51ÁÔÆæ

The Tribunal concluded that: (a) the selection process for the post of D/ACGSD was not handled correctly and lawfully due to apparent bias on the part of the ASP and that he suffered prejudice/damage as a result; and (b) the Applicant was not the victim of harassment and discrimination in relation to this case. Bias: The Tribunal held that the test for apparent bias is whether the fair-minded observer, having considered the facts, would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Interview Panel was biased. The Tribunal concluded that the Advisory Selection Panel (ASP) in the present...

Bias: The Tribunal held that the test for apparent bias is whether the fair-minded observer, having considered the facts, would conclude that there was a real possibility that the Interview Panel was biased. On the basis of the evidence about negative views held by one of the interview panel members about the Applicant, the Tribunal concluded that the test for apparent bias had been made out. Harassment, discrimination and abuse of authority: The Tribunal concluded that in spite of the adverse finding that the Applicant did not receive full and fair consideration in his application for the...

Management Evaluation - It was held that the Management Evaluation Unit (MEU) and the Tribunal operate on different deadlines and receivability thresholds and that the Tribunal cannot be bound by the findings of the MEU regarding the receivability of a case. Receivability - The Tribunal found that in this case, the entire 26 month period during which the Applicant was estranged from the Organization formed part of the same continuum punctuated by different contradicting decisions all of which centered on the singular issue of abuse of authority. Given the continuous nature of the Applicant¡¯s...

The UNDT found that the decision that the Applicant was not eligible for consideration for conversion to a permanent appointment was lawful.

The Respondent claimed that the appeals with the UNDT were filed out of time and were not receivable. 42 of the requests for management evaluation were filed on 19 March 2013 and a response from the MEU was emailed to the legal representatives for the Applicants, cc¡¯ing each of the Applicants, on 9 April 2013. The legal representatives for the Applicants submitted that he never received the email resulting in him appealing the contested decision on day 90 (17 July 2013), following the expiry of the 30 day period for the MEU to send them a decision (19 April 2013). The Respondent submitted that...

Estoppel - It was argued on behalf of the Respondent that the Applicant has waived or is estopped from enforcing his right to challenge the contested decision since at the Applicant¡¯s request, the Administration in good faith deferred the effective date of termination of his appointment to enable him to acquire a pension benefit. Given the circumstances of this case, the Applicant had neither waived nor was he estopped from enforcing his rights to challenge the contested decision. The principles of waiver and estoppel will not apply in such a case to deny an Applicant from enforcing his legal...

The Applicant considers that the disclosure requirements did not apply to him. The Respondent failed to establish that the Applicant was required to file a financial disclosure statement for 2006. The Tribunal rescinds the Applicant¡¯s written reprimand. Any record of it is to be removed from the Applicant¡¯s Official Status File.

The UNDT found that the application was time-barred as the Applicant had failed to file it within 90 calendar days of receipt of the response to his request for management evaluation, as required by art. 8.1(d) of the Statute. The Applicant also failed to refer to any exceptional circumstances that would justify the delayed filing of his application and that would warrant a waiver or extension of the applicable time limits.

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.

The Tribunal ordered rescission of the administrative decision to separate the Applicant from service. The Tribunal awarded the Applicant compensation for the substantive and procedural irregularities occasioned him by the failure of the Administration to follow its own guidelines, rules and procedures. Ultra vires - It was not within the competence of the Mission Leadership Team of UNMISS to leave its role of implementing the new mission¡¯s mandate in order to dabble into matters of human resource management and the transitioning and de-transitioning of staff from the old mission to the new...

The Tribunal found that the selected candidate did not fulfill the requirement of fluency in French hence his selection was illegal, despite his status as a roster candidate. It further noted that since the Administration had not examined the other candidates, including the Applicant, the latter¡¯s right to full and fair consideration was violated. The Applicant had only requested the rescission of the decision not to select her, without requesting the rescission of the decision to select the successful candidate. The Tribunal rejected the Applicant¡¯s request for rescission and merely ordered...

Legitimate expectation: While a legitimate expectation can be created by an express promise on the part of the Organization, the Tribunal held that a promise can also be implied from the particular circumstances of a case or from what is held out to an individual. The Tribunal concluded that the Applicant did not have a legitimate expectation of renewal. Performance appraisal: When a staff member is given a rating indicating that he/she meets most expectations but that there is room for improvement, there is an implicit undertaking by the Administration that the staff member will be allowed to...

Legitimate expectation: The Tribunal held that while a legitimate expectation can be created by an express promise on the part of the Organization, given the special nature of fixed-term contracts within the Organization an expectation of contract renewal may also be based on the surrounding circumstances, including the practices of the Organization. In view of the foregoing, the Tribunal concluded that since there was a practice of renewing the Applicant¡¯s fixed-term appointment, he was entitled to expect its continued renewal unless there was a legitimate reason for not renewing the...

The Tribunal finds, inter alia, that the Applicant¡¯s act of altering the number of hours he had worked without the authorization of his first reporting officer amounted to inexcusable alteration of official documents and material misrepresentation of facts. The principle of proportionality means that an administrative action should not be more excessive than is necessary for obtaining the desired result. The requirement of proportionality is satisfied if a course of action is reasonable, but not if the course of action is found to be excessive.

The Respondent objected to the receivability of the application. The UNDT found the case receivable and directed the parties to attempt informal resolution of the matter.

The Tribunal noted that for an application to be receivable, the decision that is being challenged has to be an ¡°administrative decision¡± under the provisions of the Tribunal¡¯s Statute. In the present case, the abolition of the post at stake had not yet been formally approved by the United Nations General Assembly. The Tribunal found that the mere proposal to abolish a post does not constitute an ¡°administrative decision¡±, because it does not produce ¡°direct legal consequences¡±. Therefore, and since the Applicant did not challenge an administrative decision, the Tribunal decided that her...

Relying on articles 7 and 34 of the Rules of Procedure, the Tribunal found that the Application was not receivable because the Applicant had filed it one day late.

The Tribunal found that since the Applicant failed to request the Administration to open a new TVA, and as such to provoke an administrative decision of refusal, the application was irreceivable in this respect. The Tribunal further found that the decision to select another candidate was procedurally flawed since the Applicant, despite her request, was not provided with the names of the members of the Interview Panel. In view of the case history, there is no doubt that the Applicant would have requested a change of Panel members and a reasonable Administrator would have conceded to her request...

A judgment on receivability is not an executable judgment. It is not a judgment on the merits of the case where all issues have been adjudicated upon. An executable judgment is one in which the court determines on the substantive issues of the case having heard and deliberated on the evidence and arguments submitted by the parties. In so doing, it ends the dispute before the court which heard it. A judgment on receivability is based on a procedural issue. In the present case, the procedural issue had to do with the timeliness of the application and scope of the court¡¯s jurisdiction where the...

She alleged that the Administration advised her wrongly to resign from her 100-series fixed-term appointment (FTA) with UNDP, Kosovo, in 2007, when she was offered a FTA with UNV, Bonn, and argued that her resignation cannot be taken into account when assessing her eligibility for consideration for conversion, namely the requirement of 5-year continuous service. Following requests for additional information, the Tribunal found that the Administration put the Applicant into an illegal situation when she was first offered a 300-series appointment of limited duration with UNV, Bonn, while she...