UNDT/2016/012

UNDT/2016/012, Kifle

UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements

The Tribunal concluded that the non-renewal of the Applicant’s fixed-term appointment (FTA) was unlawful because he was erroneously subjected to a recruitment and selection process after he had been successfully transitioned from UNMIS to UNMISS as the sole candidate for the post of State Coordinator in Aweil. The Applicant was awarded compensation of one year’s net base salary. Lateral transfer: The Tribunal noted the absence of important terms in the 19 December 2010 letter regarding the length of the assignment and reabsorption and concluded that the Applicant had, in fact, been laterally transferred in accordance with section 2.5 of ST/AI/2010/3 from the SPO post to the State Coordinator post in Aweil with no right of return to the SPO post or the Strategic Planning Unit.Legitimate expectation: The Tribunal observed that an express promise must underpin a successful claim of legitimate expectation and that it was not enough for the Applicant to claim that he merely believed that he would bereassigned to an SPO post in the face of an unsuccessful bid for the UNMISS State Coordinator post. The Tribunal concluded that the Applicant’s claim of a legitimate expectation of renewal was unfounded. Non-renewal: The Tribunal found that the Applicant had been correctly transitioned to the UNMISS State Coordinator post in Aweil in July 2011 in accordance with paragraph 2.A of UNMIS information Circulars: No. 218/2011. Thus his successful or unsuccessful competition for a State Coordinator post in Juba should have had no bearing on the renewal or non-renewal of his FTA. The Tribunal concluded that since the Aweil State Coordinator post existed in both UNMIS and UNMISS, there was no need for it to be advertised and filled through a recruitment/selection process and that paragraph 2.C of UNMIS information Circulars: No. 218/2011 was erroneously applied to the Applicant after he had been successfully transitioned in accordance with paragraph 2.A of the same Circular. Consequently, the non-renewal decision was deemed to be unlawful.

Decision Contested or Judgment Appealed

The Applicant challenged the decisions by UNMISS not to: (a) renew his appointment beyond 30 September 2012; and (b) reinstate him to his original post of Senior Planning Officer (SPO) when he was transitioned from the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to UNMISS on 8 July 2012.

Legal Principle(s)

N/A

Outcome

Judgment entered for Applicant in full or in part

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

Full Judgment

Applicants/ Appellants

Kifle

Entity

UNMISS

Case Number(s)

UNDT/NBI/2013/22

Tribunal

UNDT

Registry Location :

Nairobi