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EPO and the Children of Staff
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
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.
The 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
[PDF] which explains what the management is doing. It is the one mentioned in the last (third) footnote above. ⬆
