�山����

Abolished posts: The onus is on the Respondent to show that the Organization acted correctly towards the Applicant as a permanent appointee on an abolished post and to demonstrate what good faith steps it took, in accordance with its legal and policy obligations, to assist her with finding alternative employment.Manifest abuse of process: A withdrawal of an admission of liability upon which the parties have relied may result in a finding of manifest abuse of process warranting award of costs.Outcome: Relied ordered: (i) 9 months’ net base salary (breach of rights and loss of chance of...

The Tribunal recalled that the burden of proof lay on the Applicant and there was nothing on record to show that the contested decision was made on the ground of improper motives against the Applicant. On the contrary, it found that OCHA had acted in good faith.

The Tribunal finds that the restructuring constituted a valid exercise of the Respondent’s discretionary authority, that the Applicant’s post was not abolished as he was in fact reassigned against the same budgeted post, and that his reassignment was lawful. Definition of a “post”: A “post” may be defined as the financial authorization given for a job to be performed, irrespective of the fact that it may be funded through budgetary or extra budgetary sources. Discretion of the Secretary-General in the organization of work: The Secretary-General enjoys broad discretion in the organization of...

The Tribunal held that the Organization has a discretionary power to organize its work and offices. However, it reiterated the general principle that such a power is not absolute; the Organization has the authority to reorganize an office and terminate a staff member’s contract so long as that the decision is not tainted by extraneous factors or improper motives. Based on the facts and evidence adduced by the parties, the Tribunal found that the decision to phase out the programme for which the Applicant had been recruited had been made on the basis of an evaluation made by external...

The issues before the Tribunal were whether the Applicant had a legal expectancy of renewal; whether the abolition of the Applicant’s post was a valid exercise of the Organization’s discretion; and whether the Applicant was fully and fairly considered for the newly created posts following a restructuring within the Organization. Outcome: The application failed and was dismissed.

The Applicant’s post was one of 45 posts earmarked in November 2007 for abolition by December 2008. It is not contested that the 45 posts for abolition which included the Applicant’s post were extended on GTA funding through June 2011. In the present Application on the merits, the Applicant needs to prove, at least on the balance of probabilities, that the Retention Panel was unfair in its evaluation of him and was discriminatory. Not only did he fail in his earlier suspension of action application to give particulars of the irregularities, errors, omissions and favoritism which he alleged...

The proposed competitive process was necessitated by the ending of funding for the Capital Master Plan (“CMP”), a large-scale long-term renovation of the United Nations Headquarters Complex in New York. According to the Respondent, the Applicants’ posts are funded through CMP; the Applicants dispute this. The main issue in this case is whether the contested decision to subject the Applicants to the ad hoc competitive process test is lawful. The Tribunal found that the ad hoc competitive process announced in April 2012 was unlawful and ordered rescission of the decision to carry it out.

Obligation to consult the staff member affected by a decision to discontinue his/her post: In view of the importance, for the staff member concerned, of the decision to discontinue his/her post, the Tribunal strictly interprets the procedural obligation to consult the affected staff member.

Management evaluation: Pursuant to well-settled case law of the Dispute Tribunal and the Appeals Tribunal, requests for administrative review or management evaluation are mandatory first steps in the appeal process. Improper motives: The onus is on the applicant to provide sufficient evidence that the contested decision was tainted by improper motives.

In the absence of a decision to abolish the post, there can be no suspension of such decision. The Tribunal finds the Applicant has failed to articulate that the implementation of the contested decision would cause him any harm that could not be compensated by an appropriate award of damages in the event of his success in the substantive case. The application for suspension of action would therefore fail on this ground alone. There was not a single averment regarding the prima facie unlawfulness of the alleged decision to abolish the post other than generalisations made regarding an attempted...