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2021-UNAT-1141

UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements

UNAT noted that, although the appeal was technically inadequate because the Appellants had failed to specifically identify the errors allegedly committed by the UNRWA DT, it had previously recognised that if an appellant was not legally represented some latitude may be allowed in the interests of justice. Accordingly, UNAT held that it would review the merits of the appeal. UNAT held that the UNRWA DT erred on a question of fact that resulted in a manifestly unreasonable decision by failing to consider the full application and the question of when the Appellants received notification of the administrative decision. UNAT held that UNRWA DT erred in fact in finding that the Appellants should have reasonably known all relevant facts of the contested decision by 31 March 2019 because the finding was based on an inaccurate and incomplete review of the evidence. UNAT held that UNRWA DT erred finding the applications not receivable ratione materiae. UNAT remanded the cases to UNRWA DT for additional findings of fact and vacated the UNRWA DT Judgment.

Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed

The Appellants contested the decision to not grant them additional allowances after a salary survey. UNRWA DT dismissed their applications as not receivable for failure to file a timely request for decision review.

Legal Principle(s)

UNRWA DT must determine the date of the implied decision based on objective elements that both parties (the Administration and the staff member) can accurately determine.

Outcome

Case remanded

Outcome Extra Text

N/A

OAJ prepared this case law summary for informational purposes only. It is no official record and should not be relied upon as an authoritative interpretation of the Tribunals' rulings. For the authoritative texts, please refer to the judgment or order rendered by the respective Tribunal. The Tribunals are the only bodies competent to interpret their respective judgments, as provided under Article 12(3) of the UNDT Statute and Article 11(3) of the UNAT Statute. Any inaccuracies in the publication are the sole responsibility of OAJ, which should be contacted directly for any correction requests. To provide comments, don't hesitate to get in touch with OAJ at oaj@un.org.

The judgment summaries were generally prepared in English. They were translated into French and are being reviewed for accuracy of the translation.

Najway Yusef, Imad El Manasri, Rabie Abdulghani