UNDT/2014/085, Kouadio
The Tribunal established that it was clear from the facts and documents provided that the Applicant never received written notice of non-renewal of his contract but was informed orally. The Tribunal thus concluded that the Applicant's rights were not respected and strongly condemned the attitude of the Administration which, despite the decisions of the Appeals Tribunal in which it had been decided that written notification was essential in order to allow a staff member to assert his rights, had simply decided to ignore these principles. Consequently, the Tribunal held that it was unable to rule on the receivability of the Application in the absence of written notification of the contested administrative decision in accordance with the jurisprudence. Accordingly, the Tribunal ordered the Administration to notify in writing its decision to abolish the Applicant's position and not to renew his employment contract beyond 30 June 2011.
The Applicant contested UNOPS’s decision communicated to him orally on 9 May 2011 to not renew his fixed-term contract effective 30 June 2011.
Pursuant to the settled jurisprudence of the Tribunal, unless the decision is notified in writing to the staff member, the limit of 60 calendar days for requesting management evaluation of that decision does not start. Further, where the Administration chooses not to provide a written decision, it cannot lightly argue receivability ratione temporis.