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Photo: Courtesy of EPO
19 November 2015Patents

EPO responds to allegations of poor staff treatment

The European Patent Office (EPO) has rejected claims that staff union members were treated badly during an interview with the organisation’s investigative unit (IU).

The IU’s account of the meeting with two members of the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (SUEPO) was posted on the EPO’s own intranet service today, November 19.

According to the IU, the investigation was “conducted in a cooperative atmosphere” and the members in question “left the room without any indications of health problems” at the close of the meeting.

Shortly afterwards, the EPO’s Occupational Health Service assessed that the health condition of one of the individuals “allowed him to go home on his own”, the EPO said.

The meeting, the nature of which is still unclear, was held at The Hague office of the EPO on November 13.

Earlier today, WIPR  reported on SUEPO’s claims that one of the union representatives appeared “visibly shaken” and required medical treatment.

Another union member interviewed by the IU left the same meeting “noticeably distressed”, SUEPO alleged.

Tensions between the EPO management and SUEPO have been growing this week. Four members of SUEPO, including the chair of the Munich branch, Elizabeth Hardon, were suspended by the EPO management.

The announcement arrived on the same day as the Administrative Council, the supervisory body of the EPO, met to discuss the “social situation” at the EPO.

Yesterday, 2,000 people attended a demonstration at the Isar building in Munich in support of the suspended members and another is scheduled for December 10.

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Patents
19 November 2015   Around 2,000 people attended a demonstration yesterday at the European Patent Office against the suspension of four members of the staff’s union.