PENSION RIGHTS OF CONTRACT STAFF – “PICARD” JUDGMENT: TAO REQUESTS AN IMMEDIATE REGULARISATION
After a long battle that lasted 8 years, on December 15, 2022, the European Union Tribunal ruled that Maxime Picard, a contract agent at the Commission since 2008, should keep his acquired pension rights despite his change of Function Group (FG) after the entry into force of the 2014 Staff Regulations.
In 2014, Mr. Picard changed FG, and to do so, he had to resign from his first FG I contract signed in 2008 to sign his new FG II contract. However, this did not result in any interruption in his career within the Commission, as he was continuously employed by the same employer. Nevertheless, the administration considered that the new contract signed after the entry into force of the 2014 Staff Regulations should apply the less favourable new rules on pension rights, namely the retirement age increased from 64 years and 8 months to 66 years and the rate of accumulation of pension rights decreased from 1.9% to 1.8% per year.
Today, following the Tribunal’s decision, Mr. Picard’s rights must be restored, and we hope that this will also be the case for all contract agents in the same situation. However, it appears that this is not yet the case.
TAO contacted the administration to ask when this decision would be applied to everyone. The administration replied that the PMO and the DG HR are discussing some interpretation issues, and that information will follow as soon as possible. They also indicated that, in the meantime, pension rights fixed after December 15 continued to be based on the 2014 Staff Regulations.
TAO the Independents requests that this decision be implemented promptly so that all those concerned are not forced to go to court to obtain what is rightfully theirs. This would obviously be contrary to the general principle of good administrative management. We will closely monitor this issue and keep you informed.
