UNDT/2021/023, Rehman
The Applicant’s complaints were remanded once more to the Respondent for a proper investigation in compliance with the regulatory framework. The Respondent is to provide the Applicant with a copy of her interview transcript and summary (if any) prepared by outside provider and used in the prior investigation.
The Applicant challenges the Respondent's actions in implementing the Tribunal’s findings in Rehman UNDT/2018/039/Corr.1.
The investigators’ failure to properly interview and consider the Applicant’s response to the transcript of her interview renders the investigation and reporting process incomplete. An investigation which took such scant account of the complainant’s interview cannot be said to have been properly conducted. There is a clear omission from the record of any evidence that the Applicant’s interview and materials submitted were considered in the preliminary assessment process. The purpose of the proceedings documented in the investigation reports was in fact for a preliminary assessment of the complaints. The investigation envisaged by the Tribunal in remanding the complaints to the Respondent was one that would fulfil the requirements for a preliminary assessment under sections 5.13 to 5.16 of CF/EXD/2012-007 Amend.1. As the Applicant’s interview and materials were clearly not a focal point of the process, the Tribunal’s finding is that the investigation was not comprehensive. The Tribunal takes the position that the Applicant in this case would have been entitled to the reports which resulted from the investigation into her complaints.