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The Respondent discharged the evidentiary burden of minimal showing that the decisions regarding abolition of the Applicant¡¯s post leading to non-renewal of his fixed-term appointment and separation were lawful. The witnesses were credible, their evidence was cogent, reliable, consistent and corroborative. It was not contradicted in any meaningful manner. After examining the Applicant¡¯s and his witnesses¡¯ testimonies, the Tribunal was not convinced that the Applicant has made a clear and convincing case to rebut the presumption that the abolition of his post leading to the non-renewal of his...

The Tribunal found that the Applicant had not met the requisite standard to rebut the presumption that the restructuring was genuine and therefore a valid reason for not renewing her FTA.

The main issue for the Tribunal¡¯s consideration in this case related to whether the abolishment of the Applicant¡¯s post leading to the non-renewal of his fixed-term appointment was lawful.

The Tribunal defined the issues to be examined in the present case as follows:

Whether the restructuring was genuine;
The evidence on record showed that the restructuring was done within the framework of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretariat-wide transition of Enterprise Information and Communication Technology (¡°ICT¡±) services to the cloud. ESCAP made strategic changes to implement this new approach, leading to the...

The Tribunal concluded that the relevant decisions to fast track the transition of the Applicant's post to Senior Gender Officer were fair, just and transparent.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT was correct to find that there was clearly sufficient evidence to support the Administration¡¯s conclusion that the staff member¡¯s performance only partially met expectations, and that this concern was communicated to him. Although the Rebuttal Board¡¯s confirmation of the rating, and the preparation of a second short-term performance appraisal occurred after the non-renewal was taken, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT concluded that these reviews nonetheless confirmed that management¡¯s prior informal evaluation of the staff member¡¯s performance was not arbitrary but was instead well-based...

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT declined Mr. Turk¡¯s request for an oral hearing, and found no error in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT¡¯s decision not to order the production of additional documents.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT reaffirmed the legal framework which provides that staff members have no legitimate expectation of any renewal of their fixed-term appointments. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT also confirmed that the Tribunals will not interfere with the Organization¡¯s discretion in restructuring decisions, and that the Tribunals have no authority to review General Assembly decisions related to administrative and budgetary matters. In this case, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that the...

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

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT had not erred in fact when it had not considered separation on retirement, mentioned in the separation notice, to be the reason for the contested decision; the mention of retirement had no import on the staff member¡¯s separation. The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT was of the view that the letter informing her of the expiry of her fixed-term appointment was in line with the abolition of the post she encumbered.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT noted that judicial review in the context of suspension of action is different from the review conducted by the Tribunal...

The Secretary-General appealed.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT found that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT erred in law and fact and reached a manifestly unreasonable decision by concluding that Mr. Hossain had proved on a balance of probabilities that the administrative decision not to renew his fixed-term appointment had been motivated by improper motives and he had been discriminated against. The reasons proffered by the Administration for not renewing Mr. Hossain¡¯s fixed-term appointment, namely the abolition of his post in the context of a reorganization exercise, were valid reasons.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT further held that contrary to what Mr...

There is sufficient documentary evidence on record showing that the Applicant was properly made aware of the performance shortcomings he needed to address and improve. He was placed on a PIP that was structured and designed specifically for him, and he was provided with adequate support and guidance to improve.

Having identified, documented, and addressed the Applicant¡¯s performance shortcomings through the applicable rules, the decision not to renew his FTA based on unsatisfactory service, taken after the Applicant was found not to have improved his performance despite being given the...

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General against Judgment No. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT/2021/032. It also considered a cross-appeal by Ms. Hilaire-Madsen claiming that the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT should have rescinded the Administration¡¯s non-renewal decision and awarded her alternative compensation as well as compensation for moral damages.

As regards the lawfulness of the non-renewal decision, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAT held that under the specific circumstances, at the material time of the contested non-renewal decision at the end of December 2018, from the point of view of a fair-minded objective observer, with the information available at...