Judgment 636
54th Session, 1984
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The appeal is against a decision to fill a post for which the complainant had been rejected four months before. As such the appeal is unarguable unless it can be shown that the two events are linked. The complainant must show that the true reason for his rejection [...] was not his lack of qualification but was an abuse of power, being wrongly motivated by the intention to secure the appointment of [another official] in the following months. The evidence tendered [...] falls far short of this."
Keywords:
abuse of power; appointment; candidate; competition; lack of evidence; misuse of authority; vacancy;
Judgment 619
53rd Session, 1984
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The Tribunal is not competent to compare the candidates' merits; it will merely determine whether there was any prejudice in the impugned decision. There is no reason to suppose that in preferring [Mrs. X] the FAO was actuated by any considerations other than merit. Indeed its impartiality is borne out by the fact that [...] the majority of the selection board were in favour of the successful candidate."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; selection procedure; vacancy;
Consideration 4
Extract:
None of the three candidates met all the requirements. The organization cancelled the competition and delayed making an appointment for the vacant position. The provision on which the complainant relies "is not supposed to require [the organization] to choose someone, even if he has the best qualifications, who is still not qualified for the job and it was no breach of [the material rule] not to appoint any of them."
Keywords:
candidate; competition; competition cancelled; discretion; qualifications;
Considerations 6-7
Extract:
When a second competition for the post was announced, the qualifications previously sought had been altered in several respects in the new vacancy notice. "The [organization's] approach would be open to criticism only if the requirements in the second announcement fell short of what might ordinarily be expected of the holder of the post."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competition; judicial review; vacancy notice;
Judgment 564
51st Session, 1983
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The Board, made up of four staff members, included the chief of the Bureau in which the vacancy was to be filled. "Its composition was in line with the [...] rules on open competitions and was therefore correct in this instance since applications were invited [...] from outside candidates. [...] The elimination of all outside candidates in the course of the selection procedure did not change the competition into an internal one."
Keywords:
competition; composition of the internal appeals body; open competition; selection board;
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant objects that having only one candidate take the written test was a ruse. "The fact that two of those invited to take the test decided not to do so does not mean that the third was unduly favoured."
Keywords:
bias; candidate; competition;
Consideration 3
Extract:
Endorsing the result of a competition held to fill a new post is a discretionary decision and is subject only to limited review by the Tribunal. "In this instance the Tribunal will exercise its power with especial caution, its function being not to judge the candidates on merit but to allow the Selection Board and the Director-General full responsibility for their choice."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; discretion; judicial review;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The rules on competitions were revised in 1981. The new rules provided for setting up a selection board, and its members were appointed later. The competition of which the complainant is challenging the outcome opened in June 1981 and it was decided to apply the old rules. His objections to that decision are unsound; there was no error of law and, because of the delay in appointing the members of the Selection Board, its effect appears to have been to speed up the competition procedure."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; applicable law; competition; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The original announcement of the vacancy said that the incumbent would join a team which was to prepare a 'report on world employment. A revised version, in keeping with the French text and the organisation's intention, replaced the words with 'world labour report'. "It is obvious that the change had no effect on the competition procedure, and it is not a procedural defect impairing the validity of the impugned decision."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competition; flaw; procedural flaw; vacancy notice;
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant was not appointed to a post for which he had applied. "The Tribunal will not declare whether the complainant was fit to hold the post. It merely observes that his possession of the qualifications he mentions does not mean that he was necessarily the right person for the vacancy."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; judicial review; qualifications; seniority; vacancy;
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant asks the Tribunal to declare null and void the result of the competition and to award him compensation for material and moral prejudice [for having been eliminated from the competition]. These claims "come within the Tribunal's competence as defined in Article II of its Statute and are therefore receivable."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
application for quashing; competence of tribunal; competition; injury; receivability of the complaint;
Judgment 556
50th Session, 1983
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant is not entitled to consult any record of discussion by the Selection Board. "Members of selection boards would not feel free to discuss candidates independently in future if they were at risk of having their personal views divulged."
Keywords:
competition; confidential evidence; disclosure of evidence; interlocutory order; order; report; request by a party; selection board; selection procedure;
Judgment 535
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 1 and 3
Extract:
A staff rule stipulates that "the general method of filling vacancies is to hold a competition, and reassignment without promotion in the interest of the [organization] is an exception. [...] Whether a post should, in the interest of the Bureau, be filled without holding a competition is a matter of discretion".
Keywords:
competition; discretion; exception; organisation's duties; organisation's interest; transfer; vacancy;
Judgment 527
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"The newly-created post for which the complainant applied was abolished. It cannot be suggested that the decision to abolish the post was ultra vires or otherwise improper. It would follow that the complainant is not entitled to compensation for non-selection."
Keywords:
abolition of post; candidate; competition; competition cancelled; vacancy;
Judgment 524
49th Session, 1982
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"It is unnecessary for the Tribunal, in settling this case, to determine whether the definition of its competence in its Statute enables it to set aside a decision which is general in character or effect. Even if the Tribunal declares itself competent to set aside an announcement of a vacancy, it will in this particular instance reject the complainant's claim."
Keywords:
application for quashing; competence of tribunal; competition; vacancy notice;
Considerations
Extract:
"[It is not] in breach of the principle of equality of treatment to demand any particular language qualifications or specialised knowledge for a vacancy. The principle requires equal treatment and absence of discrimination only where the circumstances are similar. Where the very nature of the post to be filled makes special qualifications necessary, it is reasonable and right for the organisation to require that candidates possess them."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; condition; equal treatment; judicial review; knowledge of languages; qualifications; vacancy;
Judgment 521
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant, like two other candidates [Judgments Nos. 519 and 520] was rejected for a particular vacancy for lack of a university degree. "Had it not been for this lack, he would have had a strong claim to be considered, since he had for five years been second in command of the unit to which the post belonged and during an earlier vacancy he had for over a year been in charge of the unit."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 519, 520
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; condition; degree; professional experience; qualifications; vacancy;
Considerations
Extract:
The Board of Appeal expressed the opinion that the educational requirements for the post in question were excessive and tended to restrict staff career opportunities. "The point can be brought within the competence of the Tribunal only if there is an allegation, which in this case there is not, that the imposition of minimum qualifications is a breach of some regulation or rule or of some term of the complainant's contract of employment."
Keywords:
appointment; competence of tribunal; competition; condition; degree; judicial review; qualifications; vacancy;
Judgment 520
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"The Tribunal will not consider whether it is [...] open to the complainant to complain directly to the Tribunal of prejudice resulting from her staff activities. Assuming that it is open and assuming also that the complainant is right in her contention that the burden of proof is upon the organization to show that her non-selection was not due to her staff activities, that burden has been discharged. she was not selected because she was not qualified."
Keywords:
bias; candidate; competition; qualifications; staff union activity;
Judgment 519
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant's application for an appointment was eliminated because he did not meet the minimum qualification [a university degree]. "He asserts, which may be right, that the qualifications are higher than those needed for the job", but does not support the allegation. He makes other allegations of procedural irregularities and general prejudice against him, "allegations which it is unnecessary to consider since, so long as the educational qualification stands, the rejection of the complainant was inevitable."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; condition; degree; judicial review; professional experience; qualifications; vacancy;
Judgment 484
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2(B)
Extract:
Vide Judgment 485, consideration 1(b).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 485
Keywords:
appointment; competition; refund; terms of appointment; travel expenses;
Judgment 483
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2(B)
Extract:
Vide Judgment 485, consideration 1 (b).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 485
Keywords:
appointment; competition; refund; terms of appointment; travel expenses;
Judgment 393
43rd Session, 1980
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
The complainant requests the cancellation of procedures by which a candidate for the material post was selected and appointed. "The organization has acknowledged - and rightly so - that the procedures were irregular. Thus, insofar as the complainant wishes to have them cancelled, her complaint no longer has any foundation. She has now to co-operate fully with the organization in the review of the [...] classification of her post."
Keywords:
appointment; cause of action; competition; flaw; no cause of action; procedural flaw; settlement out of court;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"It appears from the documents in the dossier that by being improperly rejected in the selection proceedings [for a competition] the complainant suffered, on that account and because of the hostility of [a superior], moral prejudice serious and specific enough to entitle her to damages."
Keywords:
bias; competition; flaw; injury; moral injury; supervisor;
Judgment 326
39th Session, 1977
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
WHO Staff Regulation 4.4 provides that "without prejudice to the inflow of fresh talent at the various levels, vacancies shall be filled by promotion of persons already in the service of the organization in preference to persons from outside". The organization must rely upon the members of a selection committee to pay what they consider to be due regard to the factors mentioned in the Regulations. "It would only be in a case in which it could be shown that a factor had been wilfully disregarded that the Tribunal could begin to entertain any complaint."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: WHO STAFF REGULATION 4.4
Keywords:
appointment; competition; criteria; judicial review; post held by the complainant; selection board; vacancy;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The Tribunal has no power to interfere with [a decision to make an appointment] except upon limited grounds such as alleged irregularities of procedure". In the present case, "since these allegations have not been made out, the decision of the Director-General must stand."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; discretion; judicial review;
Judgment 281
37th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant, who was one of a number of candidates for a post in the organization, appeals against the Director-General's decision to appoint another candidate. "Such a decision falls within the discretionary authority of the Director-General and accordingly the Tribunal has only a limited power of review."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; discretion; judicial review;
Judgment 280
37th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The complainant contends that the sole purpose of [the] unusual series of competitions was to eliminate him. In other words, he alleges abuse of authority [...]. Even if the argument were well founded [...] that would not mean that the competitions were tainted with any procedural flaw." Nothing prevented the organization from holding further competitions in the circumstances described.
Keywords:
abuse of power; competition; misuse of authority; procedural flaw;
Judgment 238
33rd Session, 1974
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"The process of selection of civil servants should by its very nature be based not just on the results of an examination but on any other useful criteria. Account should be taken, not only of the candidates' possession of the expressly stipulated qualifications, but of their degrees and of their professional experience, which in itself constitutes a criterion for selection and one of particular relevance in recruiting civil servants."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; condition; degree; discretion; elements; open competition; professional experience; vacancy;
Considerations
Extract:
"An internal competition, of which the main purpose is to promote existing staff members, normally entails taking into consideration all the information available to the organisation concerning them, and in particular information which allows of appraising the professional experience of the candidates."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; discretion; elements; internal competition; professional experience; promotion; purpose;
Considerations
Extract:
The impugned decisions relate to two different competitions and are contested on different grounds, although "each of them affects the complainant's career in a very similar way. The complainant may therefore refer them to the Tribunal in one and the same complaint."
Keywords:
appointment; career; competition; consequence; decision; receivability of the complaint;
Considerations
Extract:
According to the vacancy notice, "the vacancy was to be filled, not by a competition in the strict sense of the term, but by selection. The process of selection of civil servants should by its very nature be based [...] on any [...] useful criteria."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; condition; discretion; open competition; vacancy; vacancy notice;
Considerations
Extract:
"[T]he board of examiners had a duty to determine whether or not the candidates should take a written examination. According to the notice of vacancy itself, the board was not obliged to hold such an examination. It was also free to decide, in the light of its inquiries, to choose only one candidate, even though provision had been made for filling two vacancies [...]."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; discretion; internal competition;
Considerations
Extract:
"In taking previous performance [of serving staff members] as one of its criteria for the classification of candidates, the Board of examiners [...] did not exceed its proper authority to make a general assessment of them and make a choice."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; condition; discretion; elements; internal competition; work appraisal;
Considerations
Extract:
"[T]he Selection Board had to select the best candidates by various criteria [...]. It was therefore entitled, after marking the written papers, to ask the organisation to reveal the names of the candidates so that it could fulfil its task by assessing the general suitability of each of them for employment in the international civil service."
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; discretion; fitness for international civil service; open competition; qualifications; selection board;
Judgment 208
30th Session, 1973
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The improprieties alleged by the complainant relate to posts put up for competition subsequently to his appointment, i.e. to procedures to which he was not a party. An official is not, however, entitled to complain of procedures in which he is not involved [...] In the present case the Tribunal is not called upon to consider the allegation of improprieties of procedure."
Keywords:
cause of action; competition; flaw; lack of injury; no cause of action; procedural flaw;
Judgment 166
25th Session, 1970
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"[I]n selecting an official for a vacant post the Director-General must base his decision not on a single criterion but on several considerations, such as occupational skill, length of service, experience, diligence, and suitability for performing the functions of an international official, which he must weigh individually in each case before arriving at a decision."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; discretion; elements; fitness for international civil service; qualifications; vacancy; work appraisal;
Judgment 112
18th Session, 1967
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"[T]he degree of success attained by the complainant in the competitions in which he took part is immaterial, his actual work during his probationary period being the only material factor." Failure to take account of the results of competitions is not a material fact in the matter at issue.
Keywords:
competition; probationary period; termination of employment; unsatisfactory service;
