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UNAT upheld the Secretary-General’s claim that the Hiring Manager more than minimally demonstrated that she gave the Appellant’s candidature full and fair consideration. UNAT held that UNDT properly applied the standard of judicial review to determine whether the Hiring Manager’s decision that the Appellant was not among the most qualified for the post was reasonable. UNAT held there was no reason to reverse the findings of UNDT. UNAT noted that the Appellant merely repeated the arguments he made before UNDT and expressed his disagreement with the findings of the Hiring Manager. UNAT held that...

UNAT rejected the request that the Secretary-General produced the underlying job description for the post, to verify if a typing requirement had been introduced since the last revision, finding that it would be neither necessary nor useful for the fair and expeditious resolution of the case. UNAT held that the Appellant had failed to demonstrate that the contested decision fulfilled objective criteria of UNAT’s competence. UNAT held that, considering that the test was to be taken online, with the Appellant being based in Bangkok and the test being administered from New York, it was normal to...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that UNDT erred in law in finding that, pursuant to the Instruction Manual, a candidate for an advertised post was entitled to be apprised of the composition of the interview panel prior to the interview. UNAT held, however, that by pointing out that she had been previously interviewed for the post and that there were ongoing proceedings before UNDT regarding her challenge to a prior selection exercise, the staff member had put the Administration on notice of the importance she attached to the panel’s composition. UNAT held that...

UNAT considered the Secretary-General’s appeal. UNAT held that Mr Kucherov did receive full and fair consideration for the post which was finally filled by another candidate. UNAT found no flaw in the competitive selection procedure and agreed with the Secretary-General that the UNDT judgment contained errors of fact and law. UNAT noted that Section 7. 5 of ST/AI/2010/3, as amended, does not require a job opening to identify the specific assessment method to be used for the evaluation of technical skills. Rather, it provides that it may include a competency-based interview and/or other...

UNAT addressed all the appeals in a unique judgment. Regarding judgment No. UNDT/2015/100, UNAT held that UNDT had correctly found that a UNRWA staff member cannot bring an application against the UN Secretary-General challenging a decision by the Organisation denying him or her employment with the Organisation. UNAT held that UNDT had correctly concluded that the application was not receivable. Regarding Orders Nos. 319, 320, and 400, UNAT reiterated that UNAT is only under exceptional circumstances competent to judge appeals of interlocutory orders, namely when UNDT exceeded its jurisdiction...

UNAT addressed the Secretary-General’s appeal. UNAT agreed with the Secretary-General that UNDT erred on a question of law in substituting its own decision for that of the Administration regarding how the selection process should have been conducted. UNAT held that UNDT had improperly relied on “logic” to insert a step into the assessment process that was not required under the staff selection system established under the Staff Regulations and Rules. UNAT held that UNDT had clearly erred on a matter of law and had exceeded its competence by deciding that the DSS/SSS management lacked...

UNAT held that the Appellant did not address any error of fact or law in the UNDT judgment. UNAT held that the irregularities in the procedure did not amount to a breach of the Appellant’s due process rights. UNAT held that it was irrelevant whether the Appellant filed his application before UNDT in the interests of justice or seeking an award of moral damages since there was no evidence of damages. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNDT judgment.

UNAT considered the appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that the lateral reassignment of a staff member, in this case, fell entirely within the discretion of the Administration. UNAT found no evidence of arbitrary and unlawful exercise of discretion in the appeal which could allow UNDT to pronounce on the discretion of the Administration. Finding no illegality and no evidence that the cancellation of the job opening had an adverse effect on the staff member’s morale and professional reputation, UNAT vacated the award of compensation. UNAT upheld the appeal and vacated the UNDT judgment.

UNAT held that pursuant to Article 30 UNAT RoP and considering the medical condition of Appellant’s counsel, it was in the interests of justice to grant the Appellant’s motion for an extension of time to file her comments on the Secretary-General’s motion to supplement his answer. UNAT accepted the Appellant’s comments on the Secretary-General’s motion as timely filed. UNAT denied the Secretary-General’s motion for leave to supplement his answer since his additional pleadings would not advance or assist with the disposal of the case. UNAT held that UNDT had very thoroughly considered the...

UNAT considered an appeal from the Secretary-General. UNAT held that UNDT did not correctly apply the law in considering Mr Riecan’s challenge to the selection for the post and made errors of law and fact in accepting the staff member’s application. On the UNDT’s finding that there was a duty of the assessment panel in the course of a selection process to consider the e-PAS reports of the candidate and reflect that consideration in its own report, UNAT held that (1) UNDT did not make reference to a specific provision providing for this duty; (2) the fact that the panel did not take into...