IN THE ANAGNOSTU case (F-72/11) THE TRIBUNAL CONDEMNS THE COMMISSION FOR MALADMINISTRATION AND infringement OF STAFF REGULATIONS concerning PROMOTIONS
After 4 years of procedure, the Tribunal stipulated that the Commission has wrongly applied the rules concerning the promotions rates imposed by the Staff Regulations. Indeed, DG HR has for years applied arbitrarily promotion rates, which have been systematically and unlawfully imposed to the Joint Promotion Committee since 2004.
We congratulate enthusiastically those colleagues who took the case to the Tribunal and obtained this great result.
R&D members decisively contributed to the collective action, which follows exactly the position R&D has been advocating for years in the Joint Promotion Committee as well as by tracts to the staff and letters to both the Commission and its Administration.
Lamentably, our arguments have been falling to rather deaf ears of dignitaries who did not seem to be enough concerned by the legal obligation to respect very clear statutory prescriptions for applying rightly the Staff Regulations. [for relevant R&D literature see: Promotion exercise and quotas]
ADMITTEDLY THOUGH THE CASE OF THE WRONG AD12 AND AD13 PROMOTION RATES IS ONLY THE TIP OF AN ICEBERG HIDING ERRONEOUS PROMOTION RATES postponing UNFAIRLY PROMOTIONS AND slowing down CAREERS WITH SUBSTANTIAL…FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THE STAFF SINCE 2004.
Actually it’s enough to look at the following official statistics [extracted from the works of the Joint Monitoring Committee who supervises ex post each promotion exercise] comparing theoretical five year promotion rates and respective real promotion percentages to see that from 2004 to 2014 real promotion rates have been lagging considerably behind those provided by the Staff Regulations for the overwhelming majority of both AST and AD grades [actually for 22 grades [in red] out of 27]:
|
GRADES |
REAL PROMOTION RATES | STATUTORY PROMOTION RATES |
| AST10 | 8.6% | 20% |
| AST9 | 11.2% | 20% |
| AST8 | 17.5% | 25% |
| AST7 | 21.5% | 25% |
| AST6 | 23.5% | 25% |
| AST5 | 28.3% | 25% |
| AST4 | 34.1% | 33% |
| AST3 | 26.5% | 33% |
| AST2 | 25.1% | 33% |
| AST1 | 27.9% | 33% |
| AST6/C | 10.6% | 20% |
| AST5/C | 14.7% | 22.5% |
| AST4/C | 19.8% | 22.5% |
| AST3/C | 22.5% | 25% |
| AST2/C | 39% | 25% |
| AST4/D | 8.9% | 10% |
| AST3/D | 19.9% | 22.5% |
| AST2/D | 39.8% | 22.5% |
| AD13 | 4% | 20% |
| AD12 | 13.1% | 20% |
| AD11 | 23.2% | 25% |
| AD10 | 21.2% | 25% |
| AD9 | 25.5% | 25% |
| AD8 | 26.3% | 33% |
| AD7 | 26.1% | 33% |
| AD6 | 27.1% | 33% |
| AD5 | 28.1% | 33% |
The ruling comes just weeks before the new Promotion Committees for AST and AD staff scheduled 13/10/2015. It is a painful reminder of the chronic inadequacy of DG HR to apply correctly Staff Regulations on promotions and careers.
Will the new Commission and the responsible Vice President finally make the necessary changes at DG HR level and take all necessary steps to rectify TIMELY FOR ONCE this rotten situation by compensating retroactively all those hard working and dedicated who have suffered by this unlawful practices?
Only time will tell if this ruling together with those official data will put an end to Commission’s top brass “see no evil, hear no evil” approach, which has become an alibi to deny the very existence of a real and thorny issue concerning illegal and illegitimate career deceleration of all staff.
R&D remains convinced that this is serious problem that affects considerably the staff of ALL grades and categories and will continue to act in close collaboration with other Trade Unions and the Central Staff Committee in order to undertake all collective, necessary, urgent actions to raise yet again the awareness of the College.