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UNAT rejected the Appellant’s unsubstantiated allegations of bias and conflict of interest against the judge who signed the impugned judgment. UNAT considered that: (1) the Appellant did not provide any evidence of his suitability for conversion to a continuing appointment; (2) his appeal was based solely on the impossibility of the retroactive extension of his fixed-term appointments; and (3) he had been made aware that his fixed-term appointment would be extended pending the appropriate assessment of his performance under the rebuttal process. Accordingly, UNAT held that the UNDT was correct...

The Tribunal has to strike a balance between the subjective and introspective feelings and perception of the aggrieved staff member with the application of reasonableness, rationality and objectivity in arriving at a fair and proper assessment of damage particularly involving the indefinable characteristics of what has been described in broad general terms as “moral damage”.The Applicant distress and anxiety as a result of feeling extremely upset and not valued by the Organization cannot justifiably be placed at the top end of the scale of severity but rather at the lower end. This is even...

It is not disputed by either party that the Applicant was not employed by the Organization during the one week period between the curtailment, requested by himself, of his employment with UNECA and his appointment at UNHQ. Furthermore, the Applicant “does not seek to challenge the 2005 decision creating the break in service, but, [in light of the Tribunal’s decision in Gomez], the later decision not to consider him eligible for conversion to permanent appointment on the basis of that earlier decision”. The Tribunal finds that the Applicant was ineligible for consideration for conversion to...

The Applicant specifically submits that the staff rules state that “[c]ontinuity of service shall not be considered broken by periods of special leave” and the Respondent may not therefore deny his eligibility on the ground that his six months of special leave without pay resulted in him not having been employed for a continuous period of five years The UNDT rescinds the contested decision and finds that the Applicant is eligible for consideration for permanent appointment.

he Tribunal rescinded the decision not to grant the Applicant a continuing appointment and ordered the Respondent to grant the Applicant a continuing appointment retroactively from 7 June 2014. As the contested decision concerned a question of appointment, the Respondent was given the alternative option of paying the Applicant USD5,000 in compensation. The Applicant’s request for moral damages was rejected.

The Tribunal found that the standard of review in Kulawat, though it was applied in a case regarding conversion to a permanent appointment, can also be applicable mutatis mutandis to cases of continuing appointments because to be considered for either of the types of appointments staff members must fulfil certain eligibility requirements laid down in bulletins and administrative instructions. The Tribunal stressed that the existence of an “expectation of re-appointment” between two short-term contracts does not in itself create “a continuous service” in a staff member’s employment. The...

Since a PIP was not put in place prior to the expiry of the Applicant’s fixed-term appointment, she could not rely on section 10.5 of ST/AI/2010/5 for the renewal of her contract. The Administration extended the Applicant’s contract several times despite her refusal to accept the offers of contract extension. These extensions were deemed contrary to a strict application of the requirements of section 4.4 of ST/AI 2013/1 and inconsistent with administrative regularity. However, MONUSCO continued to extend the Applicant’s contract in the hope of persuading her to cooperate with the PIP. It was...

The Administration, contrary to its own policies, took into account the Applicant’s functional title only without considering his actual functions vis-à-vis the other P-4 posts in the JAOC. By neglecting to look beyond the Applicant’s functional title, the Administration unlawfully determined that the Applicant would be subject to a dry-cut. Significantly, the Applicant held a continuing appointment. Thus, applying the UNMIL Guidelines to the present case, the Applicant should have been automatically retained since there were, at the time of this application, other P-4 staff members in his...

UNDT held that the request for management evaluation was not time-barred. UNDT held that the rules and procedures applied to establish the Applicant’s EOD date were due consequences of the fact that she had been reappointed in 2008. UNDT held that the choice of reappointment as modality of the Applicant’s move was borne out by personnel actions of separation and reappointment and acknowledged by her in the memorandum of understanding with respect to annual leave from 2008. Accordingly, UNDT held that the matter was outside the temporal jurisdiction of UNDT. UNDT held that the EOD date as...

UNDT held that the decision to extend the Applicant’s fixed-term appointment with effect from 11 September 2015 until 29 February 2016 was irreceivable because the Applicant failed to submit a request for management evaluation of the decision. UNDT found no basis for the Applicant’s claim that his appointment had been converted into a continuing one. UNDT held that the procedural irregularity in issuing the retroactive fixed-term appointments could cause vexation but did not amount to a serious violation of rights. UNDT held that the delays did not entail an ex lege conversion to a continuing...