Bonum Certa Men Certa

With EPO Staff Already in the Trenches ('Cannon Fodder' for Corrupt Management) Their Children Come Under Fire, Too

Video download link | md5sum fafbfbe8672cb7bd0c6126f8d6dcbdff EPO and the Children of Staff Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: The Putinist President of the EPO (bought, fake 'elections') isn't just attacking the rights of his staff but also of staff's kids; it seems like a bottomless pit or a race to the bottom (quality of patents, quality of work/workplace, adherence to the law etc.)

The Staff Representation at the EPO, or the Central Staff Committee (CSC), has taken note of yet another attack by António Campinos and his cohorts. They attack their own staff and staff's children, too.



"Today's EPO is destroying Europe for the benefit of very few who rig the game and we know at whose expense."Those greedy people who hoard money in violation of the EPC (by breaking the rules of the EPC, granting illegal patents) are taking away from staff to benefit the rich corporations, lawyers, and oligarchs. The EPO has been spun into a mere "asset" in financial speculation webs -- a sort of self-feeding cartel based on fictional valuation bubbles. This is extremely dangerous; if the burden is offloaded to the public, as often happens, this can perpetuate further massive inflation rates. Today's EPO is destroying Europe for the benefit of very few who rig the game and we know at whose expense.

Putin: For the childrenThe video above explains a letter circulated late yesterday. At the bottom of the post we show 12 slides related to this. The "new normal" at the EPO is evidently mass violation of the law with total impunity.

Later they wonder why people do not wish to work for the EPO. Scientists are harder to fool. They do their research; the examine the facts regarding a potential employer.

Likewise, applicants survey the compliance or legitimacy of patent grants. This will implode because the media cannot be bought (bribed) in perpetuity.

Anyway, here's the latest letter.



Munich,08/07/2022 sc22090cp

Dependent or not?

How losing the dependant status can harm your child



Dear Colleagues,

Some of you have approached the Staff Representation (SR) requesting clarification and assistance regarding the applicability of the “Dependants’ status - Article 69(3) ServRegs Dependants’ Allowance – Article 69(4) ServRegs, Circular 82” ; “Education Allowance – Article 711” and Cigna health insurance– Article 83 ServRegs and Circular 314”, once secondary or post-secondary studies are completed.

The SR has become aware of several cases where the administration has adopted a very detrimental interpretation of the Service Regulations, with unexpected and severe impact on colleague’s families. According to this interpretation, a child would lose their status of “dependent child” the month they either finish secondary education or they sit the last post-secondary exam.

In our view this cannot be correct. When a child finishes secondary, and is waiting for compulsory military/civil service to start, or the gap between military service and post-secondary, or you sit an exam, the educational or vocational training cannot be considered to have finished. The months following secondary, without a possibility for an immediate continuation to the military service, or the fact that a student may not pass the exams, education is interrupted by military/civil service or finishes after post-secondary, when the academic year is over and the final degree is awarded.

The loss or suspension of the “dependant status” has far-reaching consequences: 1. Discontinuation of the “dependants’ allowance”; 2. Discontinuation of the “education allowance”; 3. But also discontinuation of the health insurance coverage.

In many of the cases we have witnessed, the allowances not only were stopped but also retroactively discounted, without prior notice, from the salary slip. This is bad enough but the consequence has also been that the health insurance coverage was terminated retroactively. This last point raises a series of unforeseen financial and legal problems.

● Firstly, you (or rather, your child) will be in breach of national law, e.g. the “Dutch Health Care Insurance Act” (Circular No. 314) for the Netherlands, which obliges

_____________ 1 If applicable under the current provisions of Article 71 ServRegs




anyone who is not covered by the EPO integrated Group Solution to seek and obtain a private health insurance2, or the general obligatory health insurance for Germany and Austria.

● Second, all medical expenses incurred for your child since the month the Office deems that your child is no longer a dependent will be billed to you. You may find yourself with a large (hospital) bill to pay.

The SR has already pointed out that the interpretation of Article 69(3) and (4), in view of Circular 82, induces to error and creates potential serious legal, financial and health situations3. Since these aspects are yet not solved, we would like to call for your attention to general concerns you ought to have, should your child fall into the gap between secondary education and compulsory military/civil service, finish his/her post-secondary academic studies or take a gainful employment.

In the meantime, we want to draw your attention to these developments. Contact your HR partner and request information regarding the continuation of Cigna and national health insurance, your child dependant status, and the conditions to continue receiving the dependants’ and education allowances.

Colleagues in this situation are also advised to contact either the Central Staff Committee (centralstcom@epo.org) or their Local Staff Committee.

The Central Staff Committee

_____________ 2 Circular 314 under point C. and E, states that “by default ..... , any person who either ceases to be entitled to healthcare insurance cover under Article 83 ServRegs or cease to be obliged under the Health Care Insurance Act (Zorgverzekeringswet) to take out basic cover for medical cost is no longer entitled to be affiliated to the EPO Integrated Group Solution.” 3 See the presentation about the difference between Articles 69(3) and 69(4) ServRegs


Below we show (as images) the 12-page presentation in English [PDF] which explains what the management is doing. It is the one mentioned in the last (third) footnote above.

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 1

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 2

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 3

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 4

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 5

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 6

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 7

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 8

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 9

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 10

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 11

EPO's staff dependants page/slide 12

Recent Techrights' Posts

Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025