Judgment 396
43rd Session, 1980
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Misunderstandings between a probationer and his supervisor do not necessarily justify instant dismissal. As a rule, before a staff member is dismissed thought should be given to transferring him to some other post on trial, especially if he is junior in rank."
Keywords:
probationary period; termination of employment; transfer; working relations;
Judgment 392
43rd Session, 1980
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The Tribunal believes that there was no abandonment of post because the complainant challenged her assignment in the prescribed manner. The decision is therefore quashed. "To succeed in a claim for reinstatement or compensation, [the complainant] would have to satisfy the Tribunal that the assignment was in fact invalid; the Tribunal in its Judgment No. 375 has decided the contrary."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 375
Keywords:
abandonment of post; assignment; procedure before the tribunal; refusal; transfer;
Judgment 373
42nd Session, 1979
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant was transferred improperly. "Positions which are graded at the same level may nevertheless differ considerably in status and prestige. The Tribunal agrees [...] that the complainant has lost the professional standing that the post of regional adviser gives. Moreover, the transfer was handled in such a way as to give the impression that she was being edged out of her position for reasons unstated; this must have caused her personal distress."
Keywords:
decision quashed; flaw; moral injury; professional injury; transfer;
Judgment 367
41st Session, 1978
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
After 20 years of "laudable service", the complainant, a "valuable member of [the organization's] staff" was transferred. The organization, in its treatment of the complainant, failed in its obligation to show due regard for his dignity and reputation; the Director-General's apology did not remedy the situation.
Keywords:
moral injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; satisfactory service; transfer;
Consideration 11
Extract:
The complainant alleges prejudice and failure to take full account of the facts. "Since the existence of either ground would justify the interference by the Tribunal with a discretionary decision, it is convenient to consider the case as it is presented on these two grounds. [...] Failure to take full account of the facts is the wider ground [...]."
Keywords:
bias; discretion; disregard of essential fact; judicial review; transfer;
Consideration 16
Extract:
Some elements of the moral prejudice - the new assignment offered the complainant less congenial and responsible work - "would not attract compensation if the decision to assign him had been valid". Other aspects, "for example, the humiliating way in which the transfer was effected [...] would attract compensation whether or not the decision was valid."
Keywords:
assignment; moral injury; transfer;
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;
Judgment 361
41st Session, 1978
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 43-44
Extract:
The Director-General's decisions are valid, but not the manner in which they were implemented. The administration could have made it clear that the complainant was a victim of the reorganisation and was not to blame. Its silence made the situation even more distressing. "Accordingly, the claim for compensation for moral damage is allowed. Since money is to be the only form of redress, the amount must be sufficient to mark the gravity of the injury."
Keywords:
decision; grounds; injury; moral injury; professional injury; reorganisation; transfer;
Judgment 325
39th Session, 1977
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant refused two posts successively. The evidence shows that "he was consulted before any decision was taken. Such consultation was an essential formality, but in this case adequate. In particular, as appears from the [applicable] texts, the complainant did not have to give his prior consent."
Keywords:
complainant; consultation; organisation's duties; refusal; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
"The complainant was [...] bound to take up the new assignments, save in exceptional circumstances such as did not exist in this case. He was aware of the conditions of international service and particularly of service with [the organization] when he accepted appointment, and all the more so [...] when he accepted a career service appointment [...]."
Keywords:
staff member's duties; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant refused two successive appointments. His appointment under a contract of indeterminate duration was terminated; "it appears from the documents in the dossier that the Director-General ordered the transfers in the interests of the organization and that the allegation of abuse of authority is not proved."
Keywords:
complainant; contract; organisation's interest; permanent appointment; refusal; termination of employment; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
"[T]he Director-General was entitled, by virtue of the texts [...] to terminate the appointment of the complainant, whose refusal on strictly personal grounds to take up posts to which he was assigned by the competent authority constituted a grave breach of duty."
Keywords:
refusal; serious misconduct; staff member's duties; termination of employment; transfer;
Judgment 311
38th Session, 1977
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"The circumstances in which the complainant was transferred are such as to warrant payment of damages for the moral prejudice he suffered. Damages will be fairly set at 10,000 Swiss francs."
Keywords:
amount; moral injury; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
The transfer decision was a preventive measure because a close dependence of one staff member on another was inadmissible between officials responsible for applying financial control "[T]he decision to transfer [the complainant] was made upon a hypothesis which never in fact matured [...] all the complainant did was, quite correctly, to ask the opinion of his superiors" upon what was a proposal [to open a joint bank account with a colleague] and to drop the matter when they expressed disapproval. "Hence it appears that that decision drew clearly mistaken conclusions from the facts and should therefore be quashed."
Keywords:
flaw; grounds; mistaken conclusion; transfer;
Judgment 267
36th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
The complainant had reached retirement age and his employment was not extended by the Director-General. "[I]t does not appear from the dossier that on his return to headquarters the complainant was promised any further appointment." Nor did the material letter "imply any such promise, particularly since it was not addressed to the complainant."
Keywords:
age limit; consequence; contract; evidence; headquarters; lack of evidence; offer; promise; retirement; transfer;
Judgment 248
34th Session, 1975
World Meteorological Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant was warned by her supervisors that the quality of her services was not satisfactory; she was transferred to allow her to get adapted; different chiefs found her to be incompetent; she "received several warnings that if her services did not improve the organization would feel bound to dismiss her under Staff Regulation [...] The Tribunal holds that not only was the correct procedure followed for dismissing her but the organization actually showed great forbearance and consideration towards her."
Keywords:
judicial review; termination of employment; transfer; unsatisfactory service; warning;
Judgment 236
32nd Session, 1974
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The publication of a list of officials does not confirm the decision to transfer the complainant [against which appeal is time-barred] and does not constitute a new decision. The complaint is irreceivable.
Keywords:
complaint; confirmatory decision; receivability of the complaint; time bar; transfer;
Judgment 193
29th Session, 1972
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
None of the claims for compensation are sustainable "except as an element of damage flowing from some unlawful decision by the Director-General." In the present case, certain irregularities were committed and remedied; they were not of a character to invalidate the decision to transfer which the complainant did not contest at the time it was made. He also accepted a subsequent transfer. The complaint is dismissed.
Keywords:
acceptance; cause of action; flaw; lack of injury; no cause of action; purpose; transfer;
Judgment 190
28th Session, 1972
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
In transferring the complainant in the course of his appointment, as thus properly extended, to a different service, "the Director-General was simply applying the provisions of [the] Staff Regulation[s] under which he has authority to assign an official in the best interests of the organization".
Keywords:
discretion; organisation's interest; transfer;
Judgment 154
23rd Session, 1970
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
Decisions to transfer an official lie within the discretion of the authority making them and are subject to review by the Tribunal only within certain limits; "in so far as the Tribunal judges itself competent to hear the complaints filed by the complainant against the decision to transfer him, they do not justify the quashing of the decision or the award of damages."
Keywords:
discretion; judicial review; transfer;
Consideration 2(B)
Extract:
It is stated in their contracts that officials are initially appointed to a given post, subject to possible transfer subsequently. "The wording [initially, subsequently] of this provision does not mean that in every case an official must perform the duties of the original post for a certain period of time before being required to accept re-assignment. If the first assignment appears straight away to be unsuitable, there is nothing to prevent his immediate re-assignment. Any other solution might be as damaging to the official as to the organisation."
Keywords:
appointment; assignment; interpretation; organisation's interest; time limit; transfer;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"Whether based on the Staff Regulations or on the terms of appointment, decisions to transfer an official lie within the discretion of the authority making them, and are therefore subject to review by the Tribunal only within certain limits."
Keywords:
discretion; judicial review; transfer;
Consideration 2(C)
Extract:
The Director-General was not obliged to postpone the complainant's re-assignment because of alleged ill health. The disorders cited did not afford sufficient proof that he was unable to comply with the transfer order. The medical certificate bears a date later than the date of the complainant's scheduled departure. "In any event, it was not incumbent on the organisation to carry out automatically any inquiry into the complainant's state of health."
Keywords:
health reasons; medical examination; organisation's duties; time limit; transfer;
Consideration 3(B)
Extract:
"[T]he sanction of discharge cannot be regarded as being out of proportion to the complainant's dereliction of duty. As the complainant had clearly shown that he did not intend to comply with the instructions concerning his transfer which it was his duty to obey, the organisation was not obliged to make use of his services [in the country in question], where his presence might be prejudicial to the organisation's work, nor in any other place since he refused to move from [the country]."
Keywords:
contract; fixed-term; refusal; termination of employment; transfer;
Consideration 2(D)
Extract:
The demonstrations to which the complainant's arrival had given rise led the organisation to order the complainant's transfer. It is regrettable that before assigning the complainant to his post the organisation should not have satisfied itself that his assignment would raise no difficulties. "However, the complainant could not fail to be aware of the difficulties to which his assignment [...] might give rise, and he cannot therefore properly complain that the organisation lacked information which according to the normal standards of good faith he himself should have supplied."
Keywords:
conduct; duty to inform; good faith; grounds; organisation's duties; organisation's interest; transfer;
Consideration 2(D)
Extract:
The complainant's transfer was motivated by the fact that his political views, as interpreted by the national authorities, could have compromised the success of his mission. "The organisation has rightly adopted a consistent policy whereby it avoids keeping on any staff member in any area where he has become a controversial figure, whatever the merits of the controversy may be, since the activities of international organisations can be effective only if their officials are above all suspicion."
Keywords:
grounds; organisation's interest; persona non grata; political activity; transfer;
Judgment 151
23rd Session, 1970
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The Director-General has the authority "to assign the staff members responsible to him in the best interest of the organization. The authority enjoyed by the chief of the organization in this respect affords him a wide field of discretion which the Tribunal can review only in specified cases."
Keywords:
assignment; discretion; judicial review; organisation's interest; transfer;
Judgment 146
23rd Session, 1970
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
After the complaint was lodged with the Tribunal, the Director-General reversed his decision to terminate the complainant's appointment and transferred him to headquarters until the date of expiry of his contract. "By this decision the Director-General over-ruled the impugned decision to terminate [his] appointment." The complainant has therefore lost his cause of action and the Tribunal need not entertain it.
Keywords:
case pending; cause of action; contract; fixed-term; no cause of action; settlement out of court; termination of employment; transfer;
Judgment 142
22nd Session, 1969
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant was relieved of his duties as deputy director of a division and was transferred. "The evidence shows that this decision was motivated by differences of opinion between the complainant and his superiors and by his circulation within the two organisations of his criticisms of their activities. This motive, whose falsity is not proved, was such as to furnish legal grounds for the decision made under" the applicable provision.
Keywords:
assignment; supervisor; transfer; working relations;
Judgment 132
21st Session, 1969
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"Whereas the complainant had to be informed beforehand that his transfer was contemplated, since this was a measure affecting him personally and entailing a major change of residence [...] all the circumstances on which the competent authority based its decision were [...] known to the complainant [...] he had commented on them at length [...] his chief had [...] warned him [...] that [...] the existing situation could not but seriously impair the satisfactory operation of the [service]."
Keywords:
duty to inform; grounds; notice; organisation's interest; right to reply; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
"Examination of the evidence shows that incidents involving [the complainant] had created a situation in the [regional office] prejudicial to its satisfactory operation. Consequently, regardless of where the responsibility for the incidents in question might lie, the Director-General on becoming aware of this situation was entitled to act under the authority derived from [the provision respecting transfer of staff in the interests of the service]."
Keywords:
conduct; discretion; organisation's interest; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
The transfer decision was not based on any specific complaint but "on the need to ensure harmony among the officials [...]. This reason, which because of its very vagueness excludes any suggestion of a disciplinary measure, is in fact one of the reasons justifying transfer in the interests of the organisation in accordance with [the applicable provision]."
Keywords:
grounds; organisation's interest; transfer; working relations;
Judgment 129
21st Session, 1969
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"[T]he Tribunal is satisfied that the [...] decision to transfer was taken purely in the interest of the organization. Where this is the case, the Tribunal will not substitute its own judgment for that of the Director-General unless he has based his decision on incorrect facts or has failed to take essential facts into consideration or has drawn false conclusions from the documents in the dossier."
Keywords:
discretion; judicial review; organisation's interest; transfer;
Considerations
Extract:
The fact that "inharmonious working relations between the officers concerned in the project were endangering its success, was of itself sufficient, without inquiring into where the fault lay, to support the decision of the Director-General to move the complainant to another assignment."
Keywords:
grounds; organisation's interest; transfer; working relations;
Judgment 126
20th Session, 1968
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"[W]hile as a general rule employees in a given grade must be assigned to work normally done by members of that grade, it is within the discretion of the Director-General, provided that there is no change in the grade or reduction in salary, nor any lowering of the dignity of the persons concerned, to assign them to work done by lower-grade employees if the needs of the service so require".
Keywords:
assignment; discretion; downgrading; grade; limits; organisation's duties; organisation's interest; respect for dignity; salary; transfer;
