Judgments nº T-338/19 of Tribunal General de la Unión Europea, Wednesday September 23, 2020

• Resolution Date: Wednesday September 23, 2020
• Issuing Organization: Tribunal General de la Unión Europea
• Decision Number: T-338/19

(Civil service - Temporary members of staff - Health problems alleged to be caused by working conditions - Request for recognition of an occupational disease - Article 73 of the Staff Regulations - Right to be heard - Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights - Obligation for the person concerned to be heard before the original decision)

In Case T-338/19,

UE, represented by S. Rodrigues and A. Champetier, lawyers,

applicant,

v

European Commission, represented by T. Bohr and L. Vernier, acting as Agents,

defendant,

ACTION pursuant to Article 270 TFEU seeking the annulment of the decision of the Office for Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements (PMO) of the Commission, of 1 August 2018, by which the applicant’s request for recognition of an occupational disease, pursuant to Article 73 of the Staff Regulations, was dismissed as inadmissible.

THE GENERAL COURT (Eighth Chamber),

composed of J. Svenningsen, President, R. Barents and T. Pynnä (Rapporteur), Judges,

Registrar: E. Coulon,

gives the following

Judgment

Background to the dispute

1 The applicant worked as a temporary member of staff at the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) for 8 years, from 1 October 2000 to 31 December 2008.

2 According to the information provided in the application, owing to the extremely toxic working environment within EAR in those 8 years of service, the applicant began to suffer from several diseases and, in particular, psychological symptoms that she considers may be defined, taken together, as burn-out. The documents annexed to the application provide evidence that the applicant consulted doctors in Ireland and at her place of work from the beginning of 2004. She then consulted a psychiatrist in October 2007 and A, another psychiatrist, from March 2009.

3 On 14 October 2013, the applicant submitted a request for assistance pursuant to Article 24 and Article 90(1) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (‘the Staff Regulations’), which applies by analogy to members of the contract staff under Articles 81 and 117 respectively of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union (‘the CEOS’), in which she alleged having to face a situation of harassment that was damaging to her health (‘the request for assistance’). She also sought compensation for loss alleged to have been suffered as a result of the alleged harassment, including in particular reimbursement of medical costs (‘the request for compensation’).

4 By decision of 4 October 2016, the authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment (‘the AECE’), dismissed those requests. As regards the medical costs, the AECE considered that the medical certificates produced by the applicant did not prove that the illnesses had been caused necessarily by the alleged psychological harassment. The AECE also informed the applicant that it was for her to lodge an application for recognition of the occupational disease alleged, in accordance with the requirements laid down in Article 73 of the Staff Regulations, which applies by analogy pursuant to Articles 28 and 95 of the CEOS and the common rules on the insurance of officials of the European Communities against the risk of accident and of occupational disease, adopted on 13 December 2005 by the institutions of the European Union pursuant to Article 73 of the Staff Regulations (‘the Insurance rules’). According to the AECE it was possible for the applicant subsequently to claim, if necessary, compensation for material and non-material loss that was not covered by the scheme governed by the Staff Regulations.

5 On 5 January 2017, pursuant to Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations, the applicant brought a complaint against the dismissal by the AECE of the requests for assistance and for compensation, alleging inter alia that the loss that she alleged she had suffered was not only related to the occupational disease alleged. By decision of 26 April 2017, the AECE rejected that claim by observing once again that compensation for some losses should first have been sought pursuant to Article 73 of the Staff Regulations and to the Insurance rules.

6 In the same letter of 5 January 2017, the applicant also asked the AECE, pursuant to Article 90(1) of the Staff Regulations, for compensation for loss she considered she had suffered owing to a breach, by the AECE, of the reasonable time requirement as regards the duration of the administrative inquiry into the harassment alleged. By decision of 27 April 2017 the AECE rejected that complaint, finding that the time taken for the conduct of that inquiry was justified by the fact that the request for assistance had been lodged in 2013, and that it concerned events that took place between 2003 and 2008 in an agency that had not existed since 2008. It thus rejected the claim for compensation connected with the alleged infringement of the reasonable time requirement.

7 On 25 July 2017, the applicant lodged a new complaint, pursuant to Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations, against the dismissal of the claim referred to in paragraph 6 above alleging an infringement of the reasonable time requirement. The AECE rejected that complaint by a decision dated 20 November 2017.

8 By application lodged with the General Court Registry on 3 August 2017, the applicant brought an action, pursuant to Article 270 TFEU, seeking the annulment of the decision of 4 October 2016 rejecting the requests for assistance and for compensation, and, if necessary, the decision of 26 April 2017 dismissing the complaints relating to the requests for assistance and for compensation (T-487/17).

9 By application lodged at the Court Registry on 2 March 2018, the applicant brought another action, this time against the decision of the AECE of 20 November 2017 rejecting the complaint that the applicant had brought against the refusal by that authority to uphold the claim for compensation due to the alleged infringement of the reasonable time requirement for the conduct of the administrative inquiry (T-148/18).

10 Following the Court’s decision, pursuant to Article 125a of its Rules of Procedure, to examine the possibilities of an amicable settlement of those disputes, the parties reached agreement on the basis of the terms of the proposal made by the Judge-Rapporteur, with the result that, noting the parties’ agreement, including as to costs, those cases were removed from the register of the General Court (orders of 19 June 2018, UE v Commission, T-487/17, not published, EU:T:2018:376, and of 19 June 2018, UE v Commission, T-148/18, not published, EU:T:2018:377).

11 On 3 May 2017, the applicant’s lawyers sent to the office responsible for finances, accidents and occupational diseases of the Commission Office for the administration and payment of individual entitlements (PMO) a letter requesting recognition, in accordance with Article 73 of the Staff Regulations, that the applicant’s illness was an occupational disease. That letter stated that, following her eight year career at EAR, the applicant had started suffering from several diseases and in particular psychological symptoms which, taken together, could be defined as burn-out.

12 On 15 June 2017, the applicant’s lawyers sent a complementary request, attached to which was the form for an application for the recognition of an occupational disease dated 10 June 2017 and signed by the applicant (together with the application of 3 May 2017, ‘the request for the recognition of an occupational disease’). In that form, the applicant stated that she suffered from ‘post-traumatic stress disorder with increased anxiety levels[,] with bulimic episodes’.

13 By a letter of 20 June 2017, the PMO acknowledged receipt of the request for recognition of an occupational disease and informed the applicant that that request would be processed in accordance with Article 16 of the Insurance rules, which provides:

‘1. Insured parties who request application of these rules on grounds of an occupational disease shall submit a statement to the administration of...