51ÁÔÆæ

Was the decision to abolish the Applicant¡¯s post lawful? Given that the role of the Tribunal is not to decide whether the Administration chose the best course of action among those available to it and in the absence of evidence of illicit motive, the Tribunal finds that the decision to abolish the Applicant¡¯s post was lawful. The Tribunal finds that the Administration has given reasons for the non-renewal of the Applicant¡¯s contract and has shown that the decision was neither arbitrary nor improper. Did the Applicant have a right to ¡°return to work¡± at the completion of her maternity leave...

The issue at stake is whether the non-selection decisions were lawful and, if not, what remedies are to be awarded. The scope of the Tribunal¡¯s jurisdiction in selection and appointment matters is twofold: 1) to evaluate if the Administration has followed the pre-established procedures and staff members were given full and fair consideration and 2) to examine if the decision is not blatantly unreasonable, arbitrary or illegal. The Tribunal finds that the fact that the Administration decided to consider the result of the LABEL test when examining applications for the job opening does not amount...

Receivability The Applicant¡¯s request for management evaluation was out of time. Thus, the application concerning the Applicant¡¯s separation from service due to post abolition is not receivable ratione materiae. It is clear from the evidence on file that the application concerning the Applicant¡¯s separation from service due to post abolition is time-barred and, consequently, not receivable ratione temporis. Non selection for the re-advertised post of Fundraising Officer The burden to prove unlawfulness in relation to non-selection lays with the Applicant as per the consistent internal case law...

The Tribunal rejects the Applicant¡¯s argument related to the alleged lack of mens rea. It recalls that this is an administrative proceeding and not a criminal case. In the context of administrative/disciplinary proceedings, only the objective facts are essential to determine if misconduct has occurred. The ¡°underlying intentions¡± of the subject can only be taken into account as mitigating or aggravating circumstances. In the case at hand, the cumulative application of two sanctions of a financial nature (loss of five steps in grade and a fine of three months net base salary) is an excessive...

The Applicant failed to indicate a specific date and content of the challenged administrative decision, as she only recalled an email from the Deputy Director, ID/OIOS, which would purportedly confirm an evaluation of insufficiency of the Applicant¡¯s investigatory experience to be recruited for the advertised post. The Tribunal, having considered the above-quoted content of the email, finds it insufficient to substantiate an administrative decision of definitive exclusion of the Applicant from the selection process. It remains, however, that the Applicant was not called for an interview and...

Receivability Its well-established jurisprudence that under staff rule 11.2(c), a decision is only reviewable by the Dispute Tribunal if the Applicant has timely sought management evaluation of such decision. A request for management evaluation is a sine qua non condition to have access to the internal justice system as per article 2.1 and 8.1.c) of its Statute and staff rule 11.2(a). Access to justice is not an absolute right and procedural limitations, such as this one, are compatible with the nature and scope of access to justice, provided that they are prescribed by law and do not impair...

The decision to cancel JO 74088 The cancellation of JO 74088 relates to specific organizational needs which, in principle, fall out of the scope of the Tribunal¡¯s judicial review and make a challenge against such decision not receivable. The Tribunal recalled that when a selection process is cancelled, there is no administrative decision to contest as it does not fulfill the requirements established by the internal jurisprudence to be considered as such. The decision not to select the Applicant (JO 97210) The Tribunal did not identify any grounds to rescind the decision not to appoint the...

According to section 9.4 of the staff selection system, a Hiring Manager may lawfully select from a pool of pre-screened candidates without further assessment or referral to a central review body. However, in the case at hand, the Hiring Manager decided to establish a Panel of three senior language professionals to conduct informal interviews with the pre-selected candidates, including the Applicant. There is no provision in the Staff Rules preventing these interviews from being held in Russian. The Applicant further contends that he was discriminated since he has been serving in a Regional...

The Tribunal found that the post encumbered by the Applicant was abolished due to a restructuring exercise in UNAKRT linked to budgetary restrictions and the implementation of Umoja, which rendered the Applicant¡¯s position redundant. The Tribunal noted that the Organization is not bound to initiate a formal consultation process with a staff member before deciding to abolish his/her post. In any event, consultation is not equivalent to negotiation, and it is not necessary for the Administration to secure consent or agreement of the consulted party. The Tribunal found that the Organization did...

The Tribunal finds that the mere fact that the Applicant was not invited to a competencybased interview following the written assessment did not give rise to an administrative decision, and that such a step of the selection process may only be challenged in the context of an application against a specific decision with clear and direct legal consequences on the Applicant, such as the final selection decision. The Tribunal has accepted in the past that certain intermediate decisions in a selection process¡ªsuch as when a candidate is found not suitable/ineligible for a given post¡ª constitute...