Bonum Certa Men Certa

Correspondence With Dražen Petrović Reveals That ILO-AT is Indeed an Employer's Court, Favouring EPO Management Over EPO Staff

Not a labourers' court but a labourers' foe, which drains their money under the assumption that fair trials are possible and employers would comply with an unfavourable outcome (some don't, without facing any consequences)

Cicero's Use of Judicial Theater
Reference: Cicero's Use of Judicial Theater



Summary: What's publicly advertised as access to justice for aggrieved employees in international institutions seems to boil down to injustice perpetuated and rubber-stamped, or unfavourable rulings (against employers) not being followed

THE face-saving tactic/strategy of the EPO, namely hiding behind the face of António Campinos, doesn't impress us because we more or less understand what goes on behind the scenes. 12 days ago, for example, we showed the EPO's management fighting to just 'intercept' or underline/thwart (for lack of a better word) the ILO cases. Justice isn't the goal; they just waste stakeholders' money on lawyers, trying to 'win' cases at all costs, draining complainants' savings using legal bills. This is pure evil. This is known as legal bullying and staff should go public with this kind of stuff. It appears to be part of a pattern and a trend, which we assume SUEPO is well aware of already.



We've managed to obtain recent correspondence which sheds light on human rights aspects of all this, starting with the following from ILO-AT:

Dear ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆

Complaint No. ⬆⬆⬆⬆

Further to my email of 12 July 2018 concerning your 13th complaint please be advised that the President of the Tribunal has approved your request to reply to the EPO’s comments.

I therefore ask you to send me six copies of your reply to the EPO’s comments by Monday, 20 August 2018.

The procedural requests mentioned in your emails of 12 and 16 July 2018 have no legal basis.

Yours sincerely,

Dražen Petrović Greffier/Registrar 4, route des Morillons 1211 Genève 22 Suisse


Here's the response:

Dear Sir or Madam,

With regard to your e-mail here below I respectfully request to extend my term for reply to 120 days from now and to stay the proceedings in my ⬆⬆ case no. ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆ during the procedural term for reply in case no. ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆

Reasons:

1. My chronic illness, see letter by OH physician,

2. Recent pain in my right wrist under examination/treatment (since my last procedural term, see recent e-mail by my GP which I feel unable to translate currently*

3. Frequent stomach pain due to severe nervous stress caused by the EPO's procedural conduct, slight gastritis recently diagnosed, see recent gastroenterologist's report*

4. The EPO's two(!) professional(!) lawyers had 90 days for their reply. In view of the principle of equal treatment of the parties I should normally be granted a term double as long as that granted to them, as I am just one(!) former employee, not a professional lawyer and also ill.

Please confirm receipt for this e-mail.

Sincerely yours,

⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆


The ILO-AT set another 30-days term for reply after the EPO had a term of 90 days for their last submissions. This isn't the first time they do this to this complainant and they probably do the same thing to other complainants.

Extension requested by the complainant resulted in this:

Dear ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆

Complaints Nos ⬆⬆⬆⬆ and ⬆⬆⬆⬆

I acknowledge receipt of your email of 20 July 2018.

I shall consult the President of the Tribunal on your request to extend the time limit for sending me your reply to the EPO’s comments to your further submissions on your ⬆⬆⬆⬆ complaint (AT ⬆⬆⬆⬆).

If the President grants the above request for extension, we shall then seek the views of the EPO’s counsel on your application to stay the proceedings on your ⬆⬆⬆⬆ complaint (AT ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆) for the duration of that extension. The President will decide on that application inlight of the views of both parties.

Yours sincerely,

Dražen Petrović Greffier/Registrar 4, route des Morillons 1211 Genève 22 Suisse


This is the latest:

Complaints no. ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆ and ⬆⬆⬆⬆

Dear Sir or Madam,

With regard to your e-mail of 24 July 2018: The procedure indicated by you here below is much too slow, given that you set me a term of 30 days only, until 20 August 2018, for my reply in re AT ⬆⬆⬆⬆. This way I cannot make use of my rights under Article 5.1 of the Tribunal's Rules to plead my own case. On ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆ 2017 you swiftly extended my term of reply the following day. In view of my chronic illness with proven recent aggravation (see attachments of this year to my e-mail of ⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆) I respectfully request a prompt extension of my term of reply also now.

In view of the Tribunal's generally presumed independence it is not to the EPO to determine or even influence the Tribunal's procedural decisions in my cases.

Sincerely yours,

⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆⬆


There seems to be some 'circulation' for this case, as it's one of many that became more famous (or notorious). Quite a few people became familiar with this case, so ILO-AT can no longer keep it secret/confidential. In the above, the compliant is being implicitly refused an extension once more. This happened repeatedly at an earlier stage in various cases. Thereby staff rights under Article 6 ECHR as well as under Article 5.1 of the Tribunal's Rules were violated.

"What good is a ruling without actual enforcement of it? Is an ILO-AT decision legally-binding only when employers win and mere judicial theatre when employees win a case?"No matter what they do, EPO complainants are being thrown around, compelled to spend a lot of time and money on cases that would likely go nowhere because, as SUEPO puts is, ILO-AT is an "employer's court". SUEPO and some SUEPO members are obviously keeping abreast of all this; in fact, that's how the information gets leaked to us. It is being passed around and unless ILO (Guy Ryder, Dražen Petrović and the rest of them) care about their reputation, things will only exacerbate over time. This is, inadvertedly, becoming a case of ILO scandals, not just EPO scandals. Many nowadays feel as though ILO merely protects EPO management. It isn't even enforcing rulings against EPO management, e.g. Judge Corcoran, SUEPO leaders and so on. What good is a ruling without actual enforcement of it? Is an ILO-AT decision legally-binding only when employers win and mere judicial theatre when employees win a case? This sort of judicial deficit can't really be reported to anyone because ILO (UN) is itself immune, hence in a certain sense beyond and above the law.

Recent Techrights' Posts

GNOME Foundation's Microsoft Developer Account
"Lately they're teaming up with Mozilla to eliminate middle click paste - something which I use continuously."
Links 10/01/2026: "Abolish ICE or GTFO", Calls to Ban X/Twitter From Apple/Google App Stores (or Implement National Blocks) Over MElon Turning It Into Non-consensual Deepfake Porn Site
Links for the day
EPO People Power - Part XXX - New Year Starts, Cocainegate Still Discussed a Lot, António Campinos Desperate for Distraction From It
Why the sudden change or 'generosity'? [...] Actual cocaine addicts caused nervous breakdowns among sober people
IBM and Microsoft Hiding Layoffs in Similar, Overlapping Ways
Performance Improvement Plans aplenty
IBM is a Cancer That Attaches Itself to Everything
Red Hat should have remained an independent company
 
Monday, January 12, Red Hat Layoffs Allegedly Planned
We'll update this post or follow up if or when we get more information
Slop Still Becoming Rare as Another Week Ends
Generally speaking, calm and quiet is desirable, it's what we hope for (an absence of slop, a lack of need to keep abreast of it, ultimately)
Links 10/01/2026: Iran Offline, Venezuelans Decry Civilian Casualties
Links for the day
GAFAM Wants War
Go war! Go bailouts! Go debt! Go Wall Street!
GNU/Linux and Chromebooks Rose to Almost 10% in Haiti
What's noteworthy is that this month GNU/Linux is measured at around 8% and ChromeOS at about 2%
2026 Might be the Year Microsoft Replaces Layoffs With Mass Firings (No Severance Payments to Dismissed Staff)
It's hard to "see" PIPs unless insiders blow the whistle
Links 10/01/2026: STV Layoffs (Scottish TV), “CBS Evening News” in Chaos (Culls and Censorship by the US Regime)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, January 09, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, January 09, 2026
Gemini Links 10/01/2026: Blackout, E-Waste, and Secondary Smartphone
Links for the day
Plot Twist: Microsoft MSN Relays Articles Hinting at or Pointing to Mass Layoffs Soon, Other Gossip
the narrative from Microsoft's "PR bunny" (Shaw) is showing mold already
Links 09/01/2026: Google and Character.AI Implicitly Accept Chatbots Kill Kids and GLP-1 ‘Slimming Pens’ Turn Out to be a Lot Worse Than Advertised
Links for the day
'Vibe Coding' is Not "AI", It's a Sewer, It is Junk
Linus Torvalds was wrong. 'Vibe coding' isn't good for anything.
GNU/Linux May be Approaching 10% "Market Share" in Montenegro
The surge started around 2021
At IBM, "Employee Reviews" (or Appraisals in the UK) Are a "Trojan Horse" for RAs (Mass Layoffs), a Waste of Time
comments from IBMer serve to suggest that appraisals can be precursors
Links 09/01/2026: Technical Blogging Lessons Learned and Google's Gmail Getting a Lot Worse
Links for the day
More IBM Layoffs in India
If IBM cannot afford to retain workers in India, then something is truly "out of control" at IBM
Escaping GAFAM Colonialism Requires Homegrown Free Software
GNU/Linux now measured at 3% in Zambia
Dr. Richard Stallman Has Done No Harm to the GNU Project or the FSF (He Had Benefited Both, Always, Even After the Attacks on Him Began)
Some people try to prevent Dr. Stallman from speaking or having a platform where many people can hear him
GNU/Linux at 4% in Saudi Arabia, Says statCounter
Some years ago Windows fell to a "market share" of just 11% there
Microsoft Isn't Denying the Mass Layoffs
Still silence from Microsoft
In Western Africa GNU/Linux Flirts With 5% Market Share
there's a gradual increase in GNU/Linux usage there
Gemini Links 09/01/2026: Pro1 X Repair and the Mercury Protocol
Links for the day
Links 09/01/2026: Cambodia and China Extradition, "NATO’s High-risk Patrols Near Ukraine"
Links for the day
No, Microsoft Did Not Deny the Q1 Mass Layoffs (Microsoft Can Delay These)
Maybe they disperse or delay the layoffs (changing plans), but the layoffs are going to happen
Only One Person in Charge of Fedora is Not IBM Staff
This is not a community project, it's just a way for IBM to onboard unpaid volunteers
This Is Not a Drill, GNU/Linux is Really Going 'Mainstream' on Laptops (and Desktops)
It is important to explain to people software freedom
IBM Albany Layoffs
not only did many in the site lose their job; there's more to come "and likely another one in February" (weeks from now)
EPO Workers' Industrial Action to Include Many Strikes, to Last Several Months
In some ways, The Hague and Bavaria are becoming almost indistinguishable from Moscow
EPO People Power - Part XXIX - Getting DER SPIEGEL, FAZ, Deutschlandfunk and Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) to Cover EPO Scandals
We kindly ask our readers to contact their local media and urge it to cover the scandals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, January 08, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, January 08, 2026
Gemini Links 08/01/2026: "New Year, Old Plans" and Alex's "Butlerian Jihad"
Links for the day
LLM Slop About "Linux" Scarce and of Very Low Quality
At this rate, we reckon there may be one (or zero) per day by year's end
IBM's "Forever Layoffs" (to Bypass Warnings or Notices as Required by WARN Act)
There is a bunch of speculations about when the next "major round" of RAs will be
Attempts to Undermine This Site's Latest Series Using Intimidation, Threats, and Presumptuous Accusations
threatening language is less effective when everyone is an alibi
Links 08/01/2026: "Golden Smartphone" Scam and Riseup Account Issues
Links for the day
Links 08/01/2026: Possible "Collapse of NATO Over Greenland"; Journalistic Malpractice and "US Voters Hate Slop"
Links for the day
EPO People Power - Part XXVIII - A Sensitive Issue for Germany and The Netherlands
If Germans who read this series can communicate this to public officials or to their media, maybe they can strike a nerve and get the ball rolling
Age Discrimination at IBM Discussed Amid Mass Layoffs (Especially in the United States)
Workers are anxious. Are they next to face the axe?
Gemini Links 08/01/2026: Potentiometer Calculator, Power Outages, Why You Should Abandon Discord for IRC (e.g. Ergo), and Formatting Gopher Posts
Links for the day
Links 08/01/2026: More Software Patents Squashed, White House Repeats Misinformation From the Kremlin
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, January 07, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, January 07, 2026