UNDT/2016/123

UNDT/2016/123, Tadonki

UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements

Although the proceedings of the rebuttal panel had been completed and notified to the Applicant in July 2011, he did not move the Tribunal to waive the deadlines pursuant to art. 35 of the UNDT Rules of Procedure. The Applicant was required to submit a request for management evaluation but he did not do so.

Decision Contested or Judgment Appealed

The Applicant contested the Respondent’s refusal to disclose an unredacted copy of his Performance Appraisal Rebuttal Panel Report, with the names and signatures of the rebuttal panel members.

Legal Principle(s)

Staff rules 11.2(a) and (c) and 11.4 require a staff member to first approach the; Secretary-General for the resolution of a dispute within sixty (60) days of being notified of the impugned decision. That is the threshold of receivability before the Management Evaluation Unit.; Where a request for management evaluation is a mandatory first step in commencing proceedings, the Tribunal has no power to dispense with this requirement. The wide discretion to order disclosure under the Tribunal’s case management powers is subject to the principles of relevance and the probative value of the documents sought to be disclosed. This presupposes the pre-existence of a valid claim or a new claim which on the face of it appears that it does or may support the criteria of relevance and probative value. Accordingly, a claim which, taken at its highest and giving the party seeking disclosure the benefit of any doubt, discloses no arguable cause of action, cannot support an order for disclosure.

Outcome

Dismissed as not receivable

OAJ prepared this case law summary for informational purposes only. It is no official record and should not be relied upon as an authoritative interpretation of the Tribunals' rulings. For the authoritative texts, please refer to the judgment or order rendered by the respective Tribunal. The Tribunals are the only bodies competent to interpret their respective judgments, as provided under Article 12(3) of the UNDT Statute and Article 11(3) of the UNAT Statute. Any inaccuracies in the publication are the sole responsibility of OAJ, which should be contacted directly for any correction requests. To provide comments, don't hesitate to get in touch with OAJ at oaj@un.org.

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

Tadonki

Entity

UNOPS

Case Number(s)

UNDT/NBI/2015/169

Tribunal

UNDT

Registry Location :

Nairobi