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UNDT/2021/075, Simiyu
The Administration has to prove their allegation of breaches of the Staff Regulations and Staff Rules. The Tribunal took the view that the case of misrepresentations had been proven by clear and convincing evidence. While the Applicant made several submissions in mitigation, she did not introduce any facts that constituted a denial of the breaches alleged. The Organization must maintain standards and be fair to all concerned. Consequently, if others were rejected for employment during the recruitment process because they were not qualified, then this should be the position across the board...
2021-UNAT-1139, Jihad AbduGhani Oneis, Diab El-Tabari and Walid Abdullah
UNAT held that UNRWA DT erred in law by not taking account of evidence implying strongly that there had been an administrative decision by UNRWA not to pay allowances to those who claimed them as their entitlement, and therefore concluding wrongly that there was no evidence of an administrative decision affecting the Appellant’s rights. However, UNAT held that the UNRWA DT’s Judgment dismissing the Appellant’s claim had to be upheld on grounds of lateness of their request for management evaluation. UNAT dismissed the appeals and upheld the UNRWA DT Judgment.
2021-UNAT-1117, Margaret Mary Fogarty
UNAT held that while the SAB may satisfy the requirements of a neutral first instance process, its decision is only advisory or recommendatory. UNAT held that the facts did not disclose whether the Secretary-General of IMO had the power to amend the powers of the SAB retrospectively to permit the SAB to make a decision rather than a recommendation or, more pertinently, by subsequent fiat, to convert a recommendation of SAB into a decision. UNAT held that the source of the Secretary-General’s power to introduce interim measures was not clear and that there may be other constraints upon his...
UNDT/2021/074, Izurieta Canova
UNDT held that it was satisfied that there were sound reasons supporting the Secretary-General of UNCTAD’s decision to cancel the job opening, but noted that it would have been desirable to undertake and complete a gender/geographical balance assessment at an early stage of the recruitment process. UNDT disagreed with the Applicant that the impunged decision was an act of discrimination against him. UNDT held that the decision constituted permissible and lawful affirmative action on the part of the Organization to reach gender and geographical goals set by the UN General Assembly. UNDT also...
UNDT/2021/073, Cherneva
UNDT held that the application was not receivable both ratione personae and ratione materiae because at the date of the filing of the present application, the Applicant was not a staff member and the contested decision had no bearing on her status as a former staff member or otherwise breached the terms of her former appointment or contract of employment. UNDT rejected the application in its entirety.
2021-UNAT-1140, Fei Xing
The UNDT did not err in deciding that Ms. Xing’s candidacy was given a full and fair consideration, in finding that the administrative instruction on gender parity (ST/AI/1999/9) did not apply in this case, and in not granting Ms. Xing’s request to amend her application. The UNDT has not been shown to have erred in requiring credible evidence of a clear and compelling nature of Ms. Xing’s allegations of ulterior motives, which was absent.
2021-UNAT-1141, Najway Yusef, Imad El Manasri, Rabie Abdulghani
UNAT noted that, although the appeal was technically inadequate because the Appellants had failed to specifically identify the errors allegedly committed by the UNRWA DT, it had previously recognised that if an appellant was not legally represented some latitude may be allowed in the interests of justice. Accordingly, UNAT held that it would review the merits of the appeal. UNAT held that the UNRWA DT erred on a question of fact that resulted in a manifestly unreasonable decision by failing to consider the full application and the question of when the Appellants received notification of the...
2021-UNAT-1142, Edward E. Hammond
Mr. Hammond’s appeal is defective, as it does not address the issue of receivability or the UNDT’s finding that his application contesting his 2016-2017 performance appraisal was not receivable. Mr. Hammond’s application was not receivable as the reclassification decision was taken by the General Assembly. It is not erroneous to call the reclassification of Mr. Hammond’s P-4 post to an FS-6 post a “conversion” or an “abolishment” because, in effect, this classification resulted in Mr. Hammond’s P-4 being abolished and replaced by, or converted into, an FS-6 post.
2021-UNAT-1143, Edward E. Hammond
The UNDT did not err in determining that the 11 November 2018 letter provided notification of the final administrative decision subject to appeal, since it contained the key characteristic of producing “’direct legal consequences’ affecting a staff member’s terms and conditions of appointment”.
2021-UNAT-1134, Anis Basil AlMousa
UNAT considered an appeal of the Judgment on the merits and a cross-appeal from the Commissioner-General on the receivability finding. UNAT held that the cross-appeal was receivable, however UNAT dismissed it in light of the Commissioner-General’s request that his cross-appeal not be examined should the appeal be dismissed and secondly, because UNAT did not detect any error in the UNRWA DT’s order which found that the application was receivable. On the merits of the appeal, UNAT held that Mr. AlMousa failed to establish any error in the UNRWA DT Judgment, although his appeal undoubtedly...
2021-UNAT-1135, Mohammad Tofazzel Hossain
As a preliminary matter, UNAT declined Mr. Hossain’s request for an in-person hearing and held that Mr. Hossain did not explain, at least sufficiently, why his appeal should be dealt with other than on papers filed. UNAT held that UNDT erred in law by rejecting Mr. Hossain’s proceedings other than on their merits and for threshold jurisdictional reasons that it was empowered to examine and assist to establish. UNAT held that the UNDT, while perhaps disposing of the case in an expeditious way, did not do so fairly, or certainly justly, as between the parties. UNAT admitted on appeal the...
2021-UNAT-1136, Abdulhamid Al Fararjeh
UNAT held that the facts upon which UNRWA based its decision were established, in full respect of his due process rights. UNAT held that UNRWA DT did not err as there was clear and convincing evidence that the Appellant committed sexual exploitation and abuse against a beneficiary of UNRWA; neither did it err in concluding that the disciplinary sanction was proportionate and lawful. UNAT held that the Appellant, by having the complainant remove her pants and underwear and engaging in a such a sensitive and specific medical examination, which he did not have the required competencies and...
2021-UNAT-1120, Jose Daniel Arango
UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that the Secretary-General was correct to bide his time and to await the outcome on the merits before determining whether an appeal was necessary. UNAT held that the appeal of the Secretary-General was not time-barred. UNAT held that UNDT erred in concluding that Mr. Arango was a former staff member for the purposes of founding jurisdiction over the instant application: At the time of the contested decision not to select him Mr. Arango had been separated from service for more than two years, was no longer a staff member in the...
2021-UNAT-1138, Secretary-General of UN
Contrary to the UNDT’s finding, Mr. Kollie’s letter of 7 June 2007 to the ABCC cannot be regarded as a request under Article 17 of the Appendix D to convene a medical board and reconsider the Secretary-General’s decision. Nor can the emails of 25/27 July 2017 and 24 August 2017 be regarded as a review of the 16 May 2017 decision of the Secretary-General or an administrative decision under Article 2(1)(a) of the UNDT Statute. The emails of 25/27 July 2017 constituted an implied appealable decision by the ABCC to reject Mr. Kollie’s claim for reimbursement of his out-of-pocket expenses. But...
2021-UNAT-1123, Louis Savadogo
The matter remanded to the Joint Appeals Board of ITLOS to be reconsidered and decided by a neutral first instance process
2021-UNAT-1124, Commissioner-General of UNRWA
UNAT found that the UNRWA DT did not err in concluding that the Agency had failed to observe its own regulatory framework and failed to act lawfully, reasonably and fairly in exercising its discretion. The discretion of the Commissioner-General to reject a request for these benefits such as EVS is not unfettered.
2021-UNAT-1125, Secretary-General of UN
The Dispute Tribunal committed an error in procedure by relying on ex parte evidence in the form of three doctors’ notes, of which the Secretary-General received the translated copies only two days before the issuance of the impugned Judgment, in violation of audi alteram partem. The Dispute Tribunal failed to consider the “checks and balances to ensure transparency” instituted in established procedures as outlined in the Guidelines and the ability of the Applicant to raise timely concerns about potential bias after the interview. As there is no obligation to provide the names of the...
2021-UNAT-1126, Ahmad Mustafa et al.
The UNRWA DT did not err when it found that Mustafa et al. had been informed of the impugned decision to deny a request to set their grade level at Grade 14 on 19 March 2018. Neither did it err when it found that the applications were not receivable, because the requests for decision review were submitted after the deadline.
2021-UNAT-1127, Mohammed Sirhan
UNAT dismissed the application for revision, because Mr. Sirhan did not present any decisive fact which could lead to a revision of the UNAT Judgment.
2021-UNAT-1133, Secretary-General of UN
The UNDT erred in fact in concluding that the ABCC had solely and exclusively rested upon the MSD’s medical report, and the UNDT exceeded its competence in stating that the time limit under Article 12 of Appendix D would only start to run from the moment when the psychological symptoms were so severe that the patient acknowledged that his/her syndrome no longer allowed him/her to fulfill his/her professional obligations. In the light of the facts that the Applicant was able to return to his high level of functioning at work after he had been transferred out of HATIS on 1 December 2013, that...