JUDGMENT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL

(First Chamber)

27 October 2009

Case F-61/07

Gerhard Bauch

v

Commission of the European Communities

(Civil service – Members of the temporary staff – Severance grant – Legal nature)

Application: brought under Articles 236 EC and 152 EA, in which Mr Bauch seeks annulment of the Commission’s decision of 9 October 2006 rejecting his request for, in essence, amendment of the certificate issued to him concerning the severance grant which he received in 1994 as a result of the expiry of his contract as a member of the temporary staff.

Held: The action is dismissed. Each party is ordered to bear its own costs.

Summary

1.      Officials – Members of the temporary staff – Severance grant – Links with retirement pension rights

(Staff Regulations, Annex VIII, Arts 11(1) and 12)

2.      Officials – Members of the temporary staff – Severance grant – Calculation

1.      Although the severance grant does not, as such, have the nature of a retirement pension, it is clear from Article 12 of Annex VIII to the old Staff Regulations that the severance grant is intended for officials or other staff members who have acquired, as a result of monthly contributions deducted from their salary, the nucleus of a retirement pension entitlement, but who cannot either actually be paid a Community retirement pension because they have fewer than 10 years’ service, or benefit from the provisions of Article 11(1) of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations in the version in force until 30 April 2004. Furthermore, a sum paid pursuant to Article 12(b) of Annex VIII to that version of the Staff Regulations, which constitutes one of the two components of the severance grant for temporary staff, is calculated on the basis of the amount of the sums deducted from the basic salary of those staff in respect of contributions for the constitution of their pension, plus compound interest at the rate of 3.5% per annum. It cannot therefore be accepted that the severance grant has no connection at all with retirement pension rights.

(see paras 51-56)

2.      The mere fact that the severance grant is paid, by way of compensation, to staff who have acquired the nucleus of a retirement pension entitlement but cannot actually be paid a retirement pension does not necessarily mean that the amount of that grant must correspond to the actuarial equivalent of their nucleus of a retirement pension entitlement.

(see para. 60)