UNDT/2013/043

UNDT/2013/043, Oummih

UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements

The Tribunal found that the Applicant had not suffered any material or moral prejudice. With regard to OSLA’s refusal to provide her with legal assistance, the Tribunal found that the decision is not illegal since there was a conflict of interest . The Applicant is a staff member of OSLA and her application before the Tribunal concerns a written reprimand issued by her immediate supervisor, the Chief of OSLA.

Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed

The Applicant, who is currently a staff member of the Office of Staff Legal Assistance (“OSLA”), challenged the decision to issue and to place a written reprimand in her Official Status File (“OSF”) as well as the refusal by OSLA to provide her with legal assistance. The reprimand was later retracted and removed from the Applicant’s OSF after approximately one month.

Legal Principle(s)

Reprimand: Material and/or moral prejudice for a reprimand that was later retracted can only be claimed, if it was illegal and had a damaging effect during the period it was placed in a staff member’s OSF. Right to be provided with/obligation to provide legal assistance: OSLA possesses a large margin of discretion to decide whether it undertakes to represent a given client. A refusal to provide legal assistance has however to be sufficiently substantiated. Even if the motive of the decision to refuse legal assistance is flawed, the decision itself may be lawful, if another legal reason would have led to the same decision.

Outcome

Dismissed on merits

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The judgment summaries were generally prepared in English. They were translated into French and are being reviewed for accuracy of the translation.

Full Judgment

Applicants/Appellants

Oummih

Entity

Case Number(s)

Tribunal

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