Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

The Tribunal rejects the Applicant¡¯s argument related to the alleged lack of mens rea. It recalls that this is an administrative proceeding and not a criminal case. In the context of administrative/disciplinary proceedings, only the objective facts are essential to determine if misconduct has occurred. The ¡°underlying intentions¡± of the subject can only be taken into account as mitigating or aggravating circumstances. In the case at hand, the cumulative application of two sanctions of a financial nature (loss of five steps in grade and a fine of three months net base salary) is an excessive...

The job description for the position under review contained the same requirements as those agreed for the other services. There was therefore no evidence of ulterior motive in the design of the job description. The position was among those newly created following the reorganization of the concerned Division. While the Applicant disagreed with the way the restructuring was conducted, he was unable to show that the Administration exceeded its discretion. The Applicant failed the test which was eliminatory, therefore, his score at the interview was not taken into consideration. The written...

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT cannot condone delay or adjust the time permitted for filing an application within the prescribed 90 calendar day limit. There must be a limit to such actions. The Applicant¡¯s given reasons for failing to meet the deadline were not exceptional. There was no long-term outage of her electrical supply or internet service to prevent her from seeing the email before the end of business in the New York time zone. The Applicant should have sought a waiver of the time limit or leave to file after the statutory timelines before the deadline for filing. The amendment to the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT statute was...

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT held that the application challenging the OIOS¡¯ decision not to investigate the Applicant¡¯s allegation is misconceived. There was nothing to show that the decision being impunged in the Application was improperly taken, or that it was tainted by factors extraneous to the complaint. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT held that OIOS acted properly in referring the matters complained about back to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵHCR for appropriate investigation and action. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDT dismissed the Application as not receivable.

Receivability Its well-established jurisprudence that under staff rule 11.2(c), a decision is only reviewable by the Dispute Tribunal if the Applicant has timely sought management evaluation of such decision. A request for management evaluation is a sine qua non condition to have access to the internal justice system as per article 2.1 and 8.1.c) of its Statute and staff rule 11.2(a). Access to justice is not an absolute right and procedural limitations, such as this one, are compatible with the nature and scope of access to justice, provided that they are prescribed by law and do not impair...

The decision to cancel JO 74088 The cancellation of JO 74088 relates to specific organizational needs which, in principle, fall out of the scope of the Tribunal¡¯s judicial review and make a challenge against such decision not receivable. The Tribunal recalled that when a selection process is cancelled, there is no administrative decision to contest as it does not fulfill the requirements established by the internal jurisprudence to be considered as such. The decision not to select the Applicant (JO 97210) The Tribunal did not identify any grounds to rescind the decision not to appoint the...

The Applicant did not show that the decision to not renew his appointment was tainted by improper motive or bias, or that the process leading up to the decision to abolish the post he encumbered was irregular or improper. The Respondent sufficiently demonstrated that the Mission acted appropriately under the circumstances before it.

The two desirable criteria that the Applicant was deemed not to have met were indeed listed in the vacancy announcement for the post. It was therefore legitimate for the Respondent under sec. 7.4 of ST/AI/2020/3 to review the candidates against such criteria and use them to determine which of the candidates were more suitable for the post. The Applicant does not show that the description of her duties and responsibilities in her personal history profile demonstrated to the Hiring Manager that she had the required experience. The Respondent did not abuse his discretion in evaluating the...

The Applicant¡¯s claim of breach of duty of care is not receivable since he did not submit a separate claim for breach of duty of care to the Secretary-General for consideration and decision. While the review of the breach of duty of care claim is requested in the Applicant¡¯s request for management evaluation, this does not cure the procedural defect which is the Applicant¡¯s failure to request the Secretary-General¡¯s consideration and decision. The decision to reject the Applicant¡¯s claim under Appendix D Regarding the claim that the Secretary of ABCC did not have the valid delegated authority...

When termination was the possible outcome of the investigation, each allegation of misconduct must be established by clear and convincing evidence; in other words, the truth of the facts asserted must have been highly probable. The only rule cited as applicable in this case referred to a blood alcohol level as a measure of intoxication. The Applicant was not subjected to a blood test. TheTribunal found that there was no clear or convincing evidence before the Respondent that the Applicant drove while intoxicated. There is no rule prohibiting United Nations staff from having a drink of alcohol...

It would make no logical sense to rescind the ¡°the decision to withdraw the offer [the Applicant] received from [the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (¡°Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAMID¡±)] for the post of Security Officer at the FS-4 level¡± because, as a matter of fact, the post no longer exist since it was abolished by 31 December 2017.

The offences alleged in the instant case were of a complex nature and were framed in a manner that required several discrete facts to be established so that a sanction of separation could be justified. Each element of the allegations of misconduct the Administration found to have been established was therefore subject to review. With the account of one person to be weighed against another, the Respondent had to properly consider issues of credibility on the record. There was no indication that the Respondent considered the two possible motives. The Applicant¡¯s case was that the disciplinary...

The offences alleged in the instant case were of a complex nature and were framed in a manner that required several discrete facts to be established so that a sanction of separation could be justified. Each element of the allegations of misconduct the Administration found to have been established was therefore subject to review. With the account of one person to be weighed against another, the Respondent had to properly consider issues of credibility on the record. There was no indication that the Respondent considered the two possible motives. The Applicant¡¯s case was that the disciplinary...

The Tribunal found that the decision to abolish the post of Senior Child Protection Officer in Darfur, Sudan is not subject to judicial review. That aspect of the application was non-receivable ratione materiae. The Tribunal found that the Administration did not act unlawfully by not renewing the Applicant¡¯s contract because the contract itself was clear that it was expiring on 31 December 2018. Fixed-term contracts carry no expectation of renewal.

The application filed on 20 March 2019 was time barred since the Applicant was first notified of the impugned decision in July 2018.

According to section 9.4 of the staff selection system, a Hiring Manager may lawfully select from a pool of pre-screened candidates without further assessment or referral to a central review body. However, in the case at hand, the Hiring Manager decided to establish a Panel of three senior language professionals to conduct informal interviews with the pre-selected candidates, including the Applicant. There is no provision in the Staff Rules preventing these interviews from being held in Russian. The Applicant further contends that he was discriminated since he has been serving in a Regional...

The Applicant¡¯s performance appraisal was fair and supported by the facts in evidence. The Administration was justified in deciding not to extend the Applicant¡¯s temporary appointment for poor performance. There was no justification to extend the Applicant¡¯s appointment beyond the maximum 364 days. The Applicant filed a complaint of harassment after she had received the request for management evaluation. She was therefore not able to show a link between her complaint and the decision not to renew her appointment given that the decision occurred months before the filing of the complaint. There...

Under Sanwidi, it is not for the Tribunal to review the wisdom of the USG/DGACM¡¯s decision among other all viable options, but rather to assess the legality by which the decision was reached. In the given circumstances, the Tribunal finds that the decision to transfer the Applicant was not ¡°arbitrary or capricious, motivated by prejudice or extraneous factors¡± with reference to Chemingui, or that ¡°relevant matters [were] ignored and irrelevant matters considered¡± or the decision was ¡°absurd or perverse¡± as per Sanwidi. By itself, the Tribunal therefore finds no issue in the transfer decision...

The authority to grant an SPA, which, at Annex IV to ST/SGB/2019/2, is delegated to Heads of entity (D-1 and below) and which the Officer in Charge exercised in handling the SPA request is different from the authority to grant an ex gratia payment. The Applicant did not provide any evidence to prove that the authority to award an ex gratia payment was at any point delegated from the USG/DMSPC. In the absence of evidence of express transmission of authority, the Tribunal was not satisfied with the Applicant¡¯s assertion that the Acting Director of the Admiistrative Services Division had...

The authority to grant an SPA, which, at Annex IV to ST/SGB/2019/2, is delegated to Heads of entity (D-1 and below) and which the Officer in Charge exercised in handling the SPA request is different from the authority to grant an ex gratia payment. The Applicant did not provide any evidence to prove that the authority to award an ex gratia payment was at any point delegated from the USG/DMSPC. In the absence of evidence of express transmission of authority the Tribunal was not satisfied with the Applicant¡¯s assertion that the Acting Director of the Administrative Services Division had...