2022-UNAT-1256, Gonzalo Ramos
UNAT considered an appeal by Mr. Ramos. UNAT held that in order for conduct to constitute sexual harassment, apart from an ¡°unwelcome sexual advance¡±, it is required that the behavior in question ¡°might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation to another, when such conduct interferes with work, [¡] or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment¡± and that ¡°[w]hile typically involving a pattern of behaviour, it can take the form of a single incident¡±. UNAT was satisfied that there was clear and convincing evidence that the Mr. Ramos¡¯ conduct as...
2022-UNAT-1254, Francoise Xavier Nsabimana
As a preliminary matter, UNAT held that the Joint Appeals Board (JAB) had provided a decision as required by Article 2(10) of the UNAT Statute and therefore UNAT had jurisdiction to hear the appeal. Further, UNAT held that an oral hearing would not assist with the expeditious and fair disposal of the case as required by Article 18(1) of the UNAT Rules of Procedure and therefore denied the request for an oral hearing. UNAT held that there was no error in the JAB¡¯s decision affirming the contested decision of wrongdoing following the Appellant¡¯s failure to report to work and holding of...
2022-UNAT-1255, Boubacar Dieng
The Secretary-General sought interpretation, revision, and execution of Judgment No. 2021-UNAT-1118, on grounds that he was unable to effectuate the compensation awarded in the UNDT Judgment because Mr. Dieng refused to provide his banking details. UNAT held that the Judgment was clear, written in plain and unambiguous language, and it left no reasonable doubt as to what it meant. Thus, there was no need for clarification. UNAT further found that the Secretary-General had failed to argue that he had discovered a decisive fact which was unknown to the Appeals Tribunal at the time the Judgment...
2022-UNAT-1251, Secretary-General
UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that Ms. Caucci¡¯s situation differed from the UNDT Judgment in Tran Nguyen (UNDT/2015/002) and therefore it was erroneous for the UNDT to apply such jurisprudence to find that Ms. Caucci had a general service lien with MINUSMA during and after her service with DPO. UNAT held that the rights of staff members on secondment under the Inter-Organization Agreement concerning Transfer, Secondment or Loan of Staff among the Organizations applying the United Nations Common System of Salaries and Allowance, which was at issue in Tran Nguyen...
2022-UNAT-1252, Alejandro Izurieta Canova
Oral hearing: Mr. Izurieta Canova applied in terms of Article 18(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the UNAT for an oral hearing to be held in this case. As this is a straightforward matter, not attended by any factual or legal complexity, UNAT did not consider that a hearing would assist in the expeditious and fair disposal of the case. For that reason, the application for an oral hearing was refused.
The question on appeal was whether the impugned recruitment cancellation decision by the Secretary-General of UNCTAD was a lawful and reasonable exercise of discretion?
The motive for the...
2022-UNAT-1250, Giuseppe Belsito
UNAT held that the undisputed breach of confidentiality in the selection process provided rational grounds for the cancellation decision. UNAT held that the fact that the Appellant had access to information about his test score and that he was perhaps seeking to influence the decision through the hiring manager, rendered the selection exercise problematic and unsatisfactory. UNAT held that the perception was unavoidably created that the Appellant was inappropriately favoured with access to information about a decision concerning his interests and in respect of which he enjoyed no authority...
2022-UNAT-1249, Asr Toson
Request for oral hearing: Given Mr. Toson¡¯s arguments wherein he wishes to contest evidence before the Dispute Tribunal in a manner that would be essentially a rehearing of the evidence, UNAT held that an oral hearing should not be granted and would not assist in expeditiously and fairly resolving the issues in this appeal. On the merits, UNAT held that the Dispute Tribunal applied the appropriate standard of review. It reviewed the applicable policy of the UNFPA for selection processes (the PPM), reviewed the evidence, and determined that the applicable procedures were followed in the...
2022-UNAT-1248, Vladislav Krioutchkov
Mr. Krioutchkov appealed. UNAT found that the UNDT correctly held that the timing of the written test was justifiable in that holding the test at a set hour worldwide was a rational way of avoiding leaks of the test materials. The inconvenience to the Administration of accommodating different test schedules outweighed the inconvenience of Mr. Krioutchkov being required to adjust his schedule. The scheduling decision was accordingly reasonable. Moreover, having refused to participate in the written examination, Mr. Krioutchkov was estopped from challenging the non-selection decision. UNAT found...
2022-UNAT-1247, Rania Mohammed Dajani
UNAT held that the Appellant¡¯s claim, that a final decision on her 2013 request for post reclassification was only issued in 2019, could not be considered as it was raised for the first time at the appellate level. UNAT held that UNRWA DT correctly found that the 12 December 2014 e-mail which informed her that all classifications were on hold constituted an administrative decision because it rejected her request for immediate reclassification. UNAT held that to allow the Appellant¡¯s argument that the postponement or freezing of requests for reclassification does not constitute an...
UNDT/2022/073, Applicant
Have the facts on which the disciplinary measure was based been established according to the applicable standard? It was alleged that during the Cox¡¯s Bazar all-staff retreat in February 2020, the Applicant: a. Grabbed V01 from behind her and held her tight with his hands around her waist to the front of her body. He rested his head on her back while he pulled her back so that the front of his body rested against the back of her body. V01 did not consent to him touching her; and b. Hugged V02 from the front side of her body with his body pressed against her body. He hugged her with both his...