Judgment_paragraph 45 · CR v European Parliament (F-128/12)

45In that regard, the Tribunal observes that, according to the case-law, any normally diligent official is deemed to be familiar with the Staff Regulations (judgment of 19 May 1999 in Joined Cases T‑34/96 and T‑163/96 Connolly v Commission, paragraph 168 and the case-law cited) and, more particularly, the rules governing his remuneration (see judgment of 21 November 2013 in Joined Cases F‑72/12 and F‑10/13 Roulet v Commission, paragraph 48 and the case-law cited). On the other hand, a plea of illegality may lead the Tribunal to assess the legality of rules which officials are deemed to know in the light of general principles or higher rules of law which may go beyond the framework of the rules of the Staff Regulations. Owing to the nature of a plea of illegality and to the reasoning which leads the person concerned to search for and invoke such illegality, the official or member of staff who submits a complaint and does not necessarily have the appropriate legal expertise cannot be required to raise such a plea at the pre-litigation stage, failing which a plea of that kind raised at a later stage will be declared inadmissible. Accordingly, a declaration of inadmissibility in those circumstances is a disproportionate penalty for the member of staff concerned and is unjustified