Judgment 1821
86th Session, 1999
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The principles governing the limits on the discretion of international organisations to set adjustments in staff pay [...] may be concisely stated as follows: (a) An international organisation is free to choose a methodology, system or standard of reference for determining salary adjustments for its staff provided that it meets all other principles of international civil service law [...]. (b) The chosen methodology must ensure that the results are 'stable, foreseeable and clearly understood' [...]. (c) Where the methodology refers to an external standard but grants discretion to the governing body to depart from that standard, the organisation has a duty to state proper reasons for such departure [...]. (d) While the necessity of saving money may be one valid factor to be considered in adjusting salaries provided the method adopted is objective, stable and foreseeable [...], the mere desire to save money at the staff's expense is not by itself a valid reason for departing from an established standard of reference [...]." (See cited case law.)
Keywords:
adjustment; budgetary reasons; case law; condition; coordinated organisations; cost-of-living increase; criteria; discretion; duty to inform; duty to substantiate decision; exception; executive body; good faith; grounds; international civil service principles; limits; organisation's duties; patere legem; rule of another organisation; salary; scale;
Judgment 1791
86th Session, 1999
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 15-16
Extract:
"The complainants contend that [...] the impugned decision was in breach of [...] their right to a steady level of pay. [...] [T]hey maintain that [...] the Organization acted in breach of the general principle of the international civil service known as Noblemaire. The Tribunal is satisfied that there was no breach here of any principle of the international civil service. [...] [T]he measure the complainants are objecting to was exceptional and limited in time. As for their right to a steady level of pay, that measure neither changed the pay scales nor had any impact whatever on terms of employment in the long term. The conclusion is that there was no breach of acquired rights."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; breach; exception; international civil service principles; noblemaire principle; official; provisional decision; reduction of salary; right; salary; scale; terms of appointment;
Considerations 9-10
Extract:
"In support of their plea of abuse of authority the complainants accuse [the Organization] of scorning [...] the independence of the international civil service by giving in to a single government that was itself defying the principle [...]. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that [the Organization] was yielding to [the] insistence [of one State]. The impugned decision was taken because of a resolution by the Council, the sovereign body that decides things scientific, technical and administrative [...]."
Keywords:
abuse of power; breach; discretion; executive body; general principle; independence; international civil service principles; member state; misuse of authority; official;
Judgment 1764
85th Session, 1998
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 14
Extract:
The complainant is accused of having cheated the Organisation by falsifying airline tickets intended for official travel. "He makes out that [...] there was no express ban on what he did. Even if that were so, employees of the [Organisation] have a duty [...] 'to regulate their conduct with the interests of the [Organisation] only in view', and may not so behave as to harm its good name. There is no need for any express rule against cheating. Common decency, good faith and honest dealing lie at the root of relations between employer and employee. Whoever ventures to ignore that does so at his own peril."
Keywords:
conduct; disciplinary measure; disciplinary procedure; duty of loyalty; fitness for international civil service; honesty; international civil service principles; misconduct; organisation's interest; organisation's reputation; staff member's duties; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1756
85th Session, 1998
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"A firm line of precedent says that rights under a contract of employment may be express or implied, and include any that flow from general principles of the international civil service or human rights [...]."
Keywords:
applicable law; case law; contract; general principle; international civil service principles;
Judgment 1669
83rd Session, 1997
World Customs Organization (Customs Co-operation Council)
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 17-18
Extract:
"One principle of international civil service law is that a decision on a staff member's status may not work to his detriment before the date at which he had notice of it. [...] The grant of an invalidity pension does not empower the Organisation to make the termination retroactive as from the date set for the start of payment and to disregard the requirement of notice in the rules [...] Here the Council failed to observe the rules."
Keywords:
date of notification; decision; disability benefit; effect; incapacity; international civil service principles; non-retroactivity; notice; termination of employment;
Judgment 1646
83rd Session, 1997
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 6 and 10
Extract:
"When an organisation chooses to hold a competition it must abide by its written rules and by the general principles set forth in the case law, particularly insofar as they govern the formal side of the process. [...] As the Appeal Board gathered from the personal records of the candidates on the preselection panel's list, [the successful candidate] had neither the university degree nor the experience that the notice required."
Keywords:
applicable law; appointment; candidate; case law; competition; criteria; degree; due process; international civil service principles; organisation's duties; patere legem; procedure before the tribunal; professional experience; selection procedure; staff regulations and rules; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1610
82nd Session, 1997
World Customs Organization (Customs Co-operation Council)
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 24
Extract:
"Career prospects are not something that exist independently. If the refusal of renewal is lawful, so is the ending of the career."
Keywords:
career; contract; fixed-term; international civil service principles; legitimate expectation; non-renewal of contract; separation from service;
Judgment 1549
81st Session, 1996
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
"When an organisation wants to fill a post by competition it must comply with the material rules and the general precepts of the case law."
Keywords:
appointment; case law; competition; due process; general principle; international civil service principles; organisation's duties; post; selection procedure; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1494
80th Session, 1996
Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"Though the Tribunal held in [Judgment 938 under] 12 that 'a staff member cannot be separated while on sick leave', the ruling must be seen in context: it cannot apply to termination in any circumstances whatever. [...] In [that] case the defendant organisation had dismissed [a staff member] at a time when she said she was ill and had applied for sick leave. The Organisation refused to grant her the leave on the grounds that she was not ill."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 938
Keywords:
case law; contract; extension of contract; illness; international civil service principles; interpretation; non-renewal of contract; sick leave; social benefits; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 7
Extract:
"Whether sick leave is to be extended beyond the date of expiry of an appointment is a question to be seen first and foremost in the light of the social protection afforded by an organisation's rules, which are to be construed according to the law of the international civil service."
Keywords:
case law; contract; international civil service principles; interpretation; sick leave; social benefits; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1484
80th Session, 1996
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"According to general precepts of administrative law and the law of the international civil service an organization may not unilaterally take action that affects a staff member's status before letting him have his say".
Keywords:
general principle; international civil service principles; organisation's duties; right to reply;
Judgment 1456
79th Session, 1995
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 25
Extract:
"No doubt national institutions that run pension schemes are better able to evaluate entitlements that may have accrued to the employee under one or more national schemes before recruitment [...]". No doubt the national institution has the last word on the figure to be used. But the organisation remains "free by virtue of its administrative and financial autonomy to discard any figure that the institution has worked out on some basis that offends against the prescriptions of the international regulations. It is free, too, to ask the institution to work out a new figure in the event of disagreement."
Keywords:
domestic law; independence; international civil service principles; organisation; pension; pension adjustment system; pension entitlements;
Judgment 1450
79th Session, 1995
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 23
Extract:
"However municipal law on the grant of fixed-term contracts may vary from country to country, the fact is that in the international civil service such contracts are common and the policy is seen as a proper and even necessary method of administration. So the EPO acted unimpeachably in resorting to fixed-term contracts to get auxiliary work done and so ease the undue rigidity of its staff structure."
Keywords:
contract; domestic law; duration of appointment; fixed-term; international civil service principles; organisation's interest; practice;
Consideration 19
Extract:
"The Tribunal has never ruled out municipal law a priori. Although it is ordinarily and essentially competent in a context of international law, it may well have to heed some provisions of municipal law where, as indeed in this case, there is renvoi to such law in a contract of service or in an organisation's rules. Precedent further has it that there may be reference to municipal law for the sake of comparison and so as to educe certain general principles of law that apply to the international civil service."
Keywords:
applicable law; case law; contract; domestic law; general principle; international civil service principles; staff regulations and rules; tribunal;
Judgment 1436
79th Session, 1995
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"However regrettable it may be that there are too few women in senior posts at the ITU - and for that matter in most international organisations - the Tribunal is satisfied that the complainant was not discriminated against. There was no breach of the General Assembly Resolution of 23 December 1992 [on women's contributions to the work of international organisations]: the Secretary-General could not have used his authority to get her name put on the short list."
Keywords:
applicable law; equal treatment; general assembly resolution; international civil service principles; promotion board; selection board; sex discrimination;
Judgment 1369
77th Session, 1994
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
"The Tribunal must enforce the law within the full ambit of the competence its Statute vests in it. For that purpose it will apply any material rule of law, be it international or administrative or labour law or any other body of law. The only sort it will not apply is national law, save where there is express renvoi thereto in the Staff Regulations or contract of employment: see Judgment 1311 [...], under 15."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1311
Keywords:
applicable law; case law; competence of tribunal; contract; domestic law; exception; iloat statute; insurance benefits; international civil service principles; international instrument; law of contract; right; staff regulations and rules; written rule;
Consideration 16
Extract:
An international organisation is "free to choose whatever methods or means it likes - be they formal rules or contracts of employment - to define the terms of appointment of staff. But any collective agreement it does conclude becomes part of the law of the international civil service. Signing such an agreement puts it under obligations in law; a member of its staff may plead such obligations in a complaint to the Tribunal; and the Tribunal will review compliance with the letter and spirit of the agreement."
Keywords:
collective agreement; collective rights; international civil service principles; judicial review; organisation's duties; organisation's interest; right; right of appeal; staff union agreement; working conditions; written rule;
Judgment 1362
77th Session, 1994
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
"The constant thrust of the three earlier judgments was to secure from the organization [...] discharge of its obligation to communicate to [the complainant] a proper decision. He might then impugn that decision if it was not to his liking, and the Tribunal might if need be review the reasons for it, which is something it has not yet been able to do. The complainant is entitled to such decision as a matter of course, without having to ask for it and without delay. That obligation WIPO has stubbornly ignored, it is in breach of the rule of law in the international civil service, and that is not to be brooked."
Keywords:
application for execution; continuing breach; execution of judgment; express decision; international civil service principles; judgment of the tribunal; judicial review; organisation's duties; right of appeal;
Judgment 1317
76th Session, 1994
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 23
Extract:
"Consistent precedent has it that even where an organisation's Staff Regulations say that a fixed-term contract is ipso facto extinguished on expiry non-renewal is to be treated as a distinct and challengeable administrative decision." After referring to Judgments 17 and 1040, the Tribunal observes that "that requirement is an indispensable safeguard of security of employment in the international civil service, which indeed, unlike many national civil services and some regional organisations, commonly grants fixed-term appointments."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 17, 1040
Keywords:
case law; contract; decision; domestic law; fixed-term; international civil service principles; non-renewal of contract; notice; right of appeal; safeguard; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1311
76th Session, 1994
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
"As a rule the conditions of employment of staff are subject exclusively to the ESO's own Staff Regulations and to the general principles of the international civil service: see Judgments 322, under 2; 473, under 2 and 3; and 493, under 5. National laws, and in particular those of the host country, apply only where there is express reference thereto."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 322, 473, 493
Keywords:
case law; domestic law; insurance benefits; international civil service principles; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Judgment 1303
76th Session, 1994
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant's objection to the amount of pay he is getting rests on principles of law applicable within the United Nations family of organisations. He submits that such principles take priority over his organization's own staff rules. He wants the Tribunal to order the review of an ITU rule on pay policy. "The claim [...] must fail because the Tribunal does not have competence to make such an order."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II(5) OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence of tribunal; coordinated organisations; iloat statute; international civil service principles; salary; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1266
75th Session, 1993
International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 38
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, consideration 38.
Keywords:
allowance; breach; international civil service principles; request by a party; tribunal;
Judgment 1265
75th Session, 1993
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 38
Extract:
"The complainants claim damages for breach of their basic rights, which the Tribunal has acknowledged. All that need be said is that payment of damages is not a proper means of giving them satisfaction on a matter of principle of that kind."
Keywords:
allowance; breach; compensation; international civil service principles; request by a party; tribunal;
Consideration 24
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organisations whose headquarters are in Geneva. The complainants submit that the ICSC's decisions are invalid. "Insofar as such standards are found to be flawed they may not be imposed on the staff and WIPO must if need be replace them with provisions that comply with the law of the international civil service. That is an essential feature of the principles governing the international legal system the Tribunal is called upon to safeguard. It is therefore plain that the complainants' rights to judicial process are safeguarded by the defendant organization's recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction. Such jurisdiction may not be restricted by the introduction into the organization's Staff Regulations or Rules adopted by bodies outside the Tribunal's competence."
Keywords:
adjustment; competence of tribunal; coordinated organisations; declaration of recognition; general service category; icsc decision; international civil service principles; judicial review; local status; official; organisation's duties; reckoning; right of appeal; salary; scale; staff member's interest; written rule;
