Judgment 2081
92nd Session, 2002
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The issue to be resolved [...] is whether the complainants are barred from objecting to the [organisation]'s failure to take into account the corrected level of salaries for 1995 in determining the salaries for 1996 and 1997, because they did not first challenge their salaries for 1996 and 1997 [... ] when they were originally fixed. But in view of the circumstances, to make such a demand on them would be pedantic and wanting in good faith. As the parties were aware at the time, the salary levels for 1995 were under challenge [...] Moreover, any change in salary levels will ordinarily affect pay in subsequent years. The staff therefore had good reason to believe that a change in pay for 1995 would have a "knock on" effect on the level of salaries used as a basis for calculating pay in the future. Moreover, the [organisation] could be in no doubt that this was what staff would expect. In these circumstances, and having given them no indication to the contrary, the [organisation] could not require staff to challenge each new determination of their salaries on the conditional and hypothetical basis that any successful challenge to the remuneration for a previous year (in this case 1995) should automatically be carried through to the salary levels taken into account in subsequent years."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; amount; consequence; formal requirements; general principle; good faith; legitimate expectation; official; receivability of the complaint; right of appeal; salary; time bar;
Consideration 8
Extract:
"Consistent precedent has it that an organisation is ordinarily free to determine the pay of its staff, provided that it respects certain requirements arising from general principles of international civil service law [...] Furthermore, if the organisation has a rule granting certain rights to staff members in relation to their level of salary, it may not depart from that rule in individual decisions without amending it in accordance with the prescribed procedure."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; amount; case law; condition; discretion; formal requirements; general principle; individual decision; international civil service principles; official; organisation; organisation's duties; provision; right; salary; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 2073
91st Session, 2001
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 17
Extract:
The organisation modernized the Patent Office examination data management system. Consequently, superiors had access to individual examiner's data. The organisation failed to follow its own rules by delaying the adoption of a rule on data protection. "While the complainants have not shown any prejudicial consequences, the Tribunal nevertheless will sanction the [organisation]'s breach by a nominal global award of damages amounting to 1,000 German marks and a global award for costs amounting to 2,000 euros."
Keywords:
administrative delay; amount; breach; complainant; costs; damages; injury; lack of evidence; organisation's duties; supervisor; written rule;
Judgment 2072
91st Session, 2001
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"The appeal procedure was inordinately long: the case was before the Committee for two years, yet it was not a very difficult one and it needed to be settled promptly [...] In these circumstances, the delay in resolving it amounts to negligence warranting compensation. The Tribunal therefore considers that the complainant is entitled to redress, and it sets the amount at 3,000 United States dollars."
Keywords:
administrative delay; amount; internal appeals body; misconduct; moral injury; organisation's duties; procedure before the tribunal; reasonable time; right; submissions;
Judgment 1849
87th Session, 1999
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 18-19
Extract:
"The Tribunal considers that, in accordance with its jurisprudence, if an official receives an overpayment by mistake it should be reimbursed. Nevertheless, the organization should take into account any circumstances which would make it unfair or unjust to require repayment. [...] In the Tribunal's opinion there is no indebtedness by the complainant to the organization. It was responsible for making payments on behalf of the United Nations, but has been fully reimbursed. The organization therefore, was not entitled to withhold the grants due or make deductions from salary under rule 380.5.2 since the complainant was not indebted to it."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: STAFF RULE 380.5.2 OF WHO
Keywords:
amount; criteria; debt; deduction; equity; exception; recovery of overpayment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Judgment 1394
78th Session, 1995
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
Since the complaint succeeds in part and the reason why the Tribunal is declining to rule on the impugned decision is that it has been withdrawn, the complainant is entitled to costs.
Keywords:
amount; costs; decision; withdrawal of decision;
Judgment 1370
77th Session, 1994
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 12
Extract:
The complainant changed categories. "[T]he fall in the complainant's earnings is due to factors which are beyond the Union's control inasmuch as they derive from the [United Nations] common system. The ITU was under no duty to reverse a decision which the complainant had consented to and which, until 1991 at any rate, was to his financial advantage."
Keywords:
acceptance; amount; cause; coordinated organisations; decision; difference; lack of injury; organisation's duties; salary;
Judgment 1366
77th Session, 1994
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 13-14
Extract:
The complainant's education grant gave rise to an overpayment. He pleads that there is a time limit for the recovery of overpayments. The UPU observes that "any payment made in error may be recovered" but it has nevertheless waived some of the sum due. "In the circumstances the time limit the union has set is much to the complainant's advantage and his plea under this head therefore fails."
Keywords:
amount; education expenses; recovery of overpayment; refund; time bar; time limit; unjust enrichment;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
The complainant's education allowance gave rise to an overpayment. He alleges breach of the rule against retroactivity. "He is wrong. [...] What is at issue is the recovery of overpayments; and the complainant [...] must have been aware of the patent disproportion between the advances he was receiving and the education expenses he had actually incurred. So he may not properly plead any mistake in interpretation."
Keywords:
amount; education expenses; non-retroactivity; recovery of overpayment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Consideration 10
Extract:
The complainant's education grant gave rise to an overpayment. "He seeks to justify his behaviour by pleading that other staff members had done the same. The plea fails because equality in law does not embrace equality in the breach of it."
Keywords:
amount; education expenses; equal treatment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Judgment 1363
77th Session, 1994
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 42
Extract:
The complainant was charged with serious misconduct and dismissed. He regards the penalty he received as disproportionately severe in that, among other things, the organisation reduced his severance grant. "The EPO was fully justified in getting rid of an employee whose doings were a constant challenge to its authority and deeply disruptive of the public service and in using its power under [...] the Service Regulations to impose on him the further penalty of making the maximum allowable reduction in severance grant."
Keywords:
amount; breach; organisation's interest; staff member's duties; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements; termination of employment;
Judgment 1362
77th Session, 1994
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"[T]he Tribunal must rule yet again on WIPO's refusal to discharge the obligation to decide on reinstatement. As it has stated more than once, its judgments are to be given immediate effect. In the regrettable event that the Organization continues to disregard that rule and fails to act within 30 days of the date of delivery of this judgment, it must pay the complainant 10,000 swiss francs by way of penalty for each further month of delay."
Keywords:
amount; application for execution; continuing breach; decision; delay; execution of judgment; general principle; judgment of the tribunal; organisation's duties; penalty for delay; refusal; reinstatement; res judicata; time limit;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"[S]ince the dispute arose out of the decision not to renew [the complainant's] two-year appointment, the organization is right as a matter of principle to refuse his claim to damages for loss of a full career. The two consecutive awards of one year's salary afford sufficient redress to someone who had a rightful expectation of renewal for no more than two years. His claims under this head fail."
Keywords:
amount; application for execution; career; compensation; contract; fixed-term; injury; legitimate expectation; non-renewal of contract;
Judgment 1347
77th Session, 1994
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 13
Extract:
The complainant received financial aid from the PAHO to pursue her studies. Her university waived part of her tuition fees so that the cost to her was less than the amount she collected. "The conclusion is that she did not take sufficient care to make full disclosure to the organization of the assistance given by the university."
Keywords:
allowance; amount; duty to inform; education expenses; refund; staff member's duties; unjust enrichment;
Consideration 14
Extract:
The complainant received financial aid from the PAHO to pursue her studies. Her university waived part of her tuition fees so that the cost to her was less than the amount she collected. "Having obtained financial benefits to which she was not entitled, the complainant was under an obligation to refund the over-payments and the PAHO was entitled to recover them."
Keywords:
allowance; amount; education expenses; recovery of overpayment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Judgment 1338
77th Session, 1994
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
"An organisation must, where a specific sum has been awarded [by the Tribunal], pay compensation if it takes more than one month to pay after the judgment was notified, save that if, as in Judgment 1219, the Tribunal does not put a figure on the amount due, the need to work out the figure warrants allowing additional time. In this instance [...] apart from alleging the need for consultations the Organization has offered no explanation for the delay in payment. The Tribunal therefore awards the complainant payment of interest".
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1219
Keywords:
administrative delay; amount; application for execution; delay; execution of judgment; formal demand for payment; interest on damages; judgment of the tribunal; organisation's duties; payment; penalty for delay; res judicata; time limit;
Judgment 1295
75th Session, 1993
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
Vide Judgment 262, consideration 5.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 262
Keywords:
amount; costs; elements;
Judgment 1126
71st Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
Article 61(5) of the Interpol Staff Rules empowers the Secretary General to grant an official a supplementary indemnity on termination of appointment, "taking into account the particular circumstances relating to the personal situation of the official concerned". The Tribunal finds no evidence of such a "particular circumstance" in this case.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 61(5) OF THE INTERPOL STAFF RULES
Keywords:
amount; condition; discretion; enforcement; provision; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1125
71st Session, 1991
Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"Where the Rule [viz. Article 25 of the 1956 Staff Rules] is silent the competent authority - here the Administrative Committee - does have discretion to set the amount of the contribution to be paid from the date of retirement. But its decision will not be immune to review by the Tribunal, which will interfere if it finds some mistake of fact or of law [etc.]". The decision to do away with the material benefit is in breach of Article 25 and cannot stand.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 25 OF THE 1956 STAFF RULES
Keywords:
amount; breach; contributions; discontinuance; discretion; judicial review; no provision; organisation; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1124
71st Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant objects to the amount of his termination indemnity. He relies on a practice the organization followed before its staff regulations came into force, on breach of equal treatment and on the rules of other international organisations. For each plea the Tribunal refers to the answers it gave in Judgment 1080.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1080
Keywords:
amount; condition; equal treatment; practice; rule of another organisation; terminal entitlements;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant is not satisfied with the amount paid him in termination indemnity and submits that he has an acquired right to the application of the material provisions in French law. The Tribunal observes that "French law would have applied only if, and insofar as, there had been an agreement with the French government to that effect. There was none."
Keywords:
amount; applicable law; condition; domestic law; terminal entitlements;
Summary
Extract:
See Judgment 1126, summary.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 61(5) OF THE INTERPOL STAFF RULES
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1126
Keywords:
amount; condition; discretion; enforcement; provision; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1095
70th Session, 1991
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant's fees for difficult confinement were refunded at the 100 per cent rate up to a maximum limit reckoned by likening the treatment she received to a surgical operation. Though the Tribunal finds nothing wrong with setting maximum limits in general it holds that there was no valid limit at the material time on costs incurred for difficult confinements and that the complainant was entitled to the refund of her confinement expenses in full.
Keywords:
amount; analogy; flaw; health insurance; maximum limit; medical expenses; no provision; rate; reckoning; refund;
Judgment 1082
70th Session, 1991
Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 20
Extract:
The decision to dismiss [the complainant] is quashed. As reinstatement appears out of the question, an award of damages will be made under Article VIII of the Tribunal's Statute in the amount of eight months' pay over and above the four months' severance pay already paid.
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VIII OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
amount; decision quashed; material damages; termination of employment;
Judgment 1080
70th Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
Challenging the amount of the termination indemnity they received, the complainants rely on a practice Interpol followed before the Staff Regulations came into effect. Their plea fails. "Whatever arrangements may have been made before the Regulations came into force, they were neither so constant nor even so consistent as to afford evidence of the existence of any general rule."
Keywords:
amount; condition; practice; terminal entitlements;
Summary
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1126, summary.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 61.5 OF THE INTERPOL STAFF RULES
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1126
Keywords:
amount; condition; discretion; enforcement; provision; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainants object to the amount of their terminal entitlements and point out that another official got a much higher amount through an error made by the organization. "The unlawful handling of one case does not entitle the complainants to the same unlawful treatment."
Keywords:
amount; equal treatment; exception; flaw; terminal entitlements;
Considerations 12-13
Extract:
In the complainants' view, the amount of their terminal entitlements was too low when compared to what other international organisations give, and they contend that the provisions of French social legislation apply to them. The Tribunal observes that Interpol is an independent international organisation and that there is no evidence of the organization's having agreed to apply French law.
Keywords:
amount; applicable law; domestic law; rule of another organisation; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1072
70th Session, 1991
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
For an IAEA staff member's spouse to qualify as a dependant, his or her gross salary must not exceed that of the lowest step in the general service grade applicable in the spouse's country of employment. That amount is converted into Austrian schillings at the rate applicable in January of the year in question. Under the prescribed method the complainant's wife failed to qualify as a dependant and the Director refused to treat her as one. The Director's decision was a discretionary one and the Tribunal sees no grounds for setting it aside.
Keywords:
amount; condition; definition; dependant; discretion; judicial review; salary;
Judgment 1045
69th Session, 1990
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Rule 1050.2 provides: 'When a post of indefinite duration, which is filled, is abolished, a reduction in force shall take place, in accordance with procedures established by the Director'. The procedures are set out in detail in the Manual of the WHO, and it is clear that the rules preclude the termination of an appointment until the reduction-in-force procedure has been completed. The notice [given to her] was therefore invalid, and in keeping with the reasoning in Judgment 469 the complainant's contract is renewed by implication and remains in force. She is entitled to payment of the salary and allowances due under her contract less any indemnity of earnings she may have received in the meantime."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PAHO STAFF RULE 1050.2
ILOAT Judgment(s): 469
Keywords:
abolition of post; amount; consequence; contract; enforcement; extension of contract; fixed-term; material damages; permanent appointment; post; procedure before the tribunal; staff reduction; termination of employment;
