Action brought on 24 September 2007 - De Fays v Commission

(Case F-97/07)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Chantal De Fays (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: P.-P. Gehuchten and Ph. Reyniers, lawyers)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Tribunal should:

annul the decision of the appointing authority of 21 June 2007 and, so far as necessary, its decision of 21 November 2006;

order the Commission to pay the salaries suspended, plus default interest;

order the Commission to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant, a Commission official suffering from a sickness which she claims forced her absence from work, challenges the decisions of the appointing authority to treat her successive absences from 19 October 2006 as unauthorised and to therefore apply Article 60 of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities ('the Staff Regulations') with regard to her.

The applicant first submits that the arbitration procedure initiated on the basis of Article 59 of the Staff Regulations took place in breach of her right to a fair hearing and the rule of audi alteram partem. What is more, the report of the independent doctor did not give sufficient reasons and was vitiated by a manifest error of assessment.

The applicant also maintains that the decision forcing her to go to the workplace, in the light of current scientific opinion, infringes the principle of taking precautions.

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