Pension Contribution Increases as Another Attack on Compensation for EPO Staff (Mostly Patent Examiners)
The EPO is fast positioning itself to be like an immigrant-friendly "diploma mill" which facilitates people's (and their families') migration from poor European countries to richer ones while settling for lower salaries after the transition
Patent examiners at the EPO are subjected to a brutal "race to the bottom" (quality, compliance, salary, conditions and so on). It's not hard to see and it is easily measurable. Shown above is what's being done to pensions or deductions from people's salaries. There was an only chat about this yesterday, at around midday CET.
To quote SUEPO, the union:
Pension contribution increases: Information session and legal challenge
Dear colleagues,
Last year, the Office decided to change its “risk appetite”, resulting in huge increases of the pension contribution rates, see also the past Staff Committee communications on the topic here, here and here. The justification for such a change remains dubious, especially since the pension liabilities are fully covered and the decision makers, in grade 16 and above, experienced a significant financial benefit as a result.
As with most recent reforms, the majority of staff are highly negatively impacted. All OPS members saw an increase in the cost of their pensions, and NPS members up to grade 10 step 4 also experienced an increased cost, while in grade 10 step 5 and above experienced a benefit, as shown in the graph below.
*Represents the change in monthly staff OPS pension contributions: 1.9% of basic salary
**Represents the change in monthly staff NPS pension contributions offset by the increase in monthly Office SSP contributions
Therefore, SUEPO is preparing a legal challenge against the imposed changes. Our lawyers have prepared a template request for review, which will be distributed to members that actively express interest.
In order to fully understand the implications of the changes, SUEPO is inviting you to an online presentation where the pension contribution rate changes and the request for review will be explained in more detail:
Presentation: Pension contribution rates: Information session and request for review
Date: Thursday 16 April 2026
Time: 11:00 – 12:00
"If you are not a SUEPO member and want to challenge the unjust pension contribution increases, please consider joining SUEPO Munich or SUEPO The Hague," they added. █