62018TJ0215_INF
Judgment of the General Court (Ninth Chamber) of 12 March 2020 –QB v ECB
(Case T‑215/18)
(Civil service – ECB staff – Appraisal exercise – Appraisal report for 2016 – Author of the appraisal report – Manifest error of assessment – Sick leave – Redeployment – Remuneration – Decision not to award a salary increase – Competence of the author of an act adversely affecting a party – Liability)
1.
Actions brought by officials – Staff of the European Central Bank – Action against a decision rejecting a complaint – Admissibility – Obligation to rule on pleas directed against the decision rejecting the complaint – Pleas devoid of independent content or purely confirmatory decision – Absence
(Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90 and 91; Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank, Art. 36.2; Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Art. 42)
(see paras 40, 41)
2.
Officials – Staff of the European Central Bank – Assessment – Appraisal report – Guidelines for reporting officers and members of staff on staff appraisal procedures – Legal effects
(Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Annex I, Art. 5)
(see para. 46)
3.
Officials – Staff of the European Central Bank – Assessment – Appraisal report – Drawing up – Need for the involvement of the appraisee’s managers – Allegation that the appraisal report was drafted by a third party – Burden of proof
(Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Annex I, Art. 5)
(see paras 47-50, 59, 61)
4.
Officials – Staff of the European Central Bank – Assessment – Appraisal report – Assessment period – Long-term absence of the official being assessed – Actual time at work equivalent to or longer than three months – Basis for assessment sufficient for the appraisal – Possibility to take into account the backward-looking part of the appraisal – Infringement of duty to have regard to officials' interests – None
(Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Annex I, Art. 5)
(see paras 81, 82, 85-87)
5.
Officials – Staff of the European Central Bank – Assessment – Appraisal report – Drawing up – Official assigned to a different post during the appraisal period – Retention in the appraisal report of transferable improvement and development measures derived from the previous post – Whether permissible
(Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Annex I, Art. 5)
(see paras 93, 94, 97)
6.
Officials – Staff of the European Central Bank – Assessment – Appraisal report – Discretion of assessors – Judicial review – Limits – Manifest error of assessment – Definition
(Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank, Art. 36.2 Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Art. 42)
(see paras 100-103, 110, 111, 125, 128, 134)
7.
EU institutions – Exercise of powers – Delegation – Conditions – European Central Bank – Annual salary and bonus review – Decision not issued by the authorised authority or by an authority having been delegated that power – Lack of competence of the author of the contested decision – Annulment of the decision – Effects
(Art. 266 TFEU Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank, Annex I, Arts 5 and 6)
(see paras 141, 142, 152, 155)
8.
Officials – Non-contractual liability of the institutions – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Damage – Causal link – Cumulative conditions
(Art. 340, second para., TFEU)
(see para. 158)
9.
Actions brought by officials – Application for damages linked to an application for annulment – Dismissal of claim for annulment leading to dismissal of the claim for compensation
(Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 91)
(see para. 159)
Re:
Application under Article 270 TFEU and Article 50a of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union seeking, first, annulment of the applicant’s appraisal report for 2016 and of the decision of the ECB of 23 May 2017 not to award her a salary increase and, in so far as necessary, annulment of the decision of the ECB of 18 September 2017 and of its implicit decision rejecting, respectively, the applicant’s administrative appeal and claim, and, second, compensation in respect of the harm that the applicant allegedly suffered.
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Annuls the decision of the European Central Bank (ECB) of 23 May 2017 not to award QB a salary increase;
2.
Dismisses the action as to the remainder;
3.
Orders QB to bear two thirds of her own costs;
4.
Orders the ECB to bear its own costs and to pay one third of the costs incurred by QB.