14/10/2015
IPKat Blog, "When harassment gains a new meaning: EPO takes hard line on Hardon"
IPKat reports on the investigation of staff representatives culminating with the interrogation of Elizabeth Hardon, SUEPO Munich Chair, as accused: "Ordinary EPO employees who are not members of the Boards of Appeals [...] can be disciplined and dismissed at the whim of the President and those who wield power in his name. The internal disciplinary appeal process is only advisory: an employee can obtain a favourable decision on appeal, only for this to be disregarded by the President. The employee's only recourse is then to the International Labour Organisation's Appeal Tribunal (ILO-AT), which has such a backlog that cases take years to be heard."