51ÁÔÆæ

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that there was no reason to reverse the finding of UNDT that a legitimate expectation of a one-year extension was unequivocally created by virtue of the decision taken at the Core Management Group meeting. UNAT affirmed the UNDT decision that Mr Munir had a legitimate expectation and the decision of the Resident Representative not to seek a one-year renewal of his contract was an unlawful exercise of discretion. UNAT held that the Secretary-General failed to demonstrate that the compensation was unreasonable because there was a...

On the Appellant¡¯s argument that his non-renewal was a disguised disciplinary measure and that thus, management evaluation was not required, UNAT held that the argument had no merit and that the Appellant could not evade the statutory obligation of management evaluation by characterising the dispute decision as a disciplinary matter. UNAT held that UNDT properly considered the facts and the applicable statutory law and jurisprudence in arriving at its decision that the Appellant¡¯s application was not receivable. UNAT held that, having failed to demonstrate that UNDT committed any error of law...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that the UNDT¡¯s legal conclusion that the application was timely was erroneous. UNAT held that the application was not timely and not receivable ratione temporis. UNAT held that UNDT exceeded its competence or jurisdiction in receiving the application and addressing its merits. UNAT granted the appeal and vacated the UNDT judgment.

UNAT held that the nature of the contested decision before UNDT was not entirely clear. On the UNDT¡¯s finding that the Appellant had not adduced any evidence in support of his claim that the Settlement Agreement was imposed upon him by duress and threats, and therefore must fail, UNAT found no error of law or fact in the decision and affirmed the UNDT judgment on this point. UNAT held that UNDT failed to deal with the Appellant¡¯s claim of harassment and discrimination. UNAT held that the Appellant¡¯s right to due process entitlement him to a fair hearing and a fully reasoned judgment of his...

UNAT considered two appeals by the Secretary-General against three judgments (judgment Nos. UNDT/2013/028, UNDT/2013/029 and UNDT/2013/076). UNAT held that, generally speaking, appeals against a decision to initiate an investigation are not receivable as such a decision is preliminary in nature and does not, at that stage, affect the legal rights of the staff member. UNAT held that initiating an investigation is merely a step in the investigative process and it is not an administrative decision that UNDT is competent to review. UNAT held that UNDT erred on a question of law and exceeded its...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General in which he appealed the order of the award of damages and averred that UNDT erred on questions of law and fact and exceeded its competence in awarding damages. UNAT held that the reasonable expectation of the duration of Mr Andreyev¡¯s contract was one year and reduced the award of compensation in lieu of rescission. UNAT held that there was no evidence of harm to support the award for moral damages. UNAT granted the Secretary-General¡¯s appeal, reduced the UNDT¡¯s award of compensation in lieu of rescission to nine months¡¯ net base salary, less...

UNAT held that the JAB did not err in limiting the scope of the Appellant¡¯s application to the written reprimand, as the various other allegations raised were not the subject of a request for administrative review, and were therefore not receivable, and UNAT dismissed those grounds of appeal. UNAT held that the Appellant failed to establish any errors of fact that resulted in a manifestly unreasonable decision on the part of the JAB and dismissed that ground of appeal. UNAT held that the Appellant¡¯s submission that the JAB may have been unduly influenced by the presence of the Registrar¡¯s...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General and a cross-appeal by the staff member. On the confidentiality issue, UNAT held that there was no merit in the staff member¡¯s claim that some findings of the impugned judgment had not been shared with her. Regarding the delay in the response to the request for management evaluation, UNAT held that the staff member had failed to demonstrate how the alleged delay of response on the part of the Administration had prejudiced her or had violated her due process rights. UNAT held that the staff member had failed to demonstrate any error in the UNDT...

UNAT considered the Secretary-General¡¯s appeal and found that UNDT erred in law and fact by awarding a remedy to Mr Nwuke. UNAT held that the violation of Mr Nwuke¡¯s due process rights did not, in and of itself, entitle him to an award of damages and that there was no evidence of any pecuniary loss or harm suffered by Mr Nwuke as a result of said violation. Moreover, UNAT held that not every violation of a staff member¡¯s right will necessarily lead to an award of compensation and there are no legal grounds that can justify such an award when no actual prejudice is found. UNAT accordingly...

UNAT considered the Secretary-General¡¯s appeal, which was limited to a challenge of UNDT¡¯s method of calculating the compensation awarded to Mr Nyasulu as an alternative to the rescission. UNAT noted that Mr Nyasulu presumably had no objection to the compensation being re-calculated, as he did not rebut the appeal. UNAT found that it had no option but to remand the case as, in order to rule on the Secretary-General¡¯s request, it would first need to be satisfied that UNDT¡¯s calculation of compensation in lieu of rescission was not correct. UNAT held that that could not be done because UNDT gave...