EPO staff fear quality drop under career proposals
Staff at the European Patent Office (EPO) have claimed that the quality of patent examination will suffer if new career guidelines that could change how workers are paid are voted through this week.
In a letter to the organisation’s supervisory body, the Administrative Council (AC), staff have called on members to vote against the proposals for a new career system (NCS).
In the letter, dated December 5, staff say they will no longer be able to “support the priorities of the EU by delivering high quality patents” and that preliminary examinations will also suffer.
Introduced by EPO president Benoît Battistelli, the NCS forms part of the EPO’s “Roadmap”, a series of changes to the office’s structure which has also included alterations to staff committees.
Under the guidelines—which, according to staff, the AC will vote on this Thursday (December 11)—there will be changes to staff appointments and promotions as well as new revised salary scales to reflect performance.
The letter to the AC, seen by WIPR, claims that introducing performance-related pay will affect motivation.
“There is an abundance of academic studies on the undesired effects of performance-related pay systems on public service motivation. It is not suitable for work requiring cognitive skills,” it said.
The letter said that under the proposal salary increases and bonuses would depend only on performance and that seniority will no longer be a balancing factor.
“Those who do not enter into competition or fail to deliver what is defined by their manager (whose bonus is also dependent on the production achieved), will suffer economic losses,” the letter added.
It added that staff “will no longer be able to give their main attention, during prior art search and the examination of the presence of novelty and inventive step, to legal certainty of patents without directly eroding their individual remuneration and pension prospects.”
The letter comes at a time when staff are in the middle of a five-week intermittent strike.
Last week, nearly 2,000 workers attended demonstrations in Munich and The Hague in support of two suspended workers. Staff will also walk out for four days this week and every day next week.
The EPO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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