Is the Second-Largest Institution in Europe (EPO) Gradually Becoming More Like a Sweatshop?

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 13, 2025

Underpaid, unqualified, inexperienced and incompatible people are already recruited to replace veteran examiners; the EPO also illegally outsources to American slop

Four days ago the Central Staff Committee (CSC) at the EPO circulated a new document, stating that workers are in effect working a lot more for a lot less money. Instead of advancing in terms of experience and skill and whatever (in exchange for being rewarded accordingly) the compensation goes down as a function of time/seniority. Absurd, right? And remember that the EPO is not a private company, nor is it exempted from Parliamentary scrutiny.

So what on Earth is going on there?

CSC representatives said to staff:

Dear Colleagues,

Every two years, the Office mandates the Actuarial Advisory group to formulate recommendations on the contribution requirements to the pension scheme, long-term care insurance and healthcare insurance.

Due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the Financial Study 2023-2024 of Oliver Wyman & Mercer the actuaries recommended a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, from 32.1% up to a total of 37.8% and an increase in the healthcare contribution of 0.9 percentage points from of 9.6% to 10.5%. A third of the increase shall be borne by staff, thereby representing a total increase in contributions from staff of 2.2 percentage points.

On 2 October, the Office communicated the supporting documents about the salary adjustment for 2025 (as of 1 January 2026). The adjustment in Germany (+1.2%) and Austria (+1.6%) is preliminarily insufficient to cover the increase in contributions resulting in a pay cut in Germany (-1.0%) and in Austria (-0.6%).

In the GCC meeting of 6 October, management rejected our request to postpone the increase in contributions as it was done in 2021 already and decided to go ahead at the expense of staff. This situation is unprecedented in the history of the EPO.

Working more for less is now a driver of the SP2028.

Here's the paper that they sent along:

Zentraler Personalausschuss
Central Staff Committee
Le Comité Central du Personnel

Munich, 09-10-2025
sc25060cp

Pay cut in Germany -1.0% and Austria -0.6%
as of 1 January 2026
Working more for less at the EPO

Dear Colleagues,

Every two years, the Office mandates the Actuarial Advisory group to formulate recommendations on the contribution requirements to the pension scheme, long-term care insurance and healthcare insurance. The staff representation presented the intermediate results in a general assembly of 2 June 2025 and reported on the impact on 6 October 2025. Due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the Financial Study 2023-2024 of Oliver Wyman & Mercer the actuaries recommended a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, from 32.1% up to a total of 37.8% and an increase in the healthcare contribution of 0.9 percentage points from of 9.6% to 10.5%. A third of the increase shall be borne by staff, thereby representing a total increase in contributions from staff of 2.2 percentage points (pp.)

At the same time, the Office is proceeding to the sixth application of the salary adjustment procedure put in place since 2020. The sustainability clause caps the overall growth in salary mass at Eurozone inflation + 0.2% with the value date of 1 July. For 2025, the cap is set at 2.2%. When the sustainability clause is applied, the overall growth in salary mass being a weighted average of EPO sites, some places of employment are expected to have a salary adjustment above the cap and others below the cap.

On 2 October, the Office communicated the supporting documents about the salary adjustment for 2025 (as of 1 January 2026). In Germany and Austria, the adjustment is preliminarily insufficient to cover the increase in contributions:

Back in 2021, when the increase in contributions exceeded the salary adjustment, the Office considered it reasonable, as a social measure, to postpone that increase to the next year¹.

Therefore, in preparation of the General Consultative Committee (GCC) meeting of 6 October, the CSC sent a letter to the President as the conditions are also met this year for postponing the increase in contributions. EPO staff once again worked well and should not be subject to a pay cut.

Management rejected our request and decided to go ahead at the expense of staff. This situation is unprecedented in the history of the EPO. We can all thank Principal Directorate 4.3 for this milestone.

Working more for less is now a driver of the SP 2028.

Sincerely yours,

The Central Staff Committee

_____

¹ GCC/DOC 11/2021, CA/42/21, page 3, par. 14

Like we said this morning, the EPO can neither attract nor retrain the staff it must have to meet the requirements of the European Patent Convention (EPC), so it's just printing monopolies not worth the paper or bytes they're written to. It just causes a mess in Europe; only patent lawyers/law firms profit and from the chaos emerge more monopolies from overseas, pouncing from afar to profit from Europe without risking much in this chaos (they're not based here). It's similar to what American Microsofters do to us [1, 2, 3]. It is by no means beneficial to the UK, but some ogres and aggressive silverbacks in London stand to profit from the bullying. █