51ÁÔÆæ

UNAT held that while there may have been an error in the misfiling of the Appellant¡¯s rebuttal, this did not result in procedural unfairness that affected the decision. UNAT held that there was no procedural unfairness to the Appellant as she had had the opportunity to file for leave to respond before UNDT and she did not do so and that in any case, this did not affect the ultimate decision on receivability. UNAT noted that only the Secretary-General, of which the Management Evaluation Unit forms part, has the authority to extend or waive the time limits for management evaluation and the...

UNAT held that the Appellant did not demonstrate that the UNDT judgment was defective or that the UNDT erred in considering that the selected candidate met the minimum educational requirements and the work experience required for the job. Emphasizing the broad discretion of the Secretary-General and that it was not the role of UNDT to substitute its own decision for that of the Secretary-General, UNAT held that UNDT was not manifestly unreasonable in deciding that the recommendation approved by the Secretary-General was based on an entire process and the experience of the candidates. UNAT held...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. UNAT held that Mr. Khamis¡¯ proven conduct did not itself amount to misconduct: he did not engage in transactional sexual relations with local persons and his sexual relations with two local women were more in the nature of domestic, albeit polygamous and ¡®open¡¯, relationships. UNAT held that it was not established that payments made to both women were commercial transactions in return for sexual favours. UNAT held that there was not such an imbalance of power between Mr. Khamis and the two women that they could be termed...

UNAT made several findings on the appeal. First, UNAT held that UNDT did not err when it did not hold a case management or substantive hearing on the issues. UNAT agreed that the first instance Judge is in the best position to decide what is appropriate for the fair and expeditious disposal of a case and to do justice to the parties. Second, UNAT agreed with the UNDT that the administrative action was not a disguised disciplinary sanction. UNAT also found that the USG had the authority to transfer the appellant to a different unit to address a political situation. However, UNAT disagreed with...

UNAT held that the Appellant did not fall within the exceptional category of participants who exercised their election for a deferred retirement benefit before 1 April 1997 and were therefore entitled to restore their prior contributory service, as the Appellant exercised her election in September 2009. UNAT held that the Appellant was not entitled to restore her prior contributory service. UNAT held that the Appellant¡¯s complaint that she did not have access to the UNJSPF Regulations was unconvincing, given, inter alia, the availability of the UNJSPF Regulations and Rules on the website. UNAT...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that the UNDT erred in fact and in law in its finding that the facts of misconduct were not established by clear and convincing evidence. UNAT held that a number of the factual findings made by UNDT were not supported by the evidence and were unreasonable. UNAT held that the UNDT should have limited itself to determining whether the Secretary-General was within his authority to impose disciplinary measures on Mr. Hossain, and that by speculating on the misconduct of another individual, the UNDT exceeded its competence. UNAT held...

UNAT held that the evidence was clear and convincing that the Appellant was under the influence of alcohol when he got into his car before the accident occurred and that the UNDT erred in concluding otherwise. UNAT held that his conduct was in violation of Staff Regulation 1.2(f) and the MINUSMA Code of Conduct. UNAT held that: there was no evidence on record that the Appellant was authorised to carry his firearm while off-duty; that, on the contrary, the evidence on record showed that normally security guards did not carry their weapons off-duty; and UNDT erred in finding that the charge of...

UNAT agreed with the UNRWA DT that the contested decision was a lawful exercise of discretion. Regarding the Appellant¡¯s claim that the process was tainted because of the lapse of time since the complained of behavior occurred (ten years) and because of the hearsay nature of the evidence, UNAT explained that these same arguments were made both to the DT and to the Administration during the investigation phase. The Tribunal agreed with the UNRWA DT that there was sufficient corroborating evidence to back the allegations. The Tribunal also noted that it is within the UNRWA DT¡¯s role to review...

UNAT considered an appeal by Mr. Kennedy. UNAT found that the sanction letter and record provided inadequate reasons for judicial review leading to the finding that no rational connection or relationship between the evidence and the objective of the disciplinary action has been established. As a result, UNAT was unable to assess the proportionality and lawfulness of the imposition of the disciplinary sanctions.

UNAT considered an appeal by the Commissioner-General and a cross-appeal by Ms. Kaddoura. UNAT affirmed the UNRWA DT Judgment in part. It only vacated the referral of the former Commissioner-General for accountability, finding that it was not adequate to rely on hearsay to refer a former staff member, be it the former Commissioner-General or any other, to accountability. UNAT further held that there was no possibility of imposing a disciplinary measure on a former staff member, and as such any such referral would be ineffectual.