UNAT dismissed the Appellant’s motion for leave to file additional pleadings on the basis that he had not demonstrated any exceptional circumstances. UNAT rejected the Appellant’s request for costs as there was no reason to believe that the submissions of the Secretary-General were not made in good faith or were an abuse of process. UNAT held that the Appellant did not have a right to promotion but only a right to be considered for promotion. UNAT held that the Appellant received full and fair consideration for the position. UNAT also affirmed UNDT’s application of the priority consideration...
Full and fair consideration
UNAT held that it was clear from the record that UNDT did not consider the whole of the evidence in arriving at its decisions and that its determination of the facts was unsustainable. UNAT held that UNDT based its finding of bias on selected extracts of a report from the Ethics Office which neither positively established bias nor explained how, if at all, the potential bias to which it referred was connected to the selection process. UNAT held that the need for factual determinations based on the whole of the relevant evidence required the case to be remanded to the UNDT for a rehearing de...
UNAT held that the Administration was not under an obligation to pursue a recruitment procedure once begun by filling the post. UNAT held that the contested administrative decision not to carry the recruitment process through to appointment, but rather to readvertise, was a valid and lawful exercise of the Administration’s discretion, based on sound reasons inextricably linked to the interest of the service, namely the situation in Burundi, the need for additional skills, and compliance with the relevant legal instruments governing the recruitment procedure. UNAT held that the contested...
UNAT held that the decision not to short-list the Appellant was an internal step within the selection process and not an administrative decision and that UNDT should have only received her application against the selection decision whilst the decision not to short-list the Appellant is examined as a part of the final non-selection decision. UNAT held that the appeal was defective as the Appellant did not clearly define the grounds of appeal as required under Article 2(1) of the UNAT Statute, however it considered the appeal on the basis that the Appellant was self-represented. UNAT rejected...
UNAT considered both an appeal from the Secretary-General and an appeal from Mr Ross. UNAT considered Mr Ross’s request for consideration by a full bench and held that he had no standing to make such a request and that the case did not raise any significant question of law in relation to the evidentiary standard of proof of moral damages. UNAT held that any irregularity (procedural or substantive) in promotion cases will only give rise to an entitlement to rescission or compensation if the staff member has a significant or foreseeable chance for promotion. UNAT held that the UNDT did not err...
UNAT considered all the grounds of the appeal and held that the issue of whether the Appellant’s application was pre-screened by a Human Resources Officer was irrelevant to determine whether his candidature received full and fair consideration. UNAT held that the main issue for its determination was whether, at the time of application, the Inspira system had provided all of the correct options to the Appellant. UNAT held that this was a factual determination which, without relevant evidence, could not be made. UNAT held that UNDT failed to enquire as to what options were available in the...
UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that the issue of whether the staff member’s application was pre-screened by a Human Resources Officer was irrelevant in determining whether his candidature received full and fair consideration. On the basis that UNDT failed to enquire as to what options were available to the staff member on Inspira at the time of application, UNAT held that UNDT’s findings that Inspira did not reflect the variety of the educational system of all the Member States equally and that the staff member’s candidature had not been afforded full and fair...
UNAT held that the reason upon which UNDT decided not to rescind the contested decision, i. e. the lapse of time, was insufficient justification. UNAT held that, given the grossly negligent illegalities in which the selection process was conducted as found by UNDT, rescission of the contested decision was mandatory and could not be avoided on the basis of the excessive length of time between the filing of the application and the UNDT judgment. UNAT held that allowing the decision not to select the Appellant to remain in effect as if it was correct, despite its clear illegality, was not...
UNAT considered an appeal by Mr. Andrysek. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNDT Judgment.
Starting with the presumption that official acts are regularly performed, UNAT agreed that the Administration acted in accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules when it invited three roster candidates for an informal interview and made a final selection from the roster. Given the presumption of regularity was satisfied, the burden of proof shifted on the staff member who must demonstrate that he was not given fair and adequate consideration. This, the staff member failed to do. UNAT also agreed with the UNDT that the staff member can only challenge a specific administrative decision, and...