Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO Management Tricks EPO Staff Into Taking More Paycuts

Summary: “Education and childcare reform” [sic] is an António Campinos "reform" in the same sense regressive salary reductions are just “adjustments” (euphemism); Electronic opt-in gaffes, according to staff representatives, show that the tradition of Benoît Battistelli carries on at the Office, taking away from staff for a few corrupt officials to milk the institution to death

"We sent a letter to the [EPO] President," the Central Staff Committee of the EPO writes, "to inform him that several colleagues who are opting into the New Education Allowance System later realised that they are losing other benefits such as the expatriation allowance supplement. It is only after seeing their September payslip that they became aware of the disadvantageous situation."



"The letter was sent the day before yesterday and someone has leaked it to us."Central Staff Committee (CSC) representatives aren't the same as the union, so the language is more diplomatic. The letter was sent the day before yesterday and someone has leaked it to us. "The number of staff affected is not merely accidental," says the CSC. "The change of regulation and the information provided are so extensive and cumbersome that many staff were unable to identify accurately their own present and/or future situation and perform complex calculations to compare the new scheme to the old scheme. We are concerned that the Office considers the opt-in as immediately irrevocable following a one-click on a webpage. We suggest that the administration provides a grace period for staff wishing to reconsider their opt-in. It would show that our Office strives to be a caring organisation."

For the general public to better understand the situation at the EPO (or why the EPO can no longer recruit suitable workers who can obstruct abstract patents that lack novelty and/or merit), here's the full letter as HTML:

Reference: sc21122cl Date: 12/10/2021

European Patent Office | 80298 MUNICH | GERMANY Mr António Campinos President of the EPO

By email

OPEN LETTER

New Education Allowance System Electronic opt-in

Dear Mr President,

Several colleagues who are opting into the New Education Allowance System later realised that they are losing other benefits such as the expatriation allowance supplement. It is only after seeing their September payslip that they became aware of the disadvantageous situation.

The number of staff affected is not merely accidental. The change of regulation and the information provided are so extensive and cumbersome that many staff were unable to identify accurately their own present and/or future situation and perform complex calculations to compare the new scheme to the old scheme.

We are concerned that the Office considers the opt-in as immediately irrevocable following a one-click on a webpage.

It is common practice, especially when an agreement affects the employment conditions and the employee might incur a financial loss, as it is the case here, to provide beforehand the agreement specified to the individual for confirmation with signature. The digital form should state explicitly and exhaustively the terms to which the individual agrees, to ensure that the transmission of information is voluntary and informed. Following receipt by the administration of the confirmation, the general rule is to set a retraction period before the agreement becomes final.

For these reasons, we suggest that the administration provides a grace period for staff wishing to reconsider their opt-in. It would show that our Office strives to be a caring organisation.

Finally, we would like to point at the importance of this matter as the EPO administration transitions towards a fully digitalised interaction with staff. Surely, other agreements will be made electronically in the future.

Yours sincerely, Alain Dumont

Chairman of the Central Staff Committee


Don't worry about the Office. It already sits on a big mountain of money it's not supposed to even have! The authoritarian Frenchman still has the nerve to moan about a "gap"...



Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM Has Taken Control of GNOME
Don't expect a successor to be found any time soon
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
 
Links 31/08/2025: Baggage Claim Scams, an Insurrectionist’s War on Culture, and a Sudden Robotics Hype
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/08/2025: Reviewing Netsurf and Slightly Less Historic Ada Design
Links for the day
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025
Financiers and Sponsors of the Slop Hype (Pyramid Scheme Waiting to End, Bubble That Will Inevitably Implode)
It's also burning the planet
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day