The complaint to the European Commission

1. The complainant is an EU civil servant (an ‘official’), working for the European Commission. She joined the EU civil service as a ‘contract staff member’[1] in April 2006 and has since been employed by the EU institutions, with the exception of a period of about three months in 2010.

2. In September 2017, the complainant sent a request to the European Commission’s Office for the Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements (PMO)[2] to have her national pension rights, which she had obtained prior to her employment with the EU institutions, transferred into the pension scheme for EU civil servants[3].

3. In October 2017, the Commission informed the complainant that she had made her request too late, as it has to be made within six months[4] of becoming eligible for an EU retirement pension[5], that is, six months after the completion of ten years of service. Her request was therefore rejected.

4. In December 2017, the complainant made an administrative complaint[6] against the Commission’s decision not to allow her to transfer her pension rights because of late submission of her request. The complainant argued that the Commission’s decision was unfair because she had not been able to determine the exact deadline for requesting the transfer due to the following reasons: The Commission’s personnel database, to which the complainant has access, does not contain all the relevant information for determining the deadline. In particular, regarding the complainant’s employment history, the database does not mention her first post as a contract agent. Moreover, the complainant had initially been employed by an EU executive agency[7], which is an entity separate from the Commission. She could thus not ascertain whether pension contributions to the pension scheme for EU civil servants had been paid on her behalf during that employment period. The complainant also argued that she had not been properly informed about the conditions for transferring national pension rights.

The European Commission’s response to the complainant

5. The Commission rejected the complainant’s administrative complaint in March 2018. The Commission referred to the applicable legal rules and the complainant’s employment history with the EU institutions, concluding that the complainant should have submitted her request for the transfer of national pension rights no later than 5 January 2017. The Commission considered that the complainant had not shown that the delay in making the request was due to circumstances not attributable to her.

6. On the arguments raised by the complainant, the Commission stated, in summary, that the complainant had contributed to the pension scheme for EU civil servants while working as a contract staff member and that she must be considered to have been aware of this. The fact that EU executive agencies are legal entities separate from the Commission is not relevant in this context. In case of doubt about the periods of payment to the pension scheme for EU civil servants, the complainant should have verified the issue with her employer or the PMO. The complainant had been provided with ample opportunities to inform herself about her rights.

The European Ombudsman's findings

7. It is uncontested that the time limit for the complainant to request a transfer of her national pension rights into the pension scheme for EU civil servants had elapsed when she made her request to the Commission.

8. As correctly pointed out by the Commission (and supported by EU case law[8]), EU civil servants are expected to know their rights and duties under the Staff Regulations, or to make the necessary inquiries in case of doubt[9].

9. In the context of the administrative complaint procedure, the complainant has not demonstrated any circumstances that would justify the delay in making her request. Rather, all the means necessary to determine the date by which she had to make the request were readily available to her.

10. The Commission has provided the complainant with a detailed and correct decision on her administrative complaint.

11. Thus, based on the information provided by the complainant, the Ombudsman finds no maladministration in this case.[10]

 

Tina Nilsson

Head of Inquiries – Unit 4

Strasbourg, 19/10/2018

 

[1] Contract staff are recruited to do manual or administrative support-service tasks or to provide additional capacity in specialised fields where officials with the required skills are not available. For more information, see: https://epso.europa.eu/help/faq/2038_en.

[2] The PMO manages the pension rights of all staff members of the EU civil service.

[3] Under Article 11(2) of Annex VIII to Regulation No 31 (EEC), 11 (EAEC), laying down the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, OJ 45, 14.6.1962, p. 1385 (Staff Regulations).

[4] Article 11(2) of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations together with Article 5(1) of Commission Decision of 3 March 2011 on the general implementing provisions for Articles 11 and 12 of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations on the transfer of pension rights that reads: “Regardless of their status, staff must submit their application within six months of the end of the period needed to qualify them for the right referred to in Article 77 of the Staff Regulations.”   

[5] According to Article 77 of the Staff Regulations.

[6] Under Article 90(2) of the Staff regulations.

[7] Executive agencies are set up for a limited period of time by the European Commission to manage specific tasks related to EU programmes. For more information, see: https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/agencies_en.

[8] See, for example, judgment of the Court of First Instance (Third Chamber) of 20 July 2016, Barroso Truta and Others v Court of Justice, F-126/15, ECLI:EU:F:2016:159, para 77.

[9] Under Article 11(1) of the Staff Regulations.

[10] This complaint has been dealt with under delegated case handling, in accordance with Article 11 of the Decision of the European Ombudsman adopting Implementing Provisions.