Judgment No. 388
Decision
1. The FAO shall pay the complainant's heirs damages equivalent to the amount of his final salary for one year, i.e. the net salary excluding sums deducted at the source, but including allowances such as post adjustment. 2. The complainant's other claims are dismissed.
Consideration 6
Extract:
According to the FAO Manual, before terminating an expert's appointment the organization must make sure that it cannot find him other employment. The organization "must show the diligence which the circumstances of the case require." In this case, "it was dilatory", took "a hasty decision and one which had not been preceded by any prompt inquiries."
Keywords
project personnel; organisation's duties; contract; abolition of post; reassignment
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant lost his job by virtue of a provision concerning the abolition of posts. For reasons of his age, seniority, the expectation that he would soon retire and family responsibilities, "the complainant had a certain right to preference, even over more highly qualified candidates. That does not mean [...] that he should have been appointed in preference to any other candidate. [...] In putting him on the same footing as the others, the organization failed to take due account of all the relevant factors of his case."
Keywords
project personnel; organisation's duties; contract; abolition of post; reassignment; priority; termination of employment; disregard of essential fact
Consideration 10
Extract:
"The complainant died [...] after the complaint had been filed. His heirs have stated that they wish to pursue the proceedings in his place. The present judgment will therefore take effect for their benefit." The heirs are his wife, his infant children and the children by his first marriage.
Keywords
complainant; successor; judgment of the tribunal; case pending; death; consequence; effect
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The decision to abolish the complainant's post and create a new one was taken by [a national] government, which alone was competent to take it. It was not for the [organization] to impose such a decision and so interfere in the internal affairs of the [national] authorities. Nor is it established that it sought to influence those authorities. [...] It had no reason to oppose the wishes of the [...] government, which was free to decide what form assistance from international organisations should take."
Keywords
decision; project personnel; competence; member state; abolition of post
Consideration 9
Extract:
The Tribunal "will [...] take account [...] of the material and moral prejudice which the complainant suffered because of the extraordinary dilatoriness of the internal appeal proceedings: the [organization] took an inordinately long time to file its memoranda and reach its final decision and was therefore partly to blame for the delay."
Keywords
material injury; moral injury; organisation; administrative delay; internal appeal; negligence
Consideration 9
Extract:
It is impossible, several years having elapsed, to determine the precise consequences of the organization's negligence. In view of the existing reservations, it is justified to award the complainant compensation ex aequo et bono. Because of the apparent reluctance of the complainant to seek employment outside the organization and the uncertainty of the effects of the organization's negligence, the Tribunal is inclined to award rather modest damages. But account must also be taken of the material and moral prejudice caused by the inordinately long internal appeal proceedings.
Keywords
procedure before the tribunal; injury; material injury; moral injury; organisation; administrative delay; internal appeal; amount; negligence
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