The Tribunal held that since summary dismissal/termination may have been the possible outcome at the end of the disciplinary process, the Respondent had to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the daily casual worker (Mary) was transferred to MovCon as a result of the alleged sexual relationship between her and the Applicant. The Tribunal concluded that the facts upon which the disciplinary measure was based were not established and that the facts which were established did not legally amount to misconduct under the Regulations and Rules of the United Nations. Consequently, the...
Article 10.5(b)
Administrative decision: Measures taken on the basis of ST/SGB/2008/5 must not be considered as preliminary decisions that cannot be contested. The absence of a response to an Applicant’s specific requests may amount to an implicit administrative decision, if it has direct legal consequences on the Applicant’s rights as a staff member.
Delegation of authority: Any withdrawal or limitation of the delegation of authority must be explicit. In the absence of a clear and formal revocation of the delegation by the delegating authority, the decision taken by the delegating authority is tainted by a substantial procedural flaw—that of the lack of competence of the decision-maker.Legal certainty and application of administrative issuances: ST/SGB/2009/10 does not provide for transitional measures in situations, such as the instant case, where an eligible staff member is assigned to a different department or office between the time...
Competence of decision-maker: Competence of the decision-maker is a cornerstone of the legality of an administrative decision. When the exercise by the Administration of its discretionary power is under judicial review, any lack of authority leads inevitably to the rescission of the contested decision.As this is an essential element for the legality of the contested decision, the authority of the decision-maker has to be assessed by the Tribunal on its own motion, regardless of the parties’ views at any stage of the administrative and judicial proceedings.Delegation of authority: Exclusions...
Competence of decision-maker: Competence of the decision-maker is a cornerstone of the legality of an administrative decision. When the exercise by the Administration of its discretionary power is under judicial review, any lack of authority leads inevitably to the rescission of the contested decision.As this is an essential element for the legality of the contested decision, the authority of the decision-maker has to be assessed by the Tribunal on its own motion, regardless of the parties’ views at any stage of the administrative and judicial proceedings.Delegation of authority: Exclusions...
Competence of decision-maker: Competence of the decision-maker is a cornerstone of the legality of an administrative decision. When the exercise by the Administration of its discretionary power is under judicial review, any lack of authority leads inevitably to the rescission of the contested decision.As this is an essential element for the legality of the contested decision, the authority of the decision-maker has to be assessed by the Tribunal on its own motion, regardless of the parties’ views at any stage of the administrative and judicial proceedings.Delegation of authority: Exclusions...
The Applicant applied twice for the position of Director of Investigations, Office of Internal Oversight Services (“OIOS”) (“the Post”) at the D-2 level. The Post was first advertised in a vacancy announcement in 2008 and again in 2009. A selection panel set up by OIOS recommended him as the only qualified candidate for the Post in each instance. Neither of these recommendations was approved by the Special Review Group (“SRG”) and, as a result, no appointment was made to the Post. A third vacancy announcement was issued, for which the Applicant did not apply. The Applicant submits that he...
The investigation against the Applicant lacked integrity and credibility. The investigator was incompetent, exhibited bias and lacked objectivity and fairness. The Investigator’s note-taker was not only allowed to conduct part of the investigation by solely administering questions to two witnesses, she was also allowed the liberty of expressing her views on how some evidence she had elicited from a witness should not change impressions earlier formed. The investigation report was biased, unreliable and unfair. The characterisation of certain facts was done in a manner intended to draw only...
Decision of a technical body: A rebuttal panel should be considered as a technical body as per the provision of staff rules 11.2(b). Consequently, a decision of a rebuttal panel is not subject to management evaluation as a prerequisite before filing an application before the Tribunal. The preeminent purpose of management evaluation is to reconsider the initial decisions taken by the Administration. Where such reconsideration is delegated to a specialized body, there is no need for further administrative review. Rebuttal panel: The panel’s mandate is fixed for two years and ST/AI/2002/3 did not...
The Tribunal has to strike a balance between the subjective and introspective feelings and perception of the aggrieved staff member with the application of reasonableness, rationality and objectivity in arriving at a fair and proper assessment of damage particularly involving the indefinable characteristics of what has been described in broad general terms as “moral damage”.The Applicant distress and anxiety as a result of feeling extremely upset and not valued by the Organization cannot justifiably be placed at the top end of the scale of severity but rather at the lower end. This is even...