JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber)

22 October 2002

Joined Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00

Jan Pflugradt

v

European Central Bank

‛Staff of the European Central Bank — Alteration of the employment contract — Performance appraisal’

Full text in German II-1039

Application for:

annulment, in Case T-178/00, of the applicant's performance appraisal for 1999 and annulment, in Case T-341/00, of the note of 28 June 2000 from the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Information Systems (DG IS) of the European Central Bank concerning the duties allocated to the applicant.

Held:

Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00 are joined for the purposes of the judgment. The applications in Cases T-178/00 and T-341/00 are dismissed. The parties are ordered to bear their own costs.

Summary

Officials — Servants of the European Central Bank — Right to observance by the administration of the essential terms of the employment contract — Organisation of services — Assignment of staff to duties — Discretion of the administration — Limit — Downgrading of post as defined in the employment contract

Officials — Servants of the European Central Bank — Arrangements applying to the staff of the European Central Bank — Independent both of the rules applying to officials and other servants of the Communities and of the laws of the Member States — Contractual nature of the employment relationship

Article 36.1 of the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank confers functional autonomy on the European Central Bank as regards the arrangements applying to its staff. Those arrangements, defined in the Conditions of Employment for Staff of the European Central Bank and the Staff Rules, are not the same as the rules applying to officials and the rules applying to other servants of the European Communities. They are also not dependent on the laws of the Member States. However, the employment relationship between the European Central Bank and its staff is of a contractual nature. Under Articles 9(a) and 10(a) of the Conditions of Employment, that relationship is governed by employment contracts which take the form of letters of appointment sent by the European Central Bank to its servants and countersigned by them. (see paras 48-49) See: T-333/99 X v ECB [2001] ECR II-3021. paras 61 and 68

Although the binding force of contracts precludes the European Central Bank as an employer from imposing alterations to the conditions under which employment contracts are performed without the consent of the staff members concerned, that principle applies only to the essential elements of the employment contract. The European Central Bank, like any other institution or undertaking, has management powers in the organisation of its services and in the management of its staff. As a Community institution it even enjoys wide discretion in the organisation of its services and in the assignment of its staff to perform its public service responsibilities. It may therefore over time develop its employment relationships with its staff in the best interests of the service in order to arrive at an effective organisation of work and a consistent allocation of the various duties among members of the staff and to adapt to varying needs. A member of staff recruited to a post for an indefinite period cannot reasonably expect that every aspect of internal organisation will remain unchanged for his entire career or that he will retain throughout his career the responsibilities allocated to him at the time of his appointment. Nevertheless, he is entitled not to have his post downgraded. (see paras 53-54, 59) See: 69/83 Lux v Court of Auditors [1984] ECR 2447, para. 17; C-294/95 P Ojha v Commission [1996] ECR I-5863, para. 40; T-33/90 Von Bonkewitz-Lindner v Parliament [1991] ECR II-1251, para. 88; T-176/97 Hick v ESC [1998] ECRSC I-A-281 and II-845, para. 36

It is not for the Court to substitute its assessment for that of the persons responsible for appraising the work of a member of staff of the European Central Bank. The European Central Bank, like other institutions and bodies of the Community, enjoys wide discretion in appraising the work of members of its staff. Judicial review by the Court of the assessments contained in the annual performance appraisal of a member of the staff of the European Central Bank relates only to possible procedural irregularities, manifest factual errors in such assessments and any misuse of power. (see para. 69) See: Case T-63/89 Latham v Commission [1991] ECR II-19, para. 19