The UNAT held that the Appellant’s travel was not authorized pursuant to Staff Rule 7.10 because she had just one approved day of annual leave on 24 June 2021 followed by a period of R&R from the 12 July to 16 July 2021. The UNAT also found that the Administration took the appropriate action by sending her on 25 July 2021 an e-mail reminding her that all the international staff members had to submit their Sudanese visa renewal application in a timely manner. The UNAT held that the events that delayed the Appellant’s return to her duty station could not be construed as force majeure as they...
Rule 7.10
The Applicant’s claim was based on her assertion that she was on official travel status at United Nations expense when she was forced to have a stopover of 23 days in Khartoum. Accordingly, she claimed that she was entitled to DSA in accordance with staff rule 7.10. The Tribunal found, however, that there was no category under the applicable legal framwework of entitlement to DSA under which the Applicant’s time in Khartoum fell.
The UNDT found that there was change of official duty station and that, as a result, the application of Entebbe’s post adjustment rate and payment of DSA for only 30 days were lawful. The Tribunal also dismissed all the other Applicant’s contentions. As a preliminary matter, the Tribunal examined the receivability of the application given that the parties disagreed on the date on which the Applicant ought to have known of the decision. The Tribunal found that the application was receivable. Receivability – Notification of an administrative decision: The Administration is obliged to communicate...
DSA is provided for official trips only, and these must be formally approved prior to travel. The decision to refuse DSA for the days the Applicant was in Cairo is therefore lawful, as that part of his presence in Cairo was clearly for personal purposes.