Judgment 1929
88th Session, 2000
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"Compulsory transfer of a disciplinary nature must afford the staff member the safeguards available in the case of disciplinary sanctions, that is the right of the staff member to be heard before the sanction is ordered, with the option for him to participate in the full processing of the evidence and to make all his pleas. [...] It matters little in this respect whether or not transfer is envisaged among the disciplinary sanctions set out in the Staff Regulations. What is decisive is whether the transfer appears to be the consequence of the alleged professional shortcomings of the staff member which may, by their nature, give rise to disciplinary sanctions."
Keywords:
disciplinary measure; hidden disciplinary measure; organisation's duties; right to reply; safeguard; staff member's interest; staff regulations and rules; transfer;
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainant was transferred without prior notice and without an opportunity to be heard. "Taken together, the material circumstances give grounds for considering that the impugned transfer partly constituted a hidden disciplinary sanction. [...] The impugned decision must, therefore, be set aside and the procedure resumed from the point at which it was flawed [...]."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 10 OF THE UPU STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
disciplinary measure; hidden disciplinary measure; organisation's duties; remand; right to reply; staff member's interest; staff regulations and rules; transfer;
Judgment 1796
86th Session, 1999
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
The complainant was reassigned because of his alleged poor attendance and time-keeping. "The [Organization's] treatment of him looks like punishment for conduct it disapproved of and for low output. So there should first have been due disciplinary process affording him full safeguards."
Keywords:
conduct; disciplinary measure; disciplinary procedure; due process; misconduct; official; organisation's duties; output; punctuality; right to reply; safeguard; transfer; unsatisfactory service;
Judgment 1757
85th Session, 1998
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
In processing, ordering and notifying transfer an organisation must heed the staff member's dignity and good name and not cause undue injury. And the decision must follow proper inquiry: see Judgment 1496 [...] under 7 and 8.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1496
Keywords:
decision; moral injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; transfer;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Transfer is such an important decision that it must be properly accounted for. For one thing, that helps the staff member to make up his mind about what to do, for example lodge an appeal; for another, it allows review of the lawfulness of the decision. Yet the reasons need not be stated in the actual text notifying transfer: they may have been conveyed beforehand or later, even in the course of internal appeal proceedings."
Keywords:
date; decision; duty to substantiate decision; grounds; organisation's duties; right of appeal; transfer;
Judgment 1726
84th Session, 1998
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 26
Extract:
The complainant submits that his transfer was unlawful. He criticizes the administration, notably, for not consulting him. "The complainant's seniority, length of service (virtually all of it on difficult posts in developing countries), the fact that he had only recently been moved [...] and the wholly unnecessary and unjustifiable failure to consult him constitute in the Tribunal's view a serious affront to his dignity and a breach of the Organization's obligation of respect towards him as a member of its staff."
Keywords:
consultation; decision; injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; transfer;
Consideration 28
Extract:
Although the Organisation's policy gave the complainant sound reasons to expect that he would be transferred to its Headquarters, "he did not have a legal right to demand such transfer and cannot recover any compensation for the failure to transfer him."
Keywords:
compensation; headquarters; practice; refusal; request by a party; transfer;
Judgment 1685
84th Session, 1998
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant "must have known that a career in the international civil service might require him to change duty stations at any time."
Keywords:
duty station; official; organisation's interest; staff member's duties; transfer;
Judgment 1590
82nd Session, 1997
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The Tribunal will be especially cautious "where the issue is not transfer but the determination or alteration of the duties to be performed on a given post. Here the duties required of the complainant are not different from those provided for at the date of recruitment, the organisation enjoying the widest discretion in matching duties to needs."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; assignment; discretion; judicial review; organisation's interest; post; post description; transfer;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The complainant contends that what the impugned decision entailed was really transfer and a change of post. He is mistaken. The duties of a post are determined by the description of it in the letter of appointment and by any later changes: see Judgments 1103, under 3 and 4, and 1146, under 4 and 7."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1103, 1146
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; appointment; case law; decision; post; post description; transfer;
Judgment 1556
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Like appointment and promotion, transfer is at the discretion of the executive head of the international organisation and subject to only limited review. The Tribunal may interfere only if the decision was taken ultra vires or shows formal or procedural flaw or mistake of fact or law, or if some material fact was overlooked, or if there was misuse of authority or an obviously wrong inference from the evidence. And the Tribunal will be especially wary in reviewing a transfer since it may not replace the employer's rating of the official with its own."
Keywords:
appointment; decision; discretion; executive head; judicial review; limits; promotion; transfer;
Consideration 12
Extract:
"In any event [the complainant] may not plead want of due notice [...]. Having been well aware as early as [53 days before] of the sort of post she was to get and of her duty station, she may not properly plead bad faith."
Keywords:
assignment; complainant; duty station; duty to inform; good faith; organisation's duties; post; post description; transfer;
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;
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant "may not treat the organization as liable for the financial consequences of a decision for which he was solely to blame. so his claims to compensation for a drop in pay and to damages for premature transfer are therefore without merit."
Keywords:
cause; compensation; conduct; consequence; transfer;
Judgment 1496
80th Session, 1996
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The Tribunal would allow a complaint against a decision to transfer an official "if it were a hidden disciplinary sanction because there are specific procedural rules to protect a staff member when disciplinary action is taken: see for example Judgments 126, under 4 and 9, 1078, under 16, and 1407, under 18. In processing, ordering and notifying transfer an organisation must heed the staff member's dignity and good name and not cause unnecessary hardship: see Judgments 367, under 13 and 14, 631, under 27 and 28, 942, under 4, and 1234, under 15 and 19. And the decision must follow a proper enquiry: see Judgment 942, under 4."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 126, 367, 631, 942, 1078, 1234, 1407
Keywords:
abuse of power; case law; due process; hidden disciplinary measure; inquiry; investigation; misuse of authority; moral injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; staff member's interest; transfer;
Consideration 13
Extract:
"The abruptness of the complainant's transfer could scarcely be put down to the Organization's needs. [...] His new job was not on a par with the old one or in keeping with his qualifications. [...] The manner of it was calculated to offend his dignity, and the FAO proved inconsiderate. The conclusion is that its unlawful behaviour and the seriousness of its offence warrant redress. The letter of appreciation that the Director-General sent him on retirement will not suffice since it failed to acknowledge the unnecessary injury he had suffered."
Keywords:
compensation; moral injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; staff member's interest; transfer;
Judgment 1437
79th Session, 1995
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant was transferred against his wishes to another unit. There was nothing improper in the decision to transfer him. "The transfer was in the organization's interests" and took lawfully into account such facts as the reform of his old unit and the need for more staff in his new one.
Keywords:
discretion; executive head; judicial review; organisation's interest; reorganisation; transfer;
Consideration 6
Extract:
The complainant was transferred against his wishes to another unit. Thereis no reason to regard his transfer as hidden disciplinary action or to attribute it to his staff union work, it having been taken in the organization's interests.
Keywords:
abuse of power; evidence; hidden disciplinary measure; judicial review; misuse of authority; organisation's interest; staff union activity; transfer;
Judgment 1407
78th Session, 1995
World Tourism Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 18
Extract:
The complainant says that her transfer amounted to a hidden disciplinary measure to get back at her because she asserted her right of appeal. "The Tribunal is satisfied that there was no question of disciplinary action": she herself applied for the transfer and it cost her no loss of pay or grade or responsibility. "Nor does she allege any loss of dignity in the duties she had to perform."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; disciplinary measure; grade; hidden disciplinary measure; moral injury; right of appeal; salary; transfer;
Judgment 1390
78th Session, 1995
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
"Even supposing that the complainant applied only for transfer, the Tribunal's ruling in Judgment 1359 means - see under 5, 6 and 7 - that if an official applies for a transfer to a post to be filled by some other procedure he still has a legitimate interest, and any breach of that interest is liable to review and sanction."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1359
Keywords:
case law; cause of action; competition cancelled; internal candidate; judicial review; official; transfer;
Judgment 1359
77th Session, 1994
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 12
Extract:
One consistent requirement the regulations lay down for filling posts "is the appointment of a selection board that may consider all applicants [...] who qualify under one and the same notice of vacancy. As was said in Judgment 1223, that formal requirement affords every applicant a basic safeguard of open and objective decision-making, and it holds good whether the applicant wants promotion, transfer or a change of category."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1223
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; case law; competition; organisation's duties; procedure before the tribunal; promotion; safeguard; selection board; staff regulations and rules; transfer; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1358
77th Session, 1994
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The organisation brought in reforms which involved "reassignment of staff together with their posts in the context of a new structure but without the creation of any new posts. The reforms may have altered the position of some in the hierarchy and their duties but, being brought about by transfer of their posts, did not affect their status under the Staff Regulations."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; assignment; lack of injury; organisation's interest; post description; staff regulations and rules; transfer;
Judgment 1343
77th Session, 1994
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainant was transferred to a new post. He alleges that the transfer was unlawful, his new duties being at a lower level than those he had formally discharged. "Whether the post is 'commensurate' with his former post and grade depends on an objective test, namely the level of his duties. He has failed to satisfy the Tribunal that their level is not in keeping with his grade, which was the same after as before transfer."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; criteria; grade; lack of injury; post; post description; transfer;
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;
Consideration 20
Extract:
Had the complainant "made a bona fide challenge to the validity of transfer, that would have been a satisfactory explanation for non-compliance: for a precedent, see Judgment 392 [...], under 6. For family reasons the organization refrained for five months [...] from taking action on the decision to transfer the complainant. Thereafter he did not challenge the transfer but sought to circumvent or delay it by raising a series of questions and by evading a direct response."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 392
Keywords:
case law; complainant; decision; flaw; good faith; refusal; staff member's interest; 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 1234
74th Session, 1993
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 19
Extract:
The complainant, an official at grade D.2, was moved twice in 18 months but given no explanation for the moves. His second transfer was to a post at a lower grade, some distance from headquarters and in a field he had never worked in. "Although the Director-General will ordinarily be treated as the best judge of what the organization's interests are and the Tribunal will not ordinarily interfere in his assessment of them, nevertheless it will do so in this case. It is quite inadequate to plead that the decision to transfer the complainant was 'in the interests of the organization'. The basis for reaching that conclusion must be made clear so that the Tribunal may exercise its power of review and determine whether there exists any of the grounds for setting aside a discretionary decision of that kind."
Keywords:
discretion; downgrading; duty to substantiate decision; grade; judicial review; limits; organisation's duties; organisation's interest; post; transfer;
Consideration 19
Extract:
The complainant, an official at grade D.2, was moved twice in 18 months but given no explanation for the transfers. His second move was to a post at a lower grade, at some distance from headquarters and in a field he had never worked in. The organization pleads that his transfer was "in the interests of the organization" and that the burden is on him to show that it was not. "But there it betrays a deeply mistaken view of its duty. Of course its own interests are paramount, but it must still, for the sake of proper management and mutual confidence, treat its staff fairly. If it is transferring a staff member it must let him have a degree of responsibility corresponding to his grade and respect his dignity. It must give him a statement of the reasons for the transfer and the opportunity of responding."
Keywords:
burden of proof; downgrading; duty to substantiate decision; grade; organisation's duties; organisation's interest; post; respect for dignity; right to reply; staff member's interest; transfer;
Considerations 12-13
Extract:
The complainant was transferred against his wishes to a post at a lower grade, D.1, but kept grade D.2 on a personal basis. The Tribunal confirms what it said in Judgment 631 about staff Rule 570 on reduction in grade. That provision - which says that reduction in grade may result (1) from the staff member's own request, (2) from unsatisfactory performance or misconduct or (3) as an alternative to termination in a reduction inforce - applies even when the staff member keeps his own grade on a personal basis. "The organization may not require a staff member to move to a post at a lower grade against his wishes, however generous the financial compensation, unless there is compliance with Rule 570."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: WHO STAFF RULE 570
ILOAT Judgment(s): 631
Keywords:
acceptance; case law; downgrading; grade; post; staff regulations and rules; transfer;
Judgment 1162
72nd Session, 1992
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainant wants the Tribunal to order her assignment to a stable post in line with her qualifications. "The Tribunal is satisfied [...] that the organization has made a serious effort to give the complainant a more stable position - indeed it has created the post especially for her - and has taken due account of her qualifications, experience and grade. Since she has therefore obtained satisfaction, she shows no cause of action".
Keywords:
assignment; organisation's duties; post; qualifications; request for transfer; transfer;
Judgment 1161
72nd Session, 1992
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"The Organisation tried to find him a suitable post in another department. That it failed to do so is immaterial, however, since he had no right whatever to transfer under the Service Regulations."
Keywords:
organisation's duties; post; request for transfer; right; staff regulations and rules; transfer;
Judgment 1146
72nd Session, 1992
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant believes that transfer of her de facto duties as head of the French Section to another reviser through rotation amounted to a disguised transfer. The Tribunal's answer is that "there was no transfer because there is no post as Head of Section as such. There was merely redivision of duties between the revisers".
Keywords:
post description; title of post; transfer;
