����AV

The Applicant was found suitable for available positions. Indeed, for one job opening, he was one of the eight candidates short-listed and convoked to interview. By shortlisting him, the Administration tacitly acknowledged that he was deemed suitable for the position; per Timothy UNDT/2017/080, as a continuing appointment holder facing termination, the Administration was obliged from that point to consider his candidacy on a preferred, non-competitive basis.

The Tribunal found that the Administration failed in its obligation to make good faith efforts to absorb the Applicant into a new post...

The fact that the Applicant accepted a lower level post did not make his application moot. The Administration failed to fulfil its obligation to offer available positions at the same level of the abolished post. The Applicant sustained and continues to sustain a relevant loss of salary because the Administration failed to make good faith efforts to place him in one of the positions that he applied to at the P-5 level, positions for which he was duly qualified. The Administration also failed to meet its obligation to reassign the Applicant as a matter or priority to another post matching his...

The Applicant’s roster membership did not give her a right to appointment to FS-5 positions and did not give her a right to be placed against available positions on a priority and non-competitive basis. The Organization has no obligation to assist a staff member affected by downsizing to obtain a non-competitive promotion. The Administration’s obligation is to make proper, reasonable, and good faith efforts to assist the Applicant in finding an alternative post at her level or at a lower grade but not at  a higher level.

UNAT vacated UNDT’s compensation orders in the cases in which staff members had secured alternative employment, finding that the applications had become moot. In the remaining cases, UNAT considered that any permanent staff member facing termination due to abolition of post must show an interest in a new position (for which he or she is suitable and qualified) by timely and completely applying for that position. However, once the application process is completed, the Administration is required by Staff Rule 13. 1(d) to consider the permanent staff member on a preferred or non-competitive basis...

UNAT held that the appeal was defective for failure to identify errors made by UNRWA DT. However, noting that the Appellant was self-represented, UNAT considered whether UNRWA DT erred in finding that UNRWA had properly exercised its discretion in transferring the Appellant. UNAT held that UNRWA DT did not err in jurisdiction, procedure, law, or in fact in dismissing the Appellant’s application. UNAT upheld UNRWA DT’s finding that the Appellant did not meet the burden of proving that the decision to transfer him to another post after the abolition of his post was exercised arbitrarily or...

UNAT held that UNDT correctly concluded that Mr Russo-Got’s application against the abolition of his post was not receivable, as he had failed to make a request for management evaluation within time. UNAT held that UNDT also correctly dismissed his application against the non-renewal of his FTA because he had received notice of the date of the non-renewal, there was no express promise to renew, and UNOPS was not obliged to find him an alternative post.

The Secretary-General appealed arguing that the Organization had no obligation to make all reasonable efforts to place the staff member in available suitable posts, as he only had an FTA and that such obligation was meant only for those who had continuing or permanent appointments. UNAT disagreed and found that staff members should be “retained” in an order of priority favouring, first, those with continuing appointments; second, holders of FTAs of more than two years’ duration who were recruited competitively; and third and finally, other FTA holders. In the instant case, UNAT found because...

The Tribunal finds that the Applicant’s motivations for accepting his appointment to the P-3 post have no bearing on the lawfulness of the decision. The Applicant was cautioned in advance of his right to apply for other vacant posts, and he voluntarily decided to apply for a lower-level post. The Applicant, upon selection for the P-3 level post, was cautioned that he would be appointed at the P-3 level regardless of the grade of the post he encumbered at the time. This course of action was open to the Organization under UNFPA’s staffing policy. The Applicant then proceeded to accept this...