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Whether the Applicant was promised a renewal

The general verbal statement made by the CITO/ASG did not constitute an express promise to renew the Applicant¡¯s fixed-term appointment. It lacked the essential elements of a proper and concrete offer of renewal, such as the duration of the extension and the name of the appointee. The jurisprudence further requires a promise to renew a fixed-term appointment to be in writing.

There is no evidence of a firm commitment to renew the Applicant¡¯s fixed-term appointment. While the Applicant sought to rely on the CITO/ASG¡¯s verbal statements in March...

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT denied the Appellant¡¯s request for an oral hearing. It found that it would add nothing to his case presented in writing to hear from him in person and that an oral hearing would not assist in the expeditious and fair disposition of the case.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that much of the submissions advanced by the Appellant did amount to a resubmission of the case put to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT but which it did not accept.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found that the WSSCC structure was closed down on 31 December 2020 at the instigation of its donors and replaced by another organisation (the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund). It...

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT considered an appeal by the staff member.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found that the staff member had merely made unsubstantiated general claims about having the requisite skills and experience for his post to be retained.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT was of the view that, as the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT had correctly held, the staff member had failed to discharge the evidentiary burden to rebut the presumption of regularity that arose from the minimal showing of a rational basis for the decision.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found that the record confirmed that there was a genuine restructuring that led to the retrenchment of 29 staff members.

The record...

Whether the Applicant was promised a renewal

The general verbal statement made by the CITO/ASG in March 2022 could not have constituted an express promise to renew the Applicant¡¯s fixed-term appointment. It lacked the essential elements of a proper and concrete offer of renewal, such as the duration of the extension and the name of the appointee. The jurisprudence further requires a promise to renew a fixed-term appointment to be in writing (see Kellie, para. 44). Contrary to the Applicant¡¯s suggestion, the verbal statement was not sufficient to support a firm commitment or an entitlement to...

In the present case, the Tribunal found the application not receivable ratione personae because at the date of filing it, the Applicant was not a staff member, and the contested decision did not breach the terms of his former appointment with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOPS.

Furthermore, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOPS and Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵGSC are two different entities of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ system. While the Applicant was a former staff member of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵOPS, he had no employment relationship with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵGSC. He was an external candidate with no standing to challenge the decision not to select him for the contested position with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵGSC.
The Applicant acknowledged that ¡°there...

Mr. Russo-Got appealed. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that the evidence incontrovertibly established that Mr. Russo-Got had failed to challenge any blacklisting decision in his request for management evaluation. Moreover, while the application contained references to several posts for which he had applied and had not been selected, he did not request management evaluation of any selection decision nor did he appeal any particular selection decision in his application to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT accordingly had not erred in finding that the claims in the application regarding the alleged...

Whether there was a genuine restructuring process In the present case, there is no evidence that the restructuring exercise was not genuine. Instead, the evidence shows that there was a genuine, large-scale restructuring, and this resulted in numerous staff members and non-staff personnel being separated from service. The restructuring of WSSCC was in effect the shutting down of WSSCC and the establishment of the SHF. Moreover, the strong donor support shows that it was a genuine restructuring. As the donors have a fundamental objective to ensure that the funds they provide are appropriately...

The Tribunal finds that the Respondent¡¯s explanation as to why the Applicant¡¯s post was the one chosen for abolition is well substantiated. There was a genuine large scale restructuring due to severe budget cuts, which resulted in other staff members being separated from service, including the Applicant, and there was a legitimate explanation for the recruitments and vacancies that were not cancelled. The presumption of regularity was satisfied. Since the Applicant cannot convincingly show why his post should not have been abolished even though the posts of dozens of other staff members...

The Tribunal observed that the Applicant¡¯s complaint involved one specific incident, i.e., a chain of emails where his performance was being criticized, which evolved into two managerial decisions by his supervisors: a transfer of functions and instauration of a PIP. The Applicant perceived those emails as harassment. However, for a staff member¡¯s behaviour to be punishable as constituting the disciplinary offence of harassment pursuant to ST/SGB/2019/8, the analysis of said behaviour must pass a two-fold test: it must be found ¡°improper and unwelcome¡± and ¡°might reasonably be expected or be...

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General on the matter of the interest. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT has the power to award interest but erred in ordering the payment of interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT allowed the appeal in part, set aside the award of interest from the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT judgment, and awarded interest at the US Prime Rate applicable at the date that the entitlements became due. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that if the judgment was not executed within 60 days, five per cent should be added to the US Prime Rate from the date of expiry of the 60-day period to the date of payment of the...