamped "fake". And with the usual kind of EPO "subtlety", all your colleagues knew about you disease. Of course these weren't the best conditions to recover your health. Most of the cases lad to a complete inability to carry out the duties, aka invalidity."

Without disclosing any information about anyone in particular, we can safely say that we have read about many stories (not published here for personal reasons and sensibilities) -- enough to be sufficiently familiar with the subject. This is clearly a subject that many people are aware of but are unwilling to openly discuss, for reasons ranging from fear of retaliation to emotional injury (opening up a Pandora's box of bad memories).

"Yet," the person stressed to us, "there is another point which displeases the Office: never tell them that the computer tools provided aren't suitable and may be, or are indeed harmful, to your health. But the use of poorly designed computer tools 8 or more hours a day in addition to an environment affecting your mental condition is a bad cocktail for your health. The computer-related disorders (eyes, spine, skeleton) are well known professional diseases but not in the Office."

“The computer-related disorders (eyes, spine, skeleton) are well known professional diseases but not in the Office.”
      --Anonymous
We might get around to covering some examples of this. I previously worked, as a researcher, with several (not just one) colleagues who suffered from such conditions. I would estimate that about 5% of us had these conditions in our department (Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering at Manchester University). The affliction rates tend to be rather high among researchers and people who spend a lot of time reading, sitting down, typing, etc.

"Decades ago," the person continues, "you could still refer to hired practitioners, doctors who were apparently very severe but extremely professional. One could trust them. These doctors made a mistake: they told the Office the truth about the health conditions of the staff and issued severe warnings. The consequence: they were fired and replaced by in-house doctors. These in-house doctors sing another song: they were judging your health condition and 100% paid by the office. As a consequence, their judgment was always disadvantageously biased....until Sung king Prez decided he was the most competent to asses health issue because the in-house doctors were too "generous" anyway."

We have heard a lot over the years about such "practitioners", sometimes in the context of suicides.

"We have heard a lot over the years about such "practitioners", sometimes in the context of suicides.""To put it short," the person continued, "the whole organisational health service is corrupted and to me it appears that some of the goons hired there (before Sun king Prez made the putsch) are damned toxic and take a mischievous pleasure to torture their patients."

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
 
People Don't Just Kill Themselves (Same for Other Animals)
And recent reports about Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day