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UNDT held that the separation of female and male candidates for their comparative assessment and ranking at the Second Round constituted a fundamental error in the implementation of the Promotions Policy, and could not be justified by the High Commissioner’s decision to award an equal number of promotions to female and male staff members which was, in any event, announced towards the end of said Round. UNDT held that the exclusion of the e-PADs from the Panel members’ comparative assessment of the candidates during the Second Round constituted another fundamental procedural error in the...

UNDT held that the separation of female and male candidates for their comparative assessment and ranking at the Second Round constituted a fundamental error in the implementation of the Promotions Policy, and could not be justified by the High Commissioner’s decision to award an equal number of promotions to female and male staff members which was, in any event, announced towards the end of said Round. UNDT held that the exclusion of the e-PADs from the Panel members’ comparative assessment of the candidates during the Second Round constituted another fundamental procedural error in the...

The UNDT found that the contested decision was unlawful on the grounds that 1) the Organization committed several procedural errors in the implementation of the UNHCR Policy and Procedures for the Promotion of International Professional Staff Members (UNHCR/HCP/2014/2) (“Promotions Policy”), some of which resulted in a failure to take into account relevant information or to take into account irrelevant considerations; and 2) the Organization failed to minimally show that the Applicant’s candidacy for promotion received fair and full consideration. Standard of review: In the context of a...

Standard of review: In the context of a promotion exercise conducted under a specific policy, the Tribunal’s review is essentially focused on the implementation of the policy. It is not the Tribunal’s role to examine whether a policy adopted by the Organization is well-founded or appropriate. However, a decision may be rescinded if it is taken pursuant to a policy which does not comply with a higher norm and the irregularity results in a staff member not being given full and fair consideration for promotion. The Tribunal cannot amend a policy adopted by the Organization but may “point out what...

Standard of review: In the context of a promotion exercise conducted under a specific policy, the Tribunal’s review is essentially focused on the implementation of the policy. It is not the Tribunal’s role to examine whether a policy adopted by the Organization is well-founded or appropriate. However, a decision may be rescinded if it is taken pursuant to a policy which does not comply with a higher norm and the irregularity results in a staff member not being given full and fair consideration for promotion. The Tribunal cannot amend a policy adopted by the Organization but may “point out what...

Standard of review: In the context of a promotion exercise conducted under a specific policy, the Tribunal’s review is essentially focused on the implementation of the policy. It is not the Tribunal’s role to examine whether a policy adopted by the Organization is well-founded or appropriate. However, a decision may be rescinded if it is taken pursuant to a policy which does not comply with a higher norm and the irregularity results in a staff member not being given full and fair consideration for promotion. The Tribunal cannot amend a policy adopted by the Organization but may “point out what...

Standard of review: In the context of a promotion exercise conducted under a specific policy, the Tribunal’s review is essentially focused on the implementation of the policy. It is not the Tribunal’s role to examine whether a policy adopted by the Organization is well-founded or appropriate. However, a decision may be rescinded if it is taken pursuant to a policy which does not comply with a higher norm and the irregularity results in a staff member not being given full and fair consideration for promotion. The Tribunal cannot amend a policy adopted by the Organization but may “point out what...

The failure to consider the Applicant’s e-PAS reports and to address them especially in the context of the disparity between its ratings and those of the Applicant’s reporting officers on the same competencies and within the same organization was a serious flaw in the selection process. UNDT was satisfied that the panel met its requirement of asking probing questions, even if the report reflected it as “prompting” rather than “probing.” The absence of an ex-officio member on the assessment/interview panel by itself could not vitiate the selection exercise. The Applicant’s candidacy for the...

In line with the jurisprudence of the Organization, the role of the Tribunal was limited to reviewing whether the candidate received full and fair consideration, the procedures were followed, improper motives were absent and relevant materials had been considered. In this regard, UNAT has held that a candidate alleging a failure to observe his or her right to full and fair consideration for selection must prove through clear and convincing evidence that procedure was violated, the panel was biased, irrelevant material was considered or relevant material ignored. Contrary to the Applicant’s...

The Tribunal concludes that the Hiring Manager erred in finding that the selected candidate’s Master’s degree was related to, and therefore relevant for, any of the required specifically mentioned areas (computer science, information systems, mathematics, statistics) and wrongly determined that she fulfilled the educational requirement.; The Tribunal concludes that an additional criterion was used to evaluate only the selected candidate for the post, namely field experience, and that this criterion was not included in the Job Opening and the Hiring Manager erred in finding that the selected...