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Administrative errors - As held in Boutruche, the Administration has a right and even an obligation to put an end to illegal situations as soon as it becomes aware of them, while preserving any rights acquired by staff members in good faith. Staff-management consultations - No staff-management consultations as envisaged by staff rule 8.1(f) were required given the particular circumstances of this case. The documentary record also establishes that, having discovered the error, the UNON Administration made genuine efforts to consult with the Applicant and other affected staff members to correct...

Administrative errors - As held in Boutruche, the Administration has a right and even an obligation to put an end to illegal situations as soon as it becomes aware of them, while preserving any rights acquired by staff members in good faith. Staff-management consultations - No staff-management consultations as envisaged by staff rule 8.1(f) were required given the particular circumstances of this case. The documentary record also establishes that, having discovered the error, the UNON Administration made genuine efforts to consult with the Applicant and other affected staff members to correct...

The UNDT found that the Applicant¡¯s explanations for how the missing card came to be in his possession were so far-fetched as to be unbelievable. He was shown to have had the opportunity to take illegal possession of the card and stood to make a pecuniary benefit from so taking it. There were several material inconsistencies in the Applicant¡¯s case and he was found not to be credible, contradicting himself in the course of the investigation and in his testimony before the Tribunal. The facts upon which the sanction was based were established and amounted to serious misconduct on the part of...

Duty to report receipt of overpayments - The Applicant failed in his duty to make the Organization aware of overpayments made to him, as provided for in section 2.4 of ST/AI/2009/1. The wordings of ST/AI/2009/1 create a duty for staff members not only to report the receipt of overpayments but also to take steps to ensure their recovery. In other words, it necessarily prohibits the unauthorised prevention of said recovery. Proportionality of disciplinary sanctions - Taking into account all the mitigating factors, the sanction of termination imposed by the Respondent was not proportionate to the...

The Tribunal found that the Applicant is entitled to compensation for the procedural irregularities occasioned him by the failure of the Administration to follow its own guidelines and its rules and procedures, namely: UNON management abused its authority in refusing to release the Applicant on mission assignment to UNAMID and in denying him the grant of a lien on his post. The failure by the Ethics Office in refusing to act on the basis of the report of retaliation filed by the Applicant and its failure to take all necessary action to protect the Applicant from retaliation.

Receivability -...

Legitimate expectation ¨C The Country Office¡¯s Core Management Group meeting of 29 February 2012 decided that all international staff, including the Applicant, would be extended for one year and the Applicant knew of the decision. This Tribunal finds that the decision taken at a regular and proper Country Office Core Management Group meeting to extend the contract of a staff member, which decision is embodied in open recorded minutes and accessible to staff members, carries far greater weight than any ¡®express promise¡¯ that can be made to the said staff member about extending his contract. The...

Receivability - Mr. Wallace as a Legal Officer in MEU had the requisite delegated authority to make an exception to the Staff Rules in suspending the time limits for the Applicant to request for management evaluation as he did in the present case. The Applicant¡¯s case was therefore held in abeyance until 30 March 2011. The Applicant, as a result, had until 30 June 2011 to file her Application which she did on 6 June 2011. Full and fair consideration - All the candidates that appear before an interview panel have the right to full and fair consideration. A candidate challenging the denial of a...

The Tribunal found the Applicant¡¯s acceptance of the implementation of the agreement, his failure to raise the allegations of duress until well after two years after the mediation and his failure to proffer any supporting evidence, can only lead to the conclusion that the Applicant¡¯s claim of duress is devoid of any merit. Burden of proof - Where an Applicant alleges that an agreement was imposed upon him by duress, the burden lies on him or her to convince the Tribunal that such is the situation. Res Judicata - Where the subject matter of an application has been settled between parties...

In accordance with staff rule 4.3, when a staff member has been legally accorded nationality status by more than one state, the staff member¡¯s nationality for purposes of the Staff Regulations and the Staff Rules shall be the nationality of the State to which the staff member is, in the opinion of the Secretary-General, most closely associated.In light of the provisions of staff rule 4.3, and in absence of any evidence that the discretion granted the Secretary-General by that rule has been exercised arbitrarily, in an abusive manner or vitiated by improper motives, the Tribunal finds that the...

The Tribunal found that the ICTR management was right to comply with the checking out procedures by withholding the Applicant¡¯s checkout since had been part of a committee that had not rendered financial accounts. The Applicant had been a member of an executive committee that had left office without accounting for finances during their tenure which prompted the ICTR management to withhold some of the Applicants entitlements until such accountability is undertaken. Accountability: The Applicant cannot reap a harvest of compensation from his own lack of accountability. He did not deny that he...

Management Evaluation - It was held that the Management Evaluation Unit (MEU) and the Tribunal operate on different deadlines and receivability thresholds and that the Tribunal cannot be bound by the findings of the MEU regarding the receivability of a case. Receivability - The Tribunal found that in this case, the entire 26 month period during which the Applicant was estranged from the Organization formed part of the same continuum punctuated by different contradicting decisions all of which centered on the singular issue of abuse of authority. Given the continuous nature of the Applicant¡¯s...

The Tribunal ordered rescission of the administrative decision to separate the Applicant from service. The Tribunal awarded the Applicant compensation for the substantive and procedural irregularities occasioned him by the failure of the Administration to follow its own guidelines, rules and procedures. Ultra vires - It was not within the competence of the Mission Leadership Team of UNMISS to leave its role of implementing the new mission¡¯s mandate in order to dabble into matters of human resource management and the transitioning and de-transitioning of staff from the old mission to the new...

Estoppel - It was argued on behalf of the Respondent that the Applicant has waived or is estopped from enforcing his right to challenge the contested decision since at the Applicant¡¯s request, the Administration in good faith deferred the effective date of termination of his appointment to enable him to acquire a pension benefit. Given the circumstances of this case, the Applicant had neither waived nor was he estopped from enforcing his rights to challenge the contested decision. The principles of waiver and estoppel will not apply in such a case to deny an Applicant from enforcing his legal...

The Tribunal finds, inter alia, that the Applicant¡¯s act of altering the number of hours he had worked without the authorization of his first reporting officer amounted to inexcusable alteration of official documents and material misrepresentation of facts. The principle of proportionality means that an administrative action should not be more excessive than is necessary for obtaining the desired result. The requirement of proportionality is satisfied if a course of action is reasonable, but not if the course of action is found to be excessive.

The Tribunal found that most of the Applicant¡¯s claims were time barred and that those which were not time barred were without merit. It was found that UNON had paid the Applicant¡¯s SPA for the periods when he was entitled to it and that he no longer had any legitimate claims for SPA against UNON. Employment Contract: A contract of employment is personal between the employee in each case and the employer. The terms of one¡¯s employment as stipulated in the letter of appointment or contract of employment is binding in personam between staff member and the organization and one cannot seek to...

The Tribunal finds, inter alia, that no international labour standards or the United Nation¡¯s Charter were breached in the process of the implementation of the General Assembly resolution on the Harmonization of Conditions of Service for Internationally-Recruited Staff in Peacekeeping Operations and Special Political Missions. The Application is dismissed in its entirety Contract of employment - Article 2.1(a) of the Tribunal¡¯s Statute defines the contract of employment, as including: all pertinent regulations and rules and all relevant administrative issuances in force at the time of alleged...

The UNDT found that the decision of USG/DM was proper and lawful because the Applicant did not possess a University degree or the relevant experience as set out in the Vacancy Announcement (VA) of the post to which he had applied. While the VA required an Advanced University degree or a first level University degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications as well as at least seven years¡¯ experience in administration and human resources or financial/ budget operations, the Applicant had none of these. Equivalence of qualifications to University degrees: Considering that United...

The UNDT found that the Application and the claims contained in it were time barred and not receivable. Time Limits: It is an Applicant¡¯s responsibility to ensure that he or she is aware of the applicable procedure in the context of the administration of justice at the United Nations and ignorance cannot be invoked as an excuse for filing out of the stipulated time limits. Applicants must strictly adhere to procedural requirements prior to the commencement of formal litigation proceedings.

Pleadings - A defence to a claim must say which of the allegations in the particulars of claim are admitted, which are denied and which allegations the defendant is unable to admit or deny, but requires the claimant to prove. Every allegation made in a claim should be dealt with in the defence. Where an allegation is denied, this normally implies that the defendant intends to put up a positive case to the contrary. Where the defendant denies an allegation, he must state his reasons for doing so; and if he intends to put forward a different version of events from that given by the claimant, he...

Selection processes: An appointing officer may decline to make an appointment where a selection process is marred by irregularities. It is within the competence of a program manager to set up a new interview panel where an initial interview panel has failed to properly discharge its mandate. While a candidate to a post has no right to be selected, he or she has every right to be fully and fairly considered for the post.Recommendation for a post is not the same thing as selection; while there is discretion in selection, there is no discretion in recommendation. Central Review Bodies: The...