Judgment 1787
86th Session, 1999
International Organization for Migration
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 10-11
Extract:
"The qualifications expected may be just 'desirable', not requirements binding in law. But the appointing authority is not free on that account [...] to disregard the fact that some do qualify and to plump for the very one who does not, even one who in other respects has the right experience and skills. [...] Here the Organization picked someone wanting in listed qualifications which, though said to be only 'desirable', were in fact essential. It thereby fell short of the standards of objectiveness and openness that must govern appointment to a senior post in an international organisation. The process of selection cannot stand [...]" (See Judgment 1595, under 10.)
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1595
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; competition cancelled; condition; criteria; discretion; flaw; post; post description; procedure before the tribunal; professional experience; qualifications; vacancy notice;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"Although the abolition of his post did demand of the Organization efforts to place him suitably and at the right grade elsewhere, he had no right to preference for any particular post, the less so since others were in the same plight. He may object to the Organization's failure to let him have the transfer he wanted, but such failure does not make it unlawful for the organization to have appointed another official to the post he had applied for, provided at least that that official was qualified."
Keywords:
abolition of post; appointment; competition; condition; equal treatment; grade; organisation's duties; post; priority; qualifications; reassignment; right;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"When a decision is adverse to a staff member the competent administrative authority does have to reveal the reasons for it. But when the result of a competition is announced and, more broadly, when a choice is made between candidates the reasons for the choice need not be notified at the same time as the decision."
Keywords:
candidate; competition; decision; discretion; duty to substantiate decision; grounds; procedure before the tribunal; time limit;
Judgment 1771
85th Session, 1998
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2(c)
Extract:
"The complainant applies for an expert enquiry to determine whether she is fit for the duties of the post. Firm precedent has it that an executive head must be allowed discretion to determine what services the Organisation needs and whether someone is able to provide them, and that the Tribunal may exercise only a limited power of review over decisions on such matters. To allow the complainant's application for expert inquiry would be to assume that the Tribunal might replace the Director General's assessment of her with its own and would be alien to the notion of limited review [...]."
Keywords:
case law; competition; discretion; executive head; expert inquiry; judicial review; qualifications; refusal;
Judgment 1706
84th Session, 1998
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
The complainant, placed on special leave without pay following an 'agreed termination' was a candidate in an internal competition. The Organization maintains that she was no longer a staff member at the moment of recruitment. "The Tribunal [...] holds that the 'agreed termination' did not in any way restrict her rights under the Staff Rules, while she remained a staff member, to preference over an outside male candidate in any future competition where qualifications were equal."
Keywords:
agreed termination; appointment; candidate; competition; internal candidate; priority; right; sex discrimination; special leave; staff regulations and rules; unpaid leave;
Consideration 15
Extract:
"UNIDO's professed policy of increasing the number of women staff at all levels required at least that, other things being equal, it should give preference to applications from women; indeed encouraging women to apply was consistent only with their right to such preference."
Keywords:
candidate; competition; priority; right; sex discrimination;
Judgment 1698
84th Session, 1998
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
The Tribunal notes "that a vacancy notice [...] is necessarily a document whose validity is limited in time by the closing date of the particular competition which it announces. [...] The requirements of any post may of course change over time."
Keywords:
competition; condition; limits; vacancy; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1689
84th Session, 1998
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The Agency replies that [...] where candidates are found suitable and put on a par no explanation is called for, though 'a reasoned report would have made sense had the Board put the two candidates in order of preference'. The plea is unsound. It postulates that the complainant was unaffected by the finding that he was as fit for the post as the other candidate, and in any event overlooks the fact that the candidates are in competition. [...]. If two are ranked ex aequo each may have an interest in contending that the other should have been marked lower. [...]. In any event the final ranking [...] must be accounted for."
Keywords:
candidate; cause of action; competition; duty to substantiate decision; selection board;
Judgment 1659
83rd Session, 1997
European Free Trade Association
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 12
Extract:
The complainants "plead breach of Regulation 12.2(b) which confers priority for re-employment on permanent employees whose posts had to be abolished. But since all the posts were abolished the Association had no choice in the matter and nothing to offer the redundant staff but the opportunity of applying for jobs in the new Secretariat."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: EFTA STAFF REGULATION 12.2(B)
Keywords:
abolition of post; competition; contract; exception; organisation's duties; permanent appointment; priority; reassignment; reorganisation; separation from service; staff regulations and rules; 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;
Consideration 11
Extract:
"The defendant contends on the strength of the complainant's personal file and his supervisors' reports on his conduct and performance that he was not up to the job anyway. That is neither here nor there. The Union has neglected the cardinal rule of any process of selection: the chosen candidate must have at least the qualifications stipulated in the notice."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; criteria; due process; organisation's duties; personal file; procedure before the tribunal; qualifications; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1595
82nd Session, 1997
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"Even if she were unqualified for the post the complainant would not forfeit her right to challenge the appointment."
Keywords:
cause of action; competition; condition; internal candidate; receivability of the complaint; vacancy notice;
Consideration 10
Extract:
"Though the qualifications stated in a notice of vacancy are not absolutely binding and the Director General may still exercise some discretion, he may not so utterly discard them as to flout the rules that ensure the proper openness and objectivity of the competition."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; criteria; discretion; executive head; flaw; limits; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1585
82nd Session, 1997
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"Any termination calculated to get rid of an unwanted candidate for a position would offend against the organization's interests and amount to misuse of authority."
Keywords:
abuse of power; candidate; competition; misuse of authority; organisation's interest; termination of employment;
Judgment 1564
82nd Session, 1997
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The firm case law has it that the Tribunal will not interfere with the comparison of entrants in a competition. Only when it appears that the choice of candidate may rest on some mistake of fact or law or there may have been misuse of authority will the Tribunal order the production of evidence so that it may review such comparison and will the complainant be entitled to see such evidence. In the instant case the review of the selection procedure reveals neither a breach of the Organization's Staff Regulations or other rules, nor any mistake of fact or law, nor misuse of authority."
Keywords:
abuse of power; candidate; case law; competition; confidential evidence; disclosure of evidence; discretion; due process; judicial review; limits; mistake of fact; misuse of authority; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1560
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The complainant asks the Organization to say how often it has stopped a competition in order to change the duties of the vacant post and regrade it. There is no need for evidence on that score since the issue is not decisive: if the procedure is lawful it is immaterial how often UNESCO may have followed it before".
Keywords:
competition; competition cancelled; disclosure of evidence; evidence; post; post classification; submissions;
Judgment 1554
81st Session, 1996
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"The complainant is wrong in contending that for challenging the non-renewal of his contract the time limit of ninety days was somehow held over because of a connexion with his application for a post. His complaint shows two distinct elements: the non-renewal of his contract on 31 January 1994 and his unsuccessful application for a post in April 1994. His failure to file a complaint with the Tribunal within ninety days of 31 January 1994 means that any claim in relation to his contract is time-barred. As for his application for a post, by the time he made it he was no longer an employee of the Organisation. Since an outside candidate for employment does not have access to the Tribunal his complaint is irreceivable in that regard as well."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VII OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
candidate; competition; complainant; contract; external candidate; locus standi; non-renewal of contract; ratione personae; receivability of the complaint; status of complainant; time bar; time limit;
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;
Consideration 13
Extract:
"The purpose of competition is to let everyone who wants a post compete for it equally. So precedent demands scrupulous compliance with the rules announced beforehand: patere legem quam ipse fecisti."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 107, 729, 1071, 1077, 1158, 1223, 1359
Keywords:
appointment; case law; competition; due process; equal treatment; organisation's duties; patere legem; selection procedure; staff regulations and rules; vacancy;
Consideration 13
Extract:
"Although an organisation [may consider] late applicants, it must, whenever a competition is required or desired, announce a new deadline in the same way as it did the vacancy. It will then commit no breach of equality and the competition will be seen as fair."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; delay; due process; equal treatment; internal candidate; new time limit; organisation's duties; receivability of the complaint; selection procedure; time limit; vacancy; vacancy notice;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"An official of an international organisation who applies for a vacancy is entitled to have his application considered and assessed according to the set procedure once the organisation admits it under the terms of the vacancy notice. It may not deny that an applicant has a cause of action after it has appointed someone else, especially if the applicant is challenging the appointment on the grounds of breach of his rights in failure to apply the proper procedure".
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; case law; cause of action; competition; due process; internal candidate; organisation's duties; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules; vacancy; vacancy notice;
Consideration 8
Extract:
"Whether [the complainant who is now retired] still has any interest in the quashing of someone else's appointment is moot; but he still has an interest in exposing a breach of due process which may warrant an award of damages: see Judgment 729 [...]."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 729
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; cause of action; claim moot; compensation; competition; due process; flaw; internal candidate; post; procedural flaw; receivability of the complaint; retirement;
Consideration 9
Extract:
"Any applicant [for employment], whatever his hopes of success, must be considered in good faith and in line with the basic rules of fair competition."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; due process; equal treatment; general principle; good faith; internal candidate; organisation's duties; vacancy;
Judgment 1527
81st Session, 1996
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The complainant is challenging the lawfulness of the appointment of another official, who was promoted without a competition to a post for which the complainant considered himself qualified. The Tribunal holds that the post should "have been properly advertised and a selection made by competition." Even though the other official "had been performing the duties for about a year on her own G.7 post of administrative assistant, she could have been appointed to the vacant post only after the prescribed procedure had been followed. the itu was not free to bypass the procedure by promoting her to P.3."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; flaw; procedural flaw; promotion; vacancy; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1513
81st Session, 1996
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"As a general rule a complainant may not be entitled to consult any records that may have been made of discussions by a selection committee: members of such committees would not feel free to discuss candidates independently in future if they felt at risk of having there own views divulged: see Judgment 556."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 556
Keywords:
case law; competition; confidential evidence; disclosure of evidence; report; request by a party; selection board;
Consideration 7
Extract:
The privilege that protects the Selection Committee's actual deliberations "must cover also interviews held in preparation for its meeting."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 556
Keywords:
competition; confidential evidence; disclosure of evidence; report; selection board;
Judgment 1509
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
When the complainant lodged a claim to reinstatement "he was neither a serving nor a former official of UNIDO, to which he was no more than an outside applicant for employment and whose decision was in fact a refusal to recruit him. That decision raises no question of non-observance of the terms of appointment of an official of UNIDO, or of its Staff Regulations. So again the Tribunal may not entertain the claim."
Keywords:
appointment; breach; candidate; competence of tribunal; competition; complainant; contract; external candidate; locus standi; official; refusal; reinstatement; staff regulations and rules; status of complainant;
Judgment 1497
80th Session, 1996
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The defendant argues that since [the selected candidate] was an internal candidate it was right anyway to give her priority in the process of selection. The plea fails. As the Tribunal held, for example, in Judgment 519 [...], priority is not due to an internal applicant who does not have the minimum qualifications."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 519
Keywords:
appointment; case law; competition; condition; internal candidate; priority; qualifications;
Consideration 9
Extract:
"An organisation has discretion in holding interviews according to its own rules."
Keywords:
competition; discretion;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Anyone who applies for a post to be filled by some process of selection is entitled to have his application considered in good faith and in keeping with the basic rules of fair and open competition. That is a right that every applicant must enjoy, whatever his hopes of success may be."
Keywords:
candidate; cause of action; competition; equal treatment; good faith; organisation's duties;
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The conclusion [of the Tribunal] is that in appointing [the successful applicant] the Organization broke the basic rule of any process of selection that the successful applicant must have all the minimum qualifications required in the notice of vacancy."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; condition; due process; qualifications; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1477
80th Session, 1996
International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The rule that a selection committee may not delegate its authority unless provided for under the Staff Regulations "is even more important where, as in this case, the membership of the body that purports to delegate affords the staff special safeguards. Since the panel's members came mostly from the management side it was no offshoot of the Selection Committee".
Keywords:
competition; composition of the internal appeals body; delegated authority; safeguard; selection board; staff member's interest;
Consideration 12
Extract:
"As to the complainant's claim to token damages for moral injury this judgment affords a remedy for any such injury."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1359
Keywords:
compensation; competition; competition cancelled; flaw; judgment of the tribunal; moral injury; procedural flaw;
Consideration 10
Extract:
"When [a selection] process proves flawed the Tribunal will quash any decisions it engendered and order resumption with due heed to the rules, albeit on the understanding that the organisation must shield the successful candidate from any injury that else may flow from the quashing of an appointment accepted in good faith."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1359
Keywords:
appointment; competition; competition cancelled; flaw; injury; procedural flaw; staff member's interest;
Consideration 10
Extract:
"As the Tribunal held in Judgment 1359 [...], an organisation must be careful to abide by the rules on selection and appointment. When the process proves flawed the Tribunal will quash any decisions it engendered and order resumption with due heed to the rules".
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1359
Keywords:
appointment; case law; competition; competition cancelled; consequence; due process; flaw; procedural flaw; subsidiary;
Consideration 7
Extract:
"It is plain from the whole process of selection that though the Committee did endorse the panel's report it had neither looked at the individual applications nor seen any of the candidates but had left all that to the panel. Though it is not unthinkable for a selection committee to set up a panel of people whom it believes to be better fitted to assess the technical qualifications of candidates, especially external ones, it may not delegate altogether its authority under the Staff Regulations. It must exercise its own authority and not delegate unless the rules say it may."
Keywords:
advisory body; competition; condition; delegated authority; flaw; impartiality; procedural flaw; selection board; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 9
Extract:
"By letting [a special selection] panel draw up a short list and endorsing its conclusions without even seeing the candidates on that list or looking at their records the [Selection] Committee failed to observe its terms of reference under the Staff Regulations. [...] The process of selection was therefore unlawful".
Keywords:
competition; competition cancelled; due process; flaw; procedural flaw; selection board; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1436
79th Session, 1995
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"As was said for example in Judgment 1223, the Tribunal will not interfere with comparison of candidates in a competition. Only when it appears that the choice rests on a mistake of fact or law or that there has probably been misuse of authority will the Tribunal order the defendant to produce further evidence so that it may review such comparison."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1223
Keywords:
abuse of power; burden of proof; candidate; case law; competition; due process; evidence; further submissions; judicial review; mistake of fact; misuse of authority; presumption of innocence; qualifications; selection procedure;
Judgment 1430
79th Session, 1995
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 13
Extract:
Since the complainant did not meet the requirements laid down in the vacancy notice, the decision not to select him "has caused him no injury".
Keywords:
cause of action; claim; competition; condition; lack of injury; receivability of the complaint; vacancy notice;
