UNDT/2020/067, Azar
The Tribunal noted that the complaint about the long period it took for the Applicant to be paid and the dispute over the amount of the pension paid to him were beyond the scope of the application since they were not subjected to management evaluation as required by art. 8.1(c) of the Dispute Tribunal’s Statute and staff rule 11.2(a). The Tribunal found that the Administration had proper legal grounds for refusing to issue the separation notification to the UNJSPF in accordance with staff rule 3.18(c)(ii), ST/AI/2009/1 (Recovery of overpayments made to staff members) and ST/AI/155/Rev.2 as amended. The Respondent promptly released the documents in issue to the UNJSPF after the Applicant met his obligation to settle his indebtedness to the Organization and the Applicant was paid his pension which meant that there was no longer a live issue upon which the Tribunal could competently pass judgment. Any remedy issued would have no concrete effect. The Tribunal found that the contested decision had been rendered moot. The application was accordingly dismissed.
On 28 January 2019, the Applicant filed an application contesting the decision of the Under-Secretary-General for Management (“USG/DM”) to authorise the withholding of his final entitlements to cover indebtedness to the Organization in accordance with staff rule 3.18(c)(ii) and withhold the issuance of any notification to the pension fund of his separation until he had satisfactorily settled all indebtedness to the Organization in accordance with paragraph 12 of ST/AI/155/Rev.2 (Personnel Payroll Clearance Action) as amended. Information obtained at a case management discussion (“CMD”) of 22 April 2020, however, was that the controversy between the parties was resolved during the pendency of the application. At the CMD, the Applicant confirmed that his pension was paid after he refunded monies he had been over paid. He then sought new reliefs, specifically, compensation for the long period (nine months) it took for him to be paid and in addition he disputed the amount being paid to him as a pension.
The Organization is permitted to use a staff member’s pending entitlements to recover indebtedness to the Organization and it may also withhold the separation notification to the UNJSPF.
The Tribunal found that the contested decision has been rendered moot.