51ÁÔÆæ

There are two elements that must be established for a claim under Appendix D, one is the medical assessment of whether the claimant suffered from the injury or illness as alleged. The other is the non-medical factual determination whether the illness or injury was attributable to the performance of official duties on behalf of the Organization. The obtaining, handling, review, analysis and dissemination of any form of material to be used in a matter as evidence must be done in compliance with some basic rules to ensure that basic principles of fairness and due process are upheld, particularly...

UNDT held that the principal legal issue arising for consideration in the case was whether the Applicant¡¯s qualifications met the requirement of a recognized first level university degree as required by the job opening she was selected for. The Tribunal held that the Applicant did not meet the minimum educational requirements for positions at the P-2 level and was not eligible to be considered for a one-time amnesty for staff members under section 6 of ST/AI/2018/5. The Tribunal held that the Applicant did not demonstrate unfairness, unjustness, lack of transparency or inappropriate motive in...

The Tribunal did not agree with the Respondent that the actions of the Applicant as seen on the video footages were sufficient to rise to the required standard of proof of clear and convincing evidence to establish stealing; but found that the actions of the Applicant after he left with the shopping bag and the glaring inconsistencies in his testimony clearly pointed to a level of dishonesty betraying guilty knowledge that he did not pay for the items at issue. In other words, the Applicant knew that he did not pay for certain items especially after he, a career security officer, was accosted...

Background for the examination of the issues in this case

The Tribunal found that the wayin which the Office of Audit and Investigation Services (¡°OAIS¡±) conducted its investigation clearly led to great unfairness to the Applicant given the circumstances of this case.

Financial loss to UNFPA

Since a pivotal part of the scope of the investigation was to establish financial loss to the Organization and or financial benefit to the Applicant as a result of the UNFPA leases, it was surprising for the Tribunal to note that there was no certain finding of the actual financial loss that UNFPA...

The Tribunal noted that at the time of the hearing, Respondent counsel had not been instructed or informed the recruitment exercise in question and consequently did not apprise the Tribunal about this fact, just as the Applicant¡¯s Counsel did not know about the Applicant¡¯s application for the position. The Tribunal held that the applying party, the Respondent, meaning the Administration at large, must have known about the ongoing recruitment exercise and the Applicant¡¯s job application for the Job Opening. At the very least, such knowledge must be imputed or assumed to have been known to the...

UNDT held that the Application was not receivable because it was not filed on time. UNDT noted that the Applicant had until 14 October 2018 to file his application with UNDT and he did not do so until 7 November 2018. UNDT dismissed the application as not receivable.

Receivability The Tribunal found the application receivable ratione temporis. Merits The Tribunal considered that while the Administration has a duty of care vis-¨¤-vis its staff members in the management of the social security system and relevant entitlements, the system is based on certification and reporting, with the main responsibility for providing the Administration with the required medical certificates and reports lying on the staff member. Staff members must strictly comply with the legal requirements and provide complete material that contains sufficient precision, including the...

With the successful mediation process and subsequent withdrawal of this case, the case is closed.

For an application to be receivable pursuant to arts. 2 and 3 of the Tribunal¡¯s Statute, an Applicant has to contest an administrative decision alleging non-compliance with his or her contract of employment or terms of appointment.; At the time the Applicant applied for the contested post as well as at the time of the contested decision (non-selection), he was no longer a staff member. While he is a former staff member, the decision not to select him for the advertised post advertised was not linked to his (previous) contract of employment or terms of appointment with the United Nations...

UNDT held that a plain reading of staff regulation 2.1 makes it clear that the Administration is obliged to provide a classification not only for the staff members but also for the posts that they are encumbering. UNDT held that nowhere in Personnel Directive/1/94 it is as much as contemplated that a staff member at the GS-level, even on a short-term temporary appointment as the Applicant, could be hired against an unclassified post. UNDT held that the administrative decision under review is clearly the decision by which the Applicant was recruited against an unclassified post when he was...

UNDT found that on the date of the issuance of the disciplinary measure, as well as on the date when it was received by the Applicant, she remained subject to the Staff Regulations and Rules, which allow for the imposition of disciplinary measures. UNDT held that the facts of the case demonstrate that the Applicant¡¯s actions were undertaken in a conflict of interest in violation of staff regulation 1.2(m). The actions also demonstrate lack of integrity in violation of staff regulation 1.2(b), which requires staff members to ¡°[¡­] uphold the highest standards of efficiency, competence and...

Due to successful inter partes settlement negotiations and the subsequent withdrawal of this case, the case is closed.

The ST/AI stipulates a condition attached to the entitlement of the payment of the balance of the relocation grant, namely that the payment of the balance of the relocation grant shall be made only when an extension of the assignment occurs at least six months prior to the expected end of the assignment at the duty station. The extension having occurred approximately three months before the end of the assignment, UNDT held that the Applicant is not entitled to the balance. The fact that the Applicant submits that nobody advised him of this condition in January 2018, six months prior to the...

The issue of disclosing an investigation report is not new. It was, in fact, considered by this Tribunal in its judgments Adorma UNDT/2010/205 and Haydar UNDT/2012/201 as well as by UNAT in judgment Ivanov 2015-UNAT-519. In the latter, UNAT entered into consideration of the non-disclosure of an investigation report despite the fact that the Secretary-General had questioned the UNDT¡¯s jurisdiction over such a decision. The Organisation¡¯s obligations as stipulated in ST/SGB/2008/5 are an integral part of a staff member¡¯s contractual rights. They include the obligations of the Organisation and...

UNDT noted that a staff member has a right to be fully and fairly considered for promotion through a competitive selection process untainted by improper motives like bias or discrimination. A candidate has no right to a promotion. UNDT held that ¡®Priority consideration¡¯ cannot be interpreted as a promise or guarantee to be appointed or receive what one is considered in priority for and that to hold otherwise would compromise the highest standards of efficiency, competency, and integrity required in selecting the best candidate for staff positions under Article 101 of the Charter. The Tribunal...

UNDT held that the terms and conditions of the employment contract of a staff member are set forth in the letter of appointment and its express incorporation by reference of the Organization¡¯s Regulations and Rules and all pertinent administrative issuances. The Staff Regulations and Rules embody the conditions of service and the basic rights and duties and obligations of United Nations staff members. A decision relating to learning and development opportunities is an administrative decision subject to judicial review. UNDT held that the standard operating procedure for the UN Leaders...

UNDT held that the Settlement Agreement was properly before UNDT for its enforcement. UNDT noted that there was no special procedure prescribed by the UNDT Statute or Rules of Procedure or even by any of its Practice Directions for an applicant to bring an application for the enforcement of a Settlement Agreement. UNDT held that there was bad faith on part of the Respondent in regard to the Settlement Agreement by the non-renewal of the Applicant¡¯s contract. UNDT found that: a. The MONUSCO Administration exhibited bad faith during the negotiations by not informing the Applicant until after he...

Absent a prior request for management evaluation, the Tribunal may not consider the merits of the case.

UNDT noted that the Administration bears the burden of establishing that an alleged misconduct for which a disciplinary measure has been taken against a staff member occurred. When termination is a possible outcome, misconduct must be established by clear and convincing evidence, which means that the truth of the facts asserted is highly probable. Is not the role of the UNDT to conduct a de novo review of the evidence and place itself in the shoes of the decision-maker. The Tribunal was satisfied that the Applicant partook in the misappropriation of the material, which belonged to the...

The Tribunal concludes that the Hiring Manager erred in finding that the selected candidate¡¯s Master¡¯s degree was related to, and therefore relevant for, any of the required specifically mentioned areas (computer science, information systems, mathematics, statistics) and wrongly determined that she fulfilled the educational requirement.; The Tribunal concludes that an additional criterion was used to evaluate only the selected candidate for the post, namely field experience, and that this criterion was not included in the Job Opening and the Hiring Manager erred in finding that the selected...