Appointment of Limited Duration

UNAT noted that UNDT’s review of the factual situation by necessity involved consideration of issues beyond the mere fact of the non-renewal of the Appellant’s contract and, thus, found no merit in the Appellant’s submission that UNDT’s deliberations on the issue of non-renewal took place in isolation of the facts surrounding the decision. With respect to the Appellant’s contention that UNDT failed to account for the negative impact of the non-renewal of his personal and professional life, UNAT found no error in the Secretary-General’s exercise of discretion to take action to address the...

UNAT acknowledged that while the Appellant was eligible for a permanent appointment, the Administration was entitled to have regard to the fact that she was recruited because she was a national of Romania for the specific post in UNIC Bucharest. UNAT noted that both the Department of Public Information and the Officer-in-Charge of Human Resources Services previously anticipated that UNIC Bucharest, among others, was scheduled to close in the very near future, due to the uncertainty of the funding by the host country, on which the continuation of the Appellant’s post depended. UNAT noted that...

UNAT referred to Article 2(1) of the UNAT Statute and held that the Appellant did not show any errors in the UNRWA DT judgment and her claims on appeal could not succeed. UNAT further found no fault in UNRWA DT’s finding that there was no retaliation against the Appellant and that UNRWA DT did not err on a question of law or fact, resulting in a manifestly unreasonable decision, nor did it commit an error in procedure, such as to affect the decision of the case. UNAT noted that it was within the discretion of the Agency to close the case against the PMO and that the Agency has no authority to...

UNAT held that the Appellant’s case was fully and fairly considered by UNRWA DT. UNAT found no error of law in UNRWA DT’s decision. UNAT held that UNRWA DT properly reviewed the contested decision in accordance with the applicable law. UNAT held that the non-extension of the limited duration contract was a result of the elimination of her post due to a lack of funds, which constituted a valid reason proffered by the Administration for not renewing her appointment. UNAT held that, by applying objective criteria in the reduction of the staffing levels, UNRWA adhered to the principles of equality...

UNAT held that all of the Appellant’s grounds of appeal failed, except for his challenge to the UNRWA decision not to renew or extend the Appellant’s limited duration contract beyond its final extension, for the simple reason that those several decisions to extend his contract advantaged him by adding, in total, six months to his contract. On the issue of the Appellant’s non-renewal or final extension, UNAT held that there was no error in UNRWA DT’s reasoning and that UNRWA was justified in deciding not to renew or extend his employment, noting that UNRWA faced a massive financial shortfall...

UNAT held that, although no performance evaluation process was legally required for termination, an appropriate procedure should have been followed. UNAT held that UNRWA failed to indicate that the contract would be terminated before its expiration date if the staff member did not improve his performance, and the lack of fair warning rendered the decision to terminate unlawfully. UNAT granted the appeal in part, rescinded the termination decision, and ordered reinstatement, with an in-lieu compensation of two months’ net base salary.

The Tribunal finds that both appraisal processes are tainted with procedural flaws. The first performance appraisal did not result in new ratings being given by the rebuttal panel. The second performance appraisal was based in part on the earlier assessment and it did not give sufficient time to the Applicant to improve his performance. Though the Administration is not bound to apply administrative instruction ST/AI/2002/3 to evaluate the performance of 300 series staff members, once it has decided to apply the administrative instruction, the latter must be fully complied with. In the present...

Since the applicant, in a timely manner, addressed his requests to competent officials within the former system of internal justice and followed the advice received from them, it was beyond his control that he did not file his request for administrative review within the time limits; therefore, exceptional circumstances are given. In view of the provision of the letter of appointment quoted above, no termination was possible without keeping a thirty days notice period. The decision to terminate the appointment with immediate effect is in noncompliance with the applicant’s terms of appointment...

The Tribunal found that the Applicant’s appointment of limited duration carried no expectancy of renewal and that there were no countervailing circumstances which could have created such expectancy. It also found that the reason for non-renewal, namely the negative impact that allegations then made against the Applicant in the local media could have on the Organization, was supported by the facts and that the non-renewal decision therefore constituted a proper exercise of the Secretary-General’s discretion. Scope of discretion of the Secretary-General in non-renewal cases: It is within the...

While finding that there had been a procedural flaw in the FOPA evaluation, inasmuch as the Applicant had been denied a rebuttal, the Tribunal considered that there was not causal effect between this flaw and the non-renewal decision, noting that the contested decision refers only to the third and last appraisal, which was made in accordance with the applicable rules. Resolution 59/296 and reappointment of 300 series staff members under 100 series: The said resolution authorises the Secretary-General to reappoint staff members holding an appointment under the 300 series of former Staff Rules...