The UNDT found that the decision of ESCAP to employ the external candidate on the maternity leave post, prior to advertising the vacancy, for the initial period of 1 February to 31 March 2011 and for one more month subsequently, while the selection process for the maternity leave post was ongoing, was lawful. The application was dismissed.
As the request for management evaluation was not filed within the time limit prescribed by staff rule 11.2(c), the Tribunal rejects the application as irreceivable.
The Tribunal finds that the cancellation of the second selection exercise and its subsequent recommencement were, in the circumstances, appropriate and lawful in view of the strong representations by the Staff Council and the complaints raised regarding the selection exercise. However, there were excessive and unjustifiable delays in concluding the selection process. The Organization also consistently and without just cause failed to respond to the Applicant’s reasonable requests for information and action. The delays in question as well as the failure to respond to the Applicant’s enquiries...
The UNDT found that there was a breach of the post selection process but that the Applicant did not suffer any damages as he did not meet one of the core competencies for the post. The Applicant has not put forward any evidence that the vitiated selection process with regard to the Post resulted in him suffering damages of any kind. Consequently, the application is granted with regard to the breach of ST/AI/2006/3 however no award of compensation is warranted.
The UNDT found that she was evaluated fairly with respect to both the written test and the interview, which was based on appropriate criteria. The UNDT found that the selection process was not biased against the Applicant and that consideration of her candidacy was not marred by significant errors or procedural violations that would vitiate the selection process or result in a failure to give her proper consideration. The UNDT dismissed the application.
The Tribunal finds that the pertinent facts and the legal issues in the present cases are on all fours as those of the ICTY cases. As both parties have accepted the ratio decidendi of the decisions by the UNAT in the ICTY cases, the Tribunal adopts the Appeals Tribunal’s findings in Malmstr?m 2013-UNAT-357 and remands the UNAKRT conversion exercise to the ASG/OHRM for retroactive consideration of the suitability of each applicant within 90 days of the date of publication of this judgment in accordance with the guidelines set out by the Appeals Tribunal in the matter of Malmstr?m. Taking into...
The UNDT found that OHRM’s decision not to consider (endorse) her for a temporary P-3 post in DM (Umoja) and to deny her conversion from the FS-6 level to the P-3 level was valid and lawful. The decision not to consider the applicant eligible for a temporary P-3 post was correct since she only fulfilled one of the mandatory and cumulative conditions – five years of professional experience – in November 2011. The Organization properly determined that the Applicant could not be converted from the FS-6 level to the P-3 level because there was no contractual relationship between the Applicant and...
Decisions (a) and (b) are found not receivable and decision (c) is found to be unfounded. The Tribunal also finds that the Applicant’s request for management evaluation (MEU request) included a request for SPA which was not addressed by the Organization. The Applicant did not pursue the applicable procedure established in ST/AI/1998/9. In the absence of an actual administrative decision denying a request for reclassification, the application against the continuous refusal to reclassify his post from the P-4 level to the P-5 level is not receivable.The Applicant’s MEU request indicated that he...
The Tribunal found that the Applicant’s claims of moral damage are receivable and well founded and he is awarded USD1,000 as compensation for anxiety. The Tribunal finds that it is incorrect to characterize the decision to hire new staff members as being purely preparatory in nature as the contested decision was in fact implemented and the outcome of the selection process could have adversely affected the Applicant. It is therefore a contestable administrative decision. Further, even if a decision is rescinded, if an applicant can show that there was a causal link between the breach on the...
The Applicant claimed that the Administration had implicitly accepted that he was suitable as he had not been excluded from the process at the stage when suitability was discussed. Hence, and given that the applicable UNHCR recruitment rules provide for priority consideration of internal candidates, no external candidates should have been even considered. The Tribunal concluded that the Applicant did not meet the minimum educational requirements nor the required professional experience for the post; as such, he was not eligible and, thus, not suitable for the post. Despite him being an...
