2012-UNAT-210, Finniss

UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. Noting the absence of a written record, UNAT held that it could not confirm if the procedure under Article 17 (Oral Evidence) of the UNDT RoP was complied with, whether the witnesses made a declaration under Article 17(3) of the UNDT RoP before giving their statements, or whether the witnesses were cross-examined by the opposing party under Article 17(1) of the UNDT RoP. UNAT set aside the UNDT judgment and remanded the case to UNDT for a fresh hearing based on the pleadings already on record in a matter consistent with the UNAT judgment.

Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed

The Applicant initiated two separate proceedings against decisions not to promote him to two different posts and UNDT consolidated both cases. UNDT found both decisions to be unlawful, awarding compensation.

Legal Principle(s)

A lack of a written record at the UNDT or first-instance level will greatly impede UNAT’s ability to make a decision on appeal.

Outcome

Appeal granted

OAJ prepared this case law summary for informational purposes only. It is no official record and should not be relied upon as an authoritative interpretation of the Tribunals' rulings. For the authoritative texts, please refer to the judgment or order rendered by the respective Tribunal. The Tribunals are the only bodies competent to interpret their respective judgments, as provided under Article 12(3) of the UNDT Statute and Article 11(3) of the UNAT Statute. Any inaccuracies in the publication are the sole responsibility of OAJ, which should be contacted directly for any correction requests. To provide comments, don't hesitate to get in touch with OAJ at oaj@un.org.

The judgment summaries were generally prepared in English. They were translated into French and are being reviewed for accuracy of the translation.

Applicants/Appellants

Finniss

Entity

MONUC

Case Number(s)

2011-216

Tribunal

UNAT

Registry

New York

Date of Judgement

16 Mar 2012

Language of Judgment

English

Issuance Type

Judgment

Categories/Subcategories

Procedure (first instance and UNAT)

Case management

Applicable Law

UNAT RoP

Article 17