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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber)
22 October 2002 (1)
(Staff of the European Central Bank - Amendment of employment contract - Performance appraisal)
In Joined Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00,
Jan Pflugradt, residing in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), represented in Case T-178/00 by N. Pflüger, lawyer, and in Case T-341/00 by N. Pflüger, R. Steiner and S. Mittländer, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxembourg,
applicant,
v
European Central Bank, represented in Case T-178/00 by J. Fernández Martín and V. Saintot, acting as Agents, assisted by B. Wägenbaur, lawyer, and in Case T-341/00 by V. Saintot and T. Gilliams, acting as Agents, assisted by B. Wägenbaur, lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg,
defendant,
APPLICATION for annulment of the applicant's performance appraisal report for 1999, in Case T-178/00, and for annulment of the note of 28 June 2000 from the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Information Systems (DG IS) of the European Central Bank concerning the duties allocated to the applicant, in Case T-341/00,
THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Fifth Chamber),
composed of: J.D. Cooke, President, R. García-Valdecasas and P. Lindh, Judges,
Registrar: D. Christensen, Administrator,
having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 19 February 2002,
gives the following
Law
'Article 12
...
12.3 The Governing Council shall adopt Rules of Procedure which determine the internal organisation of the ECB and its decision-making bodies.
...
Article 36
Staff
36.1 The Governing Council, on a proposal from the Executive Board, shall lay down the conditions of employment of the staff of the ECB.
36.2 The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction in any dispute between the ECB and its servants within the limits and under the conditions laid down in the conditions of employment.'
'9. (a) Employment relations between the ECB and its members of staff shall be governed by employment contracts issued in conjunction with these Conditions of Employment. The Staff Rules adopted by the Executive Board shall further specify the application of these Conditions of Employment.
...
(c) No specific national law governs these Conditions of Employment. The ECB shall apply (i) the general principles of law common to the Member States, (ii) the general principles of European Community (EC) law, and (iii) the rules contained in the EC regulations and directives concerning social policy which are addressed to the Member States. Whenever necessary, these legal instruments will be implemented by the ECB. EC recommendations in the area of social policy will be given due consideration. In interpreting the rights and obligations under the present Conditions of Employment, due regard shall be shown for the authoritative principles of the regulations, rules and case-law which apply to the staff of the EC institutions.
10. (a) Employment contracts between the ECB and its members of staff shall take the form of letters of appointment which shall be countersigned by members of staff. The letters of appointment shall specify the terms of employment as required by Council Directive 91/533/EEC of 14 October 1991. ...'
'Article 11
11.1 Each member of the staff of the ECB shall be informed of his/her position within the structure of the ECB, his/her reporting line and his/her professional responsibilities.
...
Article 21
21.1 The employment relationship between the ECB and its staff shall be determined by the Conditions of Employment and the Staff Rules.
21.2 The Conditions of Employment shall be approved and amended by the Governing Council upon a proposal from the Executive Board. The General Council shall be consulted under the procedure laid down in these Rules of Procedure.
21.3 The Conditions of Employment shall be implemented by Staff Rules, which shall be adopted and amended by the Executive Board.'
Facts, procedure and forms of order sought
'I have carefully considered the views expressed by the second appraiser. However, I maintain my position that the comments made in the appraisal document are unfair and unsubstantial [sic]. I shall therefore reject the appraisal and shall arrange for it to be followed up in an administrative review as outlined in the Conditions of Employment.'
- order the ECB to revoke his performance appraisal for 1999 dated 23 November 1999 and to remove it from his personal file;
- order the ECB to have a new performance appraisal drawn up for the applicant for 1999 by other, unbiased persons, and in any case by persons other than those who acted as assessors;
- order the ECB to provide the applicant, pursuant to his contract, with work corresponding to the activities forming the subject-matter of his job description, namely, 'UNIX coordinator responsibilities';
- order the ECB to assign to the applicant responsibility for preparing performance appraisals for all members of the UNIX team;
- order the ECB to seek his advice before grading members of the UNIX team;
- order the ECB to entrust him with supervision of the work of members of the UNIX team and to use the applicant's conclusions as the basis for the ECB Merit Bonus Scheme and for other bonus decisions;
- order the ECB to entrust him with responsibility as regards personnel matters for all staff employed on UNIX platforms and production systems, and technical and professional responsibility for the latter;
- find, as an alternative to those five heads of claim, that the ECB is required to provide the applicant with work corresponding to the job description 'UNIX coordinator responsibilities' and, in doing so, to have regard to the contractually defined activities forming the subject-matter of the four preceding heads of claim;
- order the ECB to pay the costs.
- find that the ECB infringed his employment contract by providing him with work corresponding to the job description dated 28 June 2000;
- find that the job description dated 28 June 2000 is invalid;
- order the ECB to withdraw the job description dated 28 June 2000;
- order the ECB to provide him, at any event, with work corresponding to the job description which was the subject-matter of the performance appraisal for 1999, if it does not allow his third head of claim in Case T-178/00;
- order the ECB to pay the costs.
- dismiss the application;
- make an appropriate order as to costs.
The application in Case T-178/00
The plea concerning withdrawal of responsibility for preparing annual performance appraisals for members of the UNIX team
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
The plea relating to the assessment of the applicant's work in 1999
Arguments of the parties
- his unnecessary stubbornness;
- the fact that he asked the UNIX team to prepare special web documentation instead of the expected DG IS web documentation;
- his lack of awareness as regards his activities;
- the fact that he did not bring the competent DG IS sectors in on certain essential discussions;
- a failure to communicate regarding his UNIX activities;
- his slowness in delegating responsibilities;
- the fact that he did not give the necessary priority to recruitment of new members of the UNIX team;
- the fact that he synchronised the computers in breach of the instructions he had been given.
Findings of the Court
The application in Case T-341/00
Admissibility
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
Substance
Arguments of the parties
Findings of the Court
Costs
95. In Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00 each party must be ordered to bear its own costs.
On those grounds,
THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber)
hereby:
1. Orders that Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00 shall be joined for the purposes of the judgment;
2. Dismisses the applications in Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00;
3. Orders the parties to bear their own costs.
Cooke
|
Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 22 October 2002.
H. Jung R. García-Valdecasas
Registrar President
1: Language of the case: German.