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Mr. Pierre filed an appeal.  UNAT found no error in the Dispute Tribunal's conclusion that the application was not receivable.  The contested decision did not have legal consequences adversely affecting the terms and conditions of Mr. Pierre’s appointment and therefore, there was no appealable administrative decision. UNAT was satisfied that the UNDT correctly held that since Mr. Pierre had no expectancy of renewal of his fixed-term appointment, the short-term renewals were considered prima facie in his favour.  UNAT also found that Mr. Pierre had not provided sufficient evidence that the...

The contested decision impacted the Applicant’s terms of appointment or contract of employment. It had a negative impact on the Applicant’s legal situation vis-à-vis his employer and on his ability to properly plan his professional life. It also altered the reason for the Applicant’s separation from service from termination of contract due to abolishment of post to non-renewal. Consequently, the application is receivable ratione materiae.

There is no evidence confirming the alleged operational needs justifying the contested decision to keep the Applicant beyond 31 May 2021. There is enough...

None of the documents submitted by the REspondent had the official or authoritative character of a budgetary and/or financial record to demonstrate how the Applicant’s post was established and funded and—by a subsequent exclusion—also showed that the post had been abolished (see, similarly, the Dispute Tribunal’s non-appealed judgment in Quatrini UNDT/2020/043). Also, nowhere in any of the documentation is it implied that the mandate of UN Women’s office had changed in a way that would disallow the employment of a driver at 3 level of the General Service staff category (“G-3”). The Respondent...

The underlying reason behind the Applicant’s FTA not being renewed was the fact that he could not obtain a visa to join his duty station.  In the case at hand, the Applicant was not able to demonstrate that the decision not to renew his FTA beyond its expiration date was illegal, arbitrary or tainted by ulterior motives. As per the legal framework, an FTA does not carry any expectancy, legal or otherwise, of renewal, and shall expire automatically and without prior notice on the expiration date specified in the letter of appointment. In addition, obtaining a visa was, indeed, a condition sine...

Once approved by the General Assembly, the decision to downgrade a post is placed outside the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. There can be no issue of restoring this position and the Applicant as its incumbent. The only question that could be entertained by the Tribunal is whether, in proposing the budget, the administration acted lawfully, or, as it is alleged, engaged in a conspiracy against the Applicant to mislead the General Assembly. The Tribunal found that the Secretary-General’s recommendation to downgrade one of the P-4 posts was lawful.  The Tribunal was satisfied that the downgrading of...

The management evaluation response was sent to the Applicant on Friday, 7 May 2020, at 10:51 a.m., New York time (EDT), which was 5:51 p.m. in East Jerusalem and Ramallah. UNDP sent the RME Response after working hours in the duty station, at the start of the Applicant’s weekend (which was Saturday and Sunday), and during the traditional weekend in the oPt which is Friday and Saturday. The UNDT therefore determined that the first full day of the delivery of the email was 8 May 2020, which means that the 90-day count under art. 8.1(d)(i)(a) of the UNDT Statute started from 9 May 2020. The...

The Tribunal held that the Applicant had proven that the process of restructuring of the Programme Management Unit leading to the abolition of his post and hence the non-renewal of his contract was arbitrary, capricious, motivated by prejudice, procedurally irregular and an error in law.By its failure to follow the Regulations and Rules for the restructuring and abolition of the Finance Specialist position, the Tribunal agreed with the Applicant that he was singled out among the three international staff members, to pave way for national staff without a legitimate objective criterion, and in...

Whether there was a genuine restructuring process In the present case, there is no evidence that the restructuring exercise was not genuine. Instead, the evidence shows that there was a genuine, large-scale restructuring, and this resulted in numerous staff members and non-staff personnel being separated from service. The restructuring of WSSCC was in effect the shutting down of WSSCC and the establishment of the SHF. Moreover, the strong donor support shows that it was a genuine restructuring. As the donors have a fundamental objective to ensure that the funds they provide are appropriately...

The Tribunal finds that the Respondent’s explanation as to why the Applicant’s post was the one chosen for abolition is well substantiated. There was a genuine large scale restructuring due to severe budget cuts, which resulted in other staff members being separated from service, including the Applicant, and there was a legitimate explanation for the recruitments and vacancies that were not cancelled. The presumption of regularity was satisfied. Since the Applicant cannot convincingly show why his post should not have been abolished even though the posts of dozens of other staff members...

The Tribunal observed that the Applicant’s complaint involved one specific incident, i.e., a chain of emails where his performance was being criticized, which evolved into two managerial decisions by his supervisors: a transfer of functions and instauration of a PIP. The Applicant perceived those emails as harassment. However, for a staff member’s behaviour to be punishable as constituting the disciplinary offence of harassment pursuant to ST/SGB/2019/8, the analysis of said behaviour must pass a two-fold test: it must be found “improper and unwelcome” and “might reasonably be expected or be...