The decision not to renew the Applicant’s appointment beyond 15 January 2020 was superseded by subsequent decisions that resulted in the Applicant’s appointment being renewed to June 2020. Other than alleging that bias and an abuse of authority led to the superseded decision, the Applicant failed to demonstrate to the Tribunal how his rights remained adversely affected by the contested decision.
The Applicant argued that the decision to abolish his post and to terminate his fixed-term appointment was tainted by improper motives, but the Tribunal found that the Applicant failed to meet the burden of proof. The Applicant applied for three posts at his level and the record showed that staff members holding continuing appointments from a closed peacekeeping mission were appointed to two posts. Since staff members holding continuing appointment have priority over staff members holding fixed-term appointment, the Administration’s decision regarding these two posts was found to be lawful...
The Tribunal found the application receivable because the Applicant was not relitigating the same claim that was dismissed by Judgment No. UNDT/2019/122. The Tribunal concluded that Judgment No. UNDT/2019/122 related solely to the Applicant’s challenge against MONUSCO’s decision to abolish his post by way of a “dry cut” and not to extend his fixed-term appointment (FTA) and that this judgment made no pronouncements, whether procedural or substantive on the Applicant’s claim for a termination indemnity. In the absence of an explicit decision/evidence corroborating the Applicant’s assertion that...
The application was dismissed. The Tribunal held that the Applicant’s actions were consistent with a concluded intent not to return to her duty station, no matter the lack of basis. Therefore, the Respondent’s decision to separate her on the ground of abandonment of post was lawful.
The fact that the Applicant had only a few months left to reach full retirement age and that if she had been allowed to reach mandatory retirement age her terminal benefits would have been better than what she received on termination, or the fact that the Field Staff Union intervened to have her granted a brief extension, or that she was afforded less days’ official notice before termination do not constitute valid grounds for alleging that the abolition of her post was irregular. These were not relevant matters that the Administration was obliged to consider. The Respondent conceded that one...
The issue raised in the application was not submitted for management evaluation. The application is not receivable. Related
The Tribunal rejects the application as not receivable. The contested decision to place a note on the Applicant’s Official Status File is not an appealable administrative decision as it has no direct legal consequences affecting the terms and conditions of his appointment. The Applicant should have requested a management evaluation within 60 days from the notification of the contested decisions on 5 August 2017, but instead he requested a management evaluation on 3 November 2017, more than 60 days later. Therefore, the application is not receivable as time-barred. The contested decision not to...
The Tribunal concluded that the Applicant had not established that there was any bias or impropriety which had any impact on the decision not to renew his appointment. The Tribunal further held that the Applicant had not provided any information which would assist in production of relevant information and the Tribunal did not have the jurisdiction to embark upon a full investigation of the matter and could only rely on what had been made available pursuant to its case management powers. Accordingly, the application was rejected.
The Applicant cannot claim that the Administration had initiated a disciplinary process against her. The Applicant had no right to force the Administration to complete a disciplinary process against her. The Administration decided to suspend the consideration of initiating a disciplinary process in relation to the Applicant should she be employed with the Organization in the future. Therefore, as in Kennes, the Applicant’s due process rights have not been violated. The note placed in the Applicant's Official Status File is merely informative in nature and does therefore have no impact on the...
The impact of ALWOP on a staff member may be as onerous as summary dismissal, but without the fundamental contractual procedural fairness protections. An international staff member on ALWOP may remain in limbo for an undetermined period of time, unable to seek alternate employment or survive financially at the duty station away from their home country. The information available when the decision was made remained the same over an extended ALWOP period. The information was not sufficient for a determination that it was more likely than not that the Applicant committed misconduct grave enough to...
