Summary: Overloaded or overworked EPO workers are complaining about further deterioration at the workplace and their representatives say "this management style may well contribute to feelings of disengagement, depression, or even burn-out"

THE EPO is a lawless institution that routinely breaks the law. The European Commission helps facilitate this law-breaking, as we habitually note in Daily Links (in relation to the UPC). Put another way, the corruption of the EPO has officially spread to the European Union, so any time EU officials berate countries (e.g. Poland) for unconstitutional behaviour we can and perhaps should bring up what happened with the UPC.

This post is not about the UPC however. We'll have plenty to say about it in future posts, as challenges mount (the whole system will potentially get tossed out). What Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos did to the office is, to put it bluntly, deliberate sabotage. They got rid of some of the best workers, quality of patents fell (many patents aren't even compliant with the law), salaries and pensions fell (relative to purchasing power), and people are being recruited who have no prior experience in patents, let alone specialised knowledge. Maybe the EPO thinks that it can maintain the bubble by granting loads of European software patents using buzzwords. Well, guess what? Applicants are upset, existing workers are fed up, and recruitment prospects of the Office are grimmer than ever.

Last year we mentioned calls of distress about managers bullying the staff and this month LSCTH, elected staff representatives in the EPO's second-largest branch, wrote this:

Colleagues put under scrutiny - Call to stop unhealthy management style

Dear colleagues,

We have been receiving feedback from some of you being summoned for a meeting by their Principal Director and / or Director to allegedly re-assess the yearly objectives and evaluate progress. The reports of such a meeting which reached us are far from being positive and raise major concerns about this practice.

In particular, colleagues reported being targeted and shamed for their performance, and being put under undue pressure. We fear that this management style may well contribute to feelings of disengagement, depression, or even burn-out, and we do not believe that this is a healthy direction for the Office to take in terms of the organisational culture. We therefore call on the administration for an immediate stop to this practice, and invite everybody to respect the dignity of our staff.

We are confident that the President and VP1 will promptly put an end to this unhealthy managerial style.

Kind regards, Your Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH)

PS: We thank our colleagues for sending feedback, and invite everybody to contact their staff representation immediately if summoned to such a meeting.

EPO applicants need to know this. German, Dutch and EU politicians need to know about it. But will they do anything? The government of the country is embroiled in a corruption (bribery) scandal connected to the EPO. This is white-collar crime right next door to the ICC. ⬆