2010-UNAT-029bis, El-Khatib
The UNAT interpreted the application as a request for a correction of the previous UNAT judgment.
The UNAT noted that the case file of the former United Nations Administrative Tribunal revealed that the President of that Tribunal had extended the deadline for filing the appeal but a copy of that decision had not been placed in the file submitted to the UNAT. The UNAT observed that it had rendered its judgment to reject the appeal, without being aware of the President's decision.
The UNAT found, however, that the staff member's appeal was received by the United Nations Administrative Tribunal after the extended appeal period and, accordingly, the error committed by the UNAT did not alter the essence of the judgment.
The UNAT was of the view that the error had to be regarded as an inadvertent mistake which could be rectified. The UNAT held that the error had to be corrected.
In addition, the UNAT noted that the words "letter of notification" were used instead of the words "letter of appointment" and that this second error had to be corrected ex officio.
The UNAT corrected the previous UNAT judgment.
Previous UNAT Judgment
In Judgment No. 2010-UNAT-029, the UNAT rejected the staff member's appeal on the grounds that it had been filed late and was therefore not receivable. In the same judgment, the UNAT noted that even if the appeal had been receivable, it was without merit.
The staff member filed an application for "reconsideration" of the previous UNAT Judgment.
The UNAT amended paragraph 15 of its previous judgment to correctly account for an extension having been granted for filing the appeal
The UNAT replaced, in the second sentence of paragraph 16, the words "letter of notification" by the words "letter of appointment".