The Tribunal found that the case was one of termination of mandate, rather than of abolition of post under the relevant rules; hence, the decision to terminate the Applicant’s permanent appointment was illegal. It further decided that even if one were to follow the Respondent’s argument that it was post abolition, such abolition needed the approval of the Board of UNICRI which had not been obtained. Finally, following the argument that it was post abolition, the Tribunal noted that the Administration clearly failed to comply with its obligation to make reasonable and good faith efforts under...
Abolition of post
The UNDT found that the Administration failed to fully honour the material provisions of staff rule 13.1 with respect to the Applicant. The UNDT found that the Organization committed material irregularities and failed to act fully in compliance with the requirements of staff rule 13.1(d) and (e) and 9.6(e) The onus was on the Administration to carry out a matching exercise and find a suitable post for the Applicant, who was a permanent staff member, prior to opening the vacancy to others. The UNDT ordered payment of USD7,000 as compensation for emotional distress and two years’ net base salary...
The UNDT found that the Administration failed to fully honour the material provisions of staff rule 13.1 with respect to the Applicant. The UNDT found that the Organization committed material irregularities and failed to act fully in compliance with the requirements of staff rule 13.1(d) and (e) and 9.6(e) The onus was on the Administration to carry out a matching exercise and find a suitable post for the Applicant, who was a permanent staff member, prior to opening the vacancy to others. The UNDT ordered payment of USD7,000 as compensation for emotional distress and two years’ net base salary...
The UNDT found that the Administration failed to fully honour the material provisions of staff rule 13.1 with respect to the Applicant. The UNDT found that the Organization committed material irregularities and failed to act fully in compliance with the requirements of staff rule 13.1(d) and (e) and 9.6(e) The onus was on the Administration to carry out a matching exercise and find a suitable post for the Applicant, who was a permanent staff member, prior to opening the vacancy to others. The UNDT ordered payment of USD7,000 as compensation for emotional distress and two years’ net base salary...
International standards on retrenchment and retention: There are international norms and standards regarding the termination of employment of work due to economic, technological or structural change, and the rights of retrenched workers and of staff representatives. The International Labour Organization Convention on Termination of Employment (Convention No. C158) (1982), which contains provisions applicable to all branches of economic activity and to all employed persons (art. 2), states at art. 4 that the employment of a worker shall not be terminated unless there is a valid reason for such...
The UNDT found that the Administration failed to fully honour the material provisions of staff rule 13.1 with respect to the Applicant. The UNDT found that the Organization committed material irregularities and failed to act fully in compliance with the requirements of staff rule 13.1(d) and (e) and 9.6(e) The onus was on the Administration to carry out a matching exercise and find a suitable post for the Applicant, who was a permanent staff member, prior to opening the vacancy to others. The UNDT found that, because the Applicant was able to secure alternative employment, albeit at a lower...
The UNDT found that the Administration failed to fully honour the material provisions of staff rule 13.1 with respect to the Applicant. The UNDT found that the Organization committed material irregularities and failed to act fully in compliance with the requirements of staff rule 13.1(d) and (e) and 9.6(e) The onus was on the Administration to carry out a matching exercise and find a suitable post for the Applicant, who was a permanent staff member, prior to opening the vacancy to others. The UNDT found that, because the Applicant was able to secure alternative employment, albeit at a lower...
The UNDT found that the Applicant was not afforded proper priority consideration for the CISS post under the framework established by staff rule 9.6(e). He, therefore, lost a fair chance of being selected for the CISS post. The UNDT also found that the decision not to select the Applicant was vitiated by the arbitrary and inconsistent application of the requirement of “Headquarters experienceâ€. The Tribunal finds that the Applicant has already mitigated his losses for some part of the relevant period and received compensation for the rest of the lost earnings as part of Lemonnier UNDT/2016/186...
As the Appeals Tribunal stated in Bowen 2011-UNAT-183, the Applicant’s termination indemnity should be taken into account when awarding compensation. This is consistent with the Appeals Tribunal’s pronouncement in Warren 2010-UNAT-059 that “the very purpose of compensation is to place the staff member in the same position he or she would have been in had the Organization complied with its contractual obligationsâ€. Therefore, as both the termination indemnity and the payment in lieu of notice stemmed from the improper termination of the Applicant’s appointment, these sums shall be deducted from...
The UNDT found that the Applicant was not afforded proper priority consideration for the DM post under the framework established by staff rules 9.6(e) and 13.1(d). Tribunal finds that, had the Applicant been afforded proper consideration for the DM post as a displaced permanent staff member, he would have had fifty per cent chance of being selected. The UNDT found that there was insufficient evidence to establish that the selection process was tainted by bias against the Applicant. Having considered relevant factors—namely, that (i) the Applicant lost a fifty per cent chance of being selected...