2

The background to the dispute is set out in paragraphs 16 to 26 of the judgment under appeal, as follows: ‘16 The applicant, who was a member of the staff of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1 September 1995 and then of the ECB from 1998, was assigned as a senior expert to the Market Infrastructure Division (“MIS Division”) of the “Payments” Directorate-General (“DG Payments”) of the ECB. 17 In 1998, following her election, the applicant became a member of the Staff Committee of the ECB and, apart from a short period in 2006, remained a member until June 2008. Throughout that period she also assumed the function of vice-spokesperson of the Staff Committee from September 2000 to December 2001 and from October 2007 to February 2008, and of spokesperson of that committee from May 2001 to July 2002. For the purposes of her staff representation activities the applicant was granted a dispensation from service of between 20 and 50% of her working time. The dispensation from service granted to her for the period from January to July 2006, in particular, represented 50% of working time. 18 From March to May 2007, the applicant, who, at the time, had a dispensation from service of 20% of her working time for her staff representation activities, had her working hours reduced by 35% on medical grounds. At that point the Director-General of DG Payments (“the Director-General”) relieved her of the file on standards for payment instruments (“the standards file”) and gave her, as her sole task, responsibility for preparing a policy note on standards for payment instruments (“the policy note on standards”). 19 The applicant was assigned to another division from 1 January 2008 and was given sick leave from 17 January 2008. 20 The applicant believes that for years she has been the victim of discrimination and infringements of the ECB’s Dignity at Work policy. Her first complaint against the ECB is that she had to bear a heavy workload because she had to combine her work in the MIS Division with her work for the Staff Committee, and her second that, from April 2007, she was given only the task of preparing the policy note on standards and, further, that, in January 2008, she received neither a salary increase nor a bonus because of her supposed underperformance, whereas it was her Director-General who was responsible for the situation. Finally, she maintained that he had offended her by stating without further explanation that her professional reputation was “very bad”. 21 Against that background, on 8 April 2008 the applicant applied for a pre-contentious administrative review on the basis of Article 41 of the Conditions of Employment [for Staff of the ECB] (“the application for pre-contentious review”). That application challenged, first, the allegedly discriminatory conduct of her line managers by reason, inter alia, of her membership of the Staff Committee and, second, the infringement by the ECB of international and European rules of employment law. 22 On 30 May 2008 the ECB informed the applicant of its decision to open an internal administrative inquiry (“the inquiry”), instructing a panel “to clarify the facts and circumstances of and the existence or absence of sufficient evidence” of allegations relating to the “discrimination [allegedly suffered by her] on the grounds of gender, age, nationality and health conditions and … her Staff Committee membership and” [her] allegations related to “a breach of the Dignity at Work policy, in particular by the management of [DG Payments]” including “defamation, isolation, mobbing and intimidation”. 23 On 5 September 2009 a draft inquiry report was sent to the applicant for her comments. The applicant sent her comments on 5 October 2009. 24 The final inquiry report, dated 11 November 2009, concluded that the applicant’s allegations were not substantiated. That report was forwarded to the Executive Board of the ECB on 17 November 2009. The same day, the Executive Board adopted the contested decision on the basis of that report. The contested decision, with the report annexed, was served on the applicant on 1 December 2009. 25 On 29 January 2010 the applicant brought a special appeal pursuant to Article 41 of the Conditions of Employment [for Staff of the ECB] together with Article 8.1.6 of the [ECB] Staff Rules before the President of the ECB against the contested decision. The annexes to that special appeal were received by the ECB on 5 February 2010. 26 That special appeal was rejected by decision of the President of the ECB of 24 March 2010 …’