Judgment 1519
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"At its 15th and 37th sessions the [International Civil Service] Commission reaffirmed the Flemming principle, which dates back to 1949. The principle requires organisations to offer staff in the general service category conditions of employment on a par with 'the best prevailing conditions of employment in the locality' - i.e. salary and other basic components of pay - 'without being necessarily the best local conditions'."
Keywords:
base salary; definition; duty station; flemming principle; general service category; salary; terms of appointment;
Judgment 1501
81st Session, 1996
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The proper performance of his mission by an international civil servant requires him to avoid such infringement of the ethical rules of the host country as may hamper or prevent the discharge of duty." The complainant's breach of those rules warranted transfer to Headquarters.
Keywords:
conduct; duty station; field; fitness for international civil service; headquarters; official; outside activity; staff member's duties; transfer;
Judgment 1486
80th Session, 1996
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
"The Tribunal concludes that the complainant's illness must be assumed to have been directly due to his assignment by the FAO to an area posing a special hazard to his health, to have occurred as a result of that hazard, and therefore to be service-incurred within the meaning of Manual Paragraph 342.213."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PARAGRAPH 342.213 OF THE FAO MANUAL
Keywords:
duty station; field; illness; service-incurred; special hazard; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1460
79th Session, 1995
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"The system of post adjustment is of no relevance to differences in working hours [between the headquarter cities of the common system], being concerned solely with parity of purchasing power, and is not an appropriate means of securing compensation for differences in working hours between duty stations. The system makes no provision for such equalisation of working hours."
Keywords:
coordinated organisations; duty station; headquarters; post adjustment; professional category; salary; working hours;
Consideration 11
Extract:
"The whole time of staff members in the professional and higher categories is at the organization's disposal and they are properly expected to complete the work assigned to them without compensation for any overtime. It is therefore permissible to base their working week on the conditions prevailing at their duty station and to make no adjustment in pay to take account of differences in hours of work within the common system."
Keywords:
duty station; overtime; post adjustment; professional category; staff member's duties; working hours;
Judgment 1441
79th Session, 1995
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
The complainant relies on a rule which says that members of the Disciplinary Committee [composed in this instance of staff members from headquarters and constituted there] should come from the staff of the Regional Office and have been locally recruited. The Tribunal considers that "the rule [in question] is not binding" and states that "in any event the complainant has failed to show how the membership of the committee [composed in this instance of staff members from headquarters and constituted there] might have proved prejudicial to the proper and independent consideration of his case."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: UNESCO STAFF RULE 110.2(D)
Keywords:
advisory body; burden of proof; composition of the internal appeals body; disciplinary procedure; duty station; injury; lack of injury; safeguard;
Judgment 1420
78th Session, 1995
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 12
Extract:
The purpose of regular salary adjustments, which are a feature "of all international pay schemes under some name or another, is to maintain or restore parity in purchasing power between staff whatever their duty station may be. By refusing to ensure parity of pay by that means the council in fact discriminated against staff stationed in Munich. For that reason alone the Council's decision on this particular adjustment must be deemed invalid."
Keywords:
adjustment; duty station; equal treatment; purpose; salary;
Judgment 1382
78th Session, 1995
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 4-6
Extract:
The complainant was a locally recruited official in the general service category whose appointment was terminated after the paho abolished his post. He submits that the Organization ruled out the possibility of reassignment by limiting the geographical scope of a competition. The plea fails. WHO Manual paragraph II.9.290 confers no right on general service staff to reassignment on a post outside their duty station. Staff Rule 510.1 precludes reassignment of such staff outside their duty station unless there is mutual agreement and under Rule 1310.2 all posts in the general service category are subject to local recruitment.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: WHO MANUAL PARAGRAPH II.9.290; PAHO STAFF RULE 510.1; PAHO STAFF RULE 1310.2
Keywords:
appointment; duty station; general service category; interpretation; local status; reassignment; right; staff regulations and rules; written rule;
Judgment 1250
74th Session, 1993
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 14
Extract:
The complainant was dismissed for misconduct after refusing a transfer outside headquarters. He pleads that the FAO overlooked an essential fact by deciding to transfer him without taking account of his family situation. But he was allowed twelve months "to sort out the matter of his wife's career or obtain a suitable post at headquarters. He argues that he had more than 'ordinary family needs'. But there is nothing out of the ordinary about a situation where spouses each have a job at one and the same duty station, and neither wishes to give it up. [...] Such circumstances do not confer immunity against transfer on an international official. [...] The postponement of transfer by fourteen months is evidence of adequate consideration of his 'family situation and intersts'."
Keywords:
decision; disregard of essential fact; duty station; headquarters; judicial review; official; refusal; serious misconduct; staff member's interest; termination of employment; transfer;
Consideration 20
Extract:
The complainant's refusal of assignment to a post outside headquarters "was in breach of his obligation to the organization to comply with a transfer under Regulation 301.012. In view of the responsibilities of the post [to which he was assigned], that refusal impeded the effective operation of the organization [...] and amounted to misconduct."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: STAFF REGULATION 301.012
Keywords:
breach; complainant; definition; duty station; headquarters; organisation's interest; post; post description; refusal; serious misconduct; staff member's duties; staff regulations and rules; transfer;
Considerations 22-23
Extract:
The complainant was dismissed for misconduct after refusing transfer to a post outside headquarters. He alleges that summary dismissal was at odds with the principle of proportionality. The Tribunal holds that "dismissal was not a sudden decision. Furthermore, even after the proposal for dismissal he was given two opportunities to change his mind. [...] The decision to dismiss was a proper exercise of the discretion of the organization and did not infringe the principle of proportionality."
Keywords:
decision; disciplinary measure; discretion; duty station; general principle; headquarters; organisation; proportionality; refusal; serious misconduct; termination of employment; transfer;
Judgment 1189
73rd Session, 1992
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainant is objecting to the local status he was granted upon recruitment. The Tribunal observes that on his application form he himself stated that he had been living in Geneva, which was his duty station, for several years. In signing that form he stated that the information he had given was "true, complete and correct". The Tribunal concludes that since he had thus declared at the time of recruitment that he had been residing in Geneva for several years, "the complainant is now estopped from contending that he was wrongly given such status".
Keywords:
duty station; good faith; local status; non-local status; residence; staff member's duties;
Judgment 1150
72nd Session, 1992
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"In interpreting the term 'continuously resident' in Judgment 1099 [...] the Tribunal held that the condition turned on the existence of objective and factual links with the country and that the test was one of simple residence. The purpose of the rule is to grant an allowance to the official who has no affinity with the country of his duty station. To make that clear, Article 72(3) [of the Service Regulations of the EPO] further provides that the allowance may be paid to the staff member who, even though he is a national of the country in which he is serving, has been continuously resident for at least ten years in another country."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLES 72(1) and 72(3) OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1099
Keywords:
case law; duty station; non-resident allowance; residence; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1099
71st Session, 1991
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"As the Tribunal observed in Judgment 926, the [expatriation] allowance is intended to meet the case of an official who has no affinity with the country of his duty station. Whether the condition of 'continuous residence' [in Article 72(1) of the Service Regulations] is met depends on the existence of objective and factual links with that country: the test is one of simple residence."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 72(1) OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
ILOAT Judgment(s): 926
Keywords:
condition; criteria; duty station; non-resident allowance; residence;
Judgment 996
68th Session, 1990
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The requirement in [Article R II 1.24 of] the [ESO] Staff Regulations that the staff member consent to transfer is in marked contrast to other international organisations, in which transfer is common and the executive head has discretion to transfer staff from one duty station to another whether they consent or not. The complainant is correct in his submission that there is no provision in the ESO's rules for dismissal on the grounds of refusal of transfer."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE R II 1.24 OF THE ESO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
duty station; enforcement; organisation's duties; refusal; reinstatement; staff regulations and rules; termination of employment; transfer;
Judgment 926
65th Session, 1988
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The purpose of the [expatriation] allowance is [...] to meet the case where the employee has no affinity with the country of his duty station. Although the employee who is a citizen will ordinarily have such affinity, 72[3] [of the Service Regulations] recognises that residence abroad for at least ten years before appointment will break it. But it is only reasonable to require that the residence abroad be continuous because any interruption of it will restore the affinity."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 72 OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
condition; duty station; enforcement; non-resident allowance; residence; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"It is plain from the text [of Article 72 of the Service Regulations] that the allowance is to be refused to an employee who is a citizen of the country where he is stationed unless at the time of appointment he has been continuously resident in another country for at least ten years. That is indeed the purport of the English and French texts, which are clear: the terms 'résident' and 'résidaient' do not necessarily connote permanent or established residence. The English and French versions being explicit, the German is to be interpreted in a way that reconciles all three; and in its English and French versions 72[3] requires that a citizen of the Federal Republic serving at Munich shall be paid the allowance only if at the time of appointment he has been 'continuously resident for at least 10 years' outside the Federal Republic."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 72 OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
difference; duty station; interpretation; language of rule; nationality; non-resident allowance; residence;
Judgment 810
61st Session, 1987
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"What good faith requires is that when someone is transferred he should be given proper notice, and not just of a vague intention, but of the nature of the post he is to get and of the duty station." The complainant did not accept the transfer and was dismissed. The decision is quashed and the Tribunal orders the restoration of the complainant's status as an official.
Keywords:
duty station; duty to inform; good faith; notice; organisation's duties; post description; reconstruction of career; refusal; termination of employment; transfer;
Judgment 766
59th Session, 1986
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
The complainant "claims to remain entitled to expatriate benefits, which are payable only to a staff member who is serving outside the country and area of his recognised place of residence."
Keywords:
condition; duty station; non-resident allowance; residence;
Judgment 692
57th Session, 1985
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
Unlike special leave, leave required in the service of the organisation must be granted, as provided by the regulations, according to circumstances and is not otherwise subject to a time limit. The 12-day leave requested by the complainant is justified for transfer from one duty-post to another, i.e. for professional purposes. The Tribunal allows the complaint.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; duty station; grounds; leave; request by a party; transfer;
Judgment 543
50th Session, 1983
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"There are [...] some well established limits to this obligation. Whatever the place of assignment, the post must be one as to which the duties of the post are set out in a post description, are within the capacity of the staff member and are not degrading. A staff member is not obliged to go to a place where she might have to run unacceptable risks of injury or ill health. in certain circumstances it may be the duty of the organization to consult with the staff member and take her views into account." Subject to limitations of this character, the matter falls under the Director's discretionary authority.
Keywords:
assignment; discretion; duty station; duty to inform; limits; post description; special hazard;
Judgment 523
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant's post having been abolished neither in substance nor in form (but transferred to another duty station), the termination of his contract was unlawful. On the alternative view, the complainant would find himself deprived of the right given to staff members in the general service category under a rule which makes transfer to a new station subject to the staff member's consent. As reinstatement is not an appropriate remedy, the organization must pay the complainant $40,000 as compensation and $6,000 in costs.
Keywords:
abolition of post; amendment to the rules; duty station; general service category; termination of employment; terms of appointment; transfer;
Judgment 402
43rd Session, 1980
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"In some employments there are unavoidable risks. [...] The question in each case is whether the risk is abnormal having regard to the nature of the employment. In a case such as the present a reasonable test (though this is only one possible criterion) might be to consider whether an insurance company could, because of the civil war [...] properly demand an additional premium for cover against the risk of injury [...]. If so, the risk would be abnormal."
Keywords:
duty station; health insurance; insurance; special hazard; working conditions;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"The employee does not have to show that he was being asked to do something foolhardy. It is unnecessary [...] to suggest [...] that the order to return to [the duty station] was irresponsible. It was not, except in the sense that it may be irresponsible to require a staff member to return to a high risk area without offering him full insurance cover. Certainly, it might be said to be irresponsible for a man with dependants [...] to go [...] without full insurance cover."
Keywords:
complainant; duty station; insurance; liability; organisation; special hazard;
Consideration 2
Extract:
If an employer has failed to exercise due skill and care in arriving at a judgment on the safety of the place of work, the employee is entitled to compensation in full against the consequences of the misjudgment. "This principle is to be applied with due regard to the nature of the employment. In some employments there are unavoidable risks. A doctor may have to risk infection and a soldier or a policeman to risk bombs. The question in each case is whether the risk is abnormal having regard to the nature of the employment."
Keywords:
damages; duty station; negligence; organisation; right; special hazard;
Consideration 1
Extract:
"If there is doubt about the safety of a place of work, it is the duty of the employer to make the necessary inquiries and to arrive at a reasonable and careful judgement [...]. If [the employee] accepts the order, as prima facie he is bound to do, and the employer has failed to exercise due skill and care in arriving at his judgment, the employee is, subject to any contrary provision in the contract, entitled to be indemnified in full against the consequences of the misjudgment."
Keywords:
acceptance; assignment; damages; duty station; inquiry; investigation; negligence; organisation; organisation's duties; right; special hazard;
Judgment 363
41st Session, 1978
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"Normally a staff member is expected to find his own living accommodation for himself and his dependants and to pay for it out of his salary and allowances. It is however recognised that upon a change of duty station a staff member may not at once succeed in finding accommodation at normal rates. Accordingly the Staff Rules provide for the payment of an installation allowance."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; duty station; installation allowance; purpose; transfer;
