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UNAT considered the Secretary-General’s appeal. UNAT noted that UNDT did not find that the Applicant was distressed by UNHCR’s illegal conduct or that he had suffered any adverse consequences or harm from UNHCR’s procedural error in following the opinion of DSS. UNAT held that UNDT had exceeded its competence and made an error in law in awarding compensation to the staff member since he had not suffered pecuniary loss or distress and was not harmed by the illegal conduct. UNAT upheld the appeal and reversed the UNDT judgment regarding the award of damages to the staff member.

UNAT rejected UNDT’s finding and held that, pursuant to the Inter-Organisation Agreement (which states that service in the releasing Organisation will be counted as service in the receiving Organisation), the staff member’s service with UNRWA should have been counted as service with the UN and that he thus met the service criterion for eligibility. UNAT upheld the appeal and remanded the case to the Administration to decide whether the staff member met the remaining criteria for conversion to a permanent appointment.

On the issue of the UNDT’s decision not to take up the Appellant’s motion for disclosure of documents, UNAT held that the Appellant failed to demonstrate how this affected his rights or would have had a relevant impact on the evidence already collected, the basic facts of which were not contested, and therefore UNAT held there were no procedural grounds to vacate the judgment. On the merits, UNAT held that the Appellant had not established any error of fact or law that warranted reversal of the judgment. UNAT recalled that not every violation of due process led to an award of compensation...

UNAT considered the Secretary-General’s appeal as to whether Ms Carrabregu was eligible to be considered for a permanent appointment. UNAT noted that the factual sequence clearly showed that Ms Carrabregu freely and willingly resigned from her service with UNDP to take up an appointment with a different entity (UNV), thereby causing a break in service. UNAT held that this break in service should have led UNDT to uphold the administrative decision that Ms Carrabregu was not eligible for conversion to a permanent appointment. UNAT further noted that Ms Carrabregu’s service to UNV could not be...

The first issue UNAT considered was whether UNDT erred in applying ST/AI/2010/3 to the selection of staff for the G-7 post and UNAT found that UNDT did not err in this regard. UNAT noted that the language of paragraph 14 of the Memorandum of Understanding With Respect to United Nations Personnel Procedures Application to the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund requires that “[t]he General Service staff of the [Pension] Fund secretariat shall be appointed and promoted through the normal [United Nations appointment and promotion] procedures, according to the policies applicable at the duty stations in...

UNAT considered an appeal by the staff member and a cross-appeal by the Secretary-General. Regarding the cross-appeal of the Secretary-General on material damages, UNAT held that UNDT was the body best placed to assess a candidate’s chance of selection for placement on the roster. UNAT held that the fact that there were several candidates selected from the roster in the months following the roster approval was sufficient to underpin UNDT’s assessment that the staff member’s chances were not in the realm of the speculative. UNAT held that there was no merit in the Secretary-General’s cross...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that UNDT had erred in deciding that the non-renewal of the staff member’s contract was unlawful. UNAT held that the staff member was aware that a high school diploma was an essential qualification. UNAT held that his contract was conditional upon him producing proof of this qualification. UNAT noted that the staff member was also aware that the consequence of failing to satisfy this requirement was the non-renewal of his contract. UNAT agreed with the Secretary-General’s submission that the decision not to renew was neither...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that resignation results in a break in service, which may, in turn, disqualify a staff member for consideration for a permanent appointment. UNAT held that if a staff member took issue with the requirement for a break in service, he or she should have challenged it at the time by requesting management evaluation. UNAT held that Mr Hajdari never challenged his separation from service from UNMIK or, at any time after his arrival in New York, made any request to human resources to be reinstated at the time. UNAT held that Mr Hajdari’s...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. On the question of whether UNDT erred in finding that the five years’ experience requirement was arbitrary and not based on any proper consideration, UNAT held that, absent any proper legal or factual basis upon which to impugn the five years’ experience requirement, UNDT had no function in substituting its judgment for that of the Administration in determining the criteria for the selection of S-3 officers, and in doing so, UNDT erred in law resulting in a manifestly unreasonable decision. UNAT held that UNDT erred in law in deeming the...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. With respect to the application of Section 1. 8(d) of ST/AI/1999/9 to Ms Xie, UNAT clarified that the requirement, that the Hiring Manager must submit a written analysis indicating how the qualifications and experience of the recommended candidate are “clearly” superior to those of female candidates who were not recommended, refers to the final stage of the selection process, i. e. it is when making his or her final recommendation for the selection of a male candidate over a female candidate, to the head of department/office, authorized to...