Action brought on 7 April 2021 — RI and Others v Council and Others

(Case T-190/21)

(2021/C 217/70)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicants: RI and 15 other applicants (represented by: N. de Montigny, lawyer)

Defendants: Council of the European Union, European Commission, European External Action Service (EEAS), and Eulex Kosovo

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the Court should:

principally:

—

with regard to the employment relationship:

—	reclassify the contractual relationship of the applicants as a permanent contract of employment;

—

order the defendants to pay compensation in lieu of notice:

—	to the applicant RW: EUR 65 726,17.

—	to the applicant RZ: EUR 84 748,27.

—	order the defendants to compensate the applicants for the lack of affiliation to a national social security scheme, to be determined on the basis of the applicable legislation;

—	order them to pay interest on those sums;

—	set a time limit for the parties to assess that compensation to be established;

—

with regard to other rights:

—

declare that the applicants should have been recruited as temporary agents by one of the first three defendants and declare that the first three defendants treated the applicants unlawfully and in a discriminatory manner, without objective justification, as regards their remuneration, pension rights and related benefits, and the guarantee of future employment;

—

order the first three defendants to compensate each of the applicants for the damage suffered as a result of the non-application of the remuneration, pension rights, allowances and benefits arising from the application of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union, caused by the unlawful unequal treatment;

—	order them to pay interest on those sums;

—

set a time limit for the parties to assess that compensation, taking account of the grade and step in which the applicants should have been respectively recruited, the average increase in their remuneration, the development of their respective careers, the allowances which they should then have received under those contracts of temporary agents, and compare the results obtained with the remuneration actually received by the applicants;

alternatively:

—	order the first three defendants to compensate the applicants in respect of their non-contractual liability resulting from the failure to respect their fundamental rights, assessed ex aequo et bono at EUR 20 000 per year of seniority;

—	order them to pay interest on those sums;

order the defendants to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of their action, the applicants rely on seven pleas in law which are, in essence, identical or similar to those relied on in Case T-183/21, QP and Others v Council and Others.