Judgment 1784
86th Session, 1999
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
"Under Manual paragraph I.2.510 the Organization is empowered to require that the original bills be attached to the form that the staff member must fill up to claim the education grant. It does not have to accept evidence of the sort the complainant is offering. It will evaluate any alternative proof he may produce in the absence of the bills. Original documents must have gone astray before, and it is often possible to reconstitute them. It is up to the Organization to decide - subject to review by the Tribunal - whether the proof offered is satisfactory."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PARAGRAPH I.2.510 OF WHO MANUAL
Keywords:
admissibility of evidence; allowance; application for execution; appraisal of evidence; burden of proof; complainant; disclosure of evidence; discretion; education expenses; evidence; judicial review; lack of evidence;
Judgment 1366
77th Session, 1994
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 13-14
Extract:
The complainant's education grant gave rise to an overpayment. He pleads that there is a time limit for the recovery of overpayments. The UPU observes that "any payment made in error may be recovered" but it has nevertheless waived some of the sum due. "In the circumstances the time limit the union has set is much to the complainant's advantage and his plea under this head therefore fails."
Keywords:
amount; education expenses; recovery of overpayment; refund; time bar; time limit; unjust enrichment;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
The complainant's education allowance gave rise to an overpayment. He alleges breach of the rule against retroactivity. "He is wrong. [...] What is at issue is the recovery of overpayments; and the complainant [...] must have been aware of the patent disproportion between the advances he was receiving and the education expenses he had actually incurred. So he may not properly plead any mistake in interpretation."
Keywords:
amount; education expenses; non-retroactivity; recovery of overpayment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Consideration 10
Extract:
The complainant's education grant gave rise to an overpayment. "He seeks to justify his behaviour by pleading that other staff members had done the same. The plea fails because equality in law does not embrace equality in the breach of it."
Keywords:
amount; education expenses; equal treatment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Judgment 1347
77th Session, 1994
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 15-16
Extract:
The complainant received a study allowance for her tuition costs in an amount greater than she was entitled to. The PAHO asked her to repay the overpayment and took away some of her responsibilities. She regards the removal of certain responsibilities as unwarranted disciplinary action. But "the PAHO was entitled to take administrative action to prevent lapses in the future. Changing her duties for those reasons may not be regarded as a disciplinary measure either."
Keywords:
allowance; amendment to the rules; disciplinary measure; education expenses; organisation's interest; post description; recovery of overpayment; unjust enrichment;
Consideration 13
Extract:
The complainant received financial aid from the PAHO to pursue her studies. Her university waived part of her tuition fees so that the cost to her was less than the amount she collected. "The conclusion is that she did not take sufficient care to make full disclosure to the organization of the assistance given by the university."
Keywords:
allowance; amount; duty to inform; education expenses; refund; staff member's duties; unjust enrichment;
Consideration 14
Extract:
The complainant received financial aid from the PAHO to pursue her studies. Her university waived part of her tuition fees so that the cost to her was less than the amount she collected. "Having obtained financial benefits to which she was not entitled, the complainant was under an obligation to refund the over-payments and the PAHO was entitled to recover them."
Keywords:
allowance; amount; education expenses; recovery of overpayment; refund; unjust enrichment;
Judgment 1118
71st Session, 1991
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 18-19
Extract:
The complainants seek the quashing of a 1.25 per cent "reduction" in the repayment of education expenses in keeping with a decision taken by Eurocontrol's Permanent Commission to bring in a 5 per cent differential between net pay at Eurocontrol and net pay in the European Communities. The Tribunal holds that "the objection that there has been no statement of the reasons is unsound: the staff have known all along the reasons for the adjustments, which have been fully discussed in the context of the cases. There was therefore no need to state reasons for the individual decisions [...]. The Tribunal may [not] review the reasons of policy underlying the general decision." Besides, the reasons fall within the ambit of Article 65.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 65 OF THE EUROCONTROL STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
adjustment; competence of tribunal; duty to substantiate decision; education expenses; general decision; grounds; individual decision; judicial review; reduction of salary; refund; salary;
Consideration 25
Extract:
"According to Articles 62 and 67 of the Staff Regulations, one item of pay is family allowances; they include the education allowance, of which education expenses form a part, and, contrary to what the complainants make out, the fact that such expenses are paid on the strength of supporting evidence does not make the education allowance as a whole any less an item of pay."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLES 62 AND 67 OF THE EUROCONTROL STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
education expenses; elements; family allowance; refund; salary;
Judgment 1096
70th Session, 1991
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
In Judgment 963 the Tribunal set aside in part an initial reduction in the rate of refund of educational expenses at Eurocontrol insofar as the reduction was given retroactive effect. The present complaints challenge the second reduction. Recalling a recurring principle in the case law (see Judgments 726 and 825) that "a reduction in pay may not be so great as to disrupt the structure of the terms of appointment and that there must be sound reasons for it", the Tribunal orders further submissions in which the defendant organisation shall explain in greater detail the favourable effects of the measure.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 726, 825, 963
Keywords:
duty to substantiate decision; education expenses; further submissions; interlocutory order; reduction of salary; refund; salary;
Judgment 1051
69th Session, 1990
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
ITU Staff Regulation 3.11.II.C.1 provides for differential reimbursement of education expenses according to whether or not the educational institution provides the child with board. The complainant submits that such a provision is discriminatory; as his son attends a school which does not provide board, he gets a smaller amount than others. The Tribunal holds that different contingencies call for different means of reimbursement.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ITU STAFF REGULATION 3.11.II.C.1
Keywords:
difference; education expenses; equal treatment; refund;
Judgment 963
66th Session, 1989
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainants received notification in their pay slips of a 0.7 per cent reduction in the refundable amount of education expenses which they had incurred. The organisation contends that the pay slips merely confirmed earlier decisions, viz. a general decision of 7 July 1987. The Tribunal holds that the impugned decisions were individual ones that cause the complainants injury, and not confirmations of earlier decisions.
Keywords:
cause of action; confirmatory decision; decision; deduction; education expenses; general decision; individual decision; payslip; receivability of the complaint; reduction of salary; refund; salary;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Since the impugned decisions retroactively reduce the refundable amount of education expenses, they are unlawful and cannot stand."
Keywords:
allowance; amount; education expenses; non-retroactivity; reduction of salary; refund;
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainants challenge Eurocontrol's decision to reduce the amount of education expenses to be refunded to them insofar as it applied retroactively. Though the Director General's decisions are the only ones the Tribunal may quash and those under challenge did not have retroactive effect, "a staff member may challenge in an individual appeal the lawfulness of any decision of the [Permanent] Commission's that affords the basis in law for a decision by the appointing authority if he believes the latter decision to be at odds - as indeed here the decisions are - with a rule or principle that governs the international civil service."
Keywords:
decision; education expenses; enforcement; executive head; international civil service principles; judicial review; legislative body; non-retroactivity; reduction of salary; refund; salary;
Judgment 743
58th Session, 1986
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"In the event of divorce the duty to maintain and bring up the child falls mainly on the parent who is granted custody, the other having only a right of supervision and a duty to make some financial contribution. Thus the spouse who is granted custody should ordinarily be deemed to bear actual and lasting responsibility for the child and should be entitled to payment of the child allowance."
Keywords:
definition; dependent child; education expenses; family allowance; parents separated;
Judgment 666
56th Session, 1985
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainants seek payment of the education allowance to which they were entitled at the IPI. The Tribunal holds that on the basis of the transfer agreement between the IPI and the EPO the latter is not under obligation to pay the education allowance insofar as the organisation offsets the education costs borne by its officials. The Tribunal exempts the case where actual costs are not offset.
Keywords:
allowance; compensatory measure; consequence; discontinuance; education expenses; merger; refund;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"As the Tribunal has consistently held, an allowance may form an essential part of the official's contract in that he considered it to be of decisive importance when he accepted employment, and its abolition would therefore constitute breach of an acquired right; but he has no acquired right to the actual amount of the allowance or to continuance of any particular method of reckoning it. Indeed he must expect these to change as circumstances change."
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; case law; discontinuance; education expenses; reckoning;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The organisation "does concede that there may be some actual costs to be refunded. If that were so, then under the safeguard in [the material provisions] transferred officials would undoubtedly be entitled to refund. That is an issue of fact, and one on which the Tribunal cannot rule. It is up to the complainants to ask the [organisation] to [...] refund their actual costs not otherwise covered. The Tribunal holds that on the correct construction of the [material provisions] they would be entitled to have any such sums repaid."
Keywords:
education expenses; refund; right;
Judgment 540
49th Session, 1982
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
Staff Rules impose a duty on the organization to provide a staff member with clear and precise information on all charges of which he is accused. In particular the complainant should have been informed of the period during which the WHO alleges he submitted medical and education grant claims supported by forged or false documents. "It is not difficult to conceive of cases in which such an omission would constitute an irreparable flaw in the procedure laid down". In the particular circumstances of this case, the Tribunal did not find that there had been a breach of the Rules.
Keywords:
duty to substantiate decision; education expenses; medical expenses; misrepresentation; refund; request by a party; serious misconduct; termination of employment;
Judgment 518
49th Session, 1982
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
It is stipulated under a staff regulation that the organisation shall, under certain conditions, pay the fees charged by an international school, in which case the right to the education allowance established under two other regulations shall be waived. The Tribunal inferred from the reference to these two regulations that the material rule has the same scope as the other two rules, namely that it applies to primary schools but not to nursery schools or kindergartens. The complaint, which applied for reimbursement of kindergarten fees, is dismissed. [There is no breach of the principle of equality.]
Keywords:
condition; education expenses; enforcement; provision; refund; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 497
48th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant maintains that in an American university an academic year consists of the time taken to complete the courses prescribed for a scholastic year; it is open to the student, she says, to take four, five or six terms instead of the customary three. "The Tribunal on the other hand considers it to be beyond doubt that the regulation [providing for an education grant] refers to a scholastic year not exceeding twelve months."
Keywords:
allowance; education expenses; period;
Summary
Extract:
As the money [an education grant] was paid by mistake, prima facie it is recoverable. "But the extent to which recovery will be ordered depends on the circumstances of the case. In this case the Tribunal considers that it will be sufficient if the complainant repays half."
Keywords:
allowance; condition; education expenses; recovery of overpayment; unjust enrichment;
Judgment 486
48th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"It is to be noted that the change in the complainant's situation affected [statutory] entitlements [...] these are expatriate entitlements designed for recruits from abroad who will wish to maintain their contacts with the home country, the most important being grants for home leave and education. They are more freely available to officials in the P grades than to those in the GS."
Keywords:
allowance; consequence; education expenses; general service category; home leave; professional category; promotion; right;
Judgment 472
47th Session, 1982
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The EPO contends that the purpose of the education allowance is to help in acquiring skills required for employment, but not in providing further training within a chosen profession. It also relies on the construction put on similar rules by the Commission of the European Communities. The Tribunal will not apply, even by analogy, rules which are in force in another international organisation. In any event, it is out of the question that the Tribunal should consider, as the complainant suggests, whether the Commission of the European Communities exceeded its authority in adopting [rules similar to the material provision]."
Keywords:
allowance; applicable law; education expenses; law of european communities; purpose; rule of another organisation;
Considerations 4, 7 and 8
Extract:
According to a statutory provision, an education allowance is payable for a child "regularly attending, on a full-time basis, an educational establishment." The purpose of the intensive language courses taken by the complainant's son was to provide "further instruction in a particular area, not in furtherance of general education, but solely to facilitate in practice the exercise of a profession." The fact that the studies lasted for six consecutive months does not alter the character of the studies. The school in question "can be regarded only as a college providing training for taking up employment." The allowance is therefore not payable.
Keywords:
allowance; condition; education expenses;
Judgment 371
42nd Session, 1979
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
Expatriation, education and leave expense allowances are matters of importance to someone joining the staff of an international organisation. "The question therefore arises whether the outright abolition of such allowances would in principle violate an acquired right. There is, however, no acquired right to the amount and the conditions of payment of such allowances. Indeed the staff member should expect amendments to be prompted by changes in circumstances if, for example, the cost of living rises or falls, or the organisation reforms its structure, or even finds itself in financial difficulty.
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; reckoning;
Judgment 368
42nd Session, 1979
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
Vide Judgment 371, consideration 8.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 371
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; reckoning;
Judgment 366
41st Session, 1978
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
"[E]xpatriation, education and leave expense allowances are matters of importance to someone who joins the staff of an organisation. The question therefore arises whether the outright abolition of such allowances would not violate an acquired right. There is, however, no acquired right to the amount and the conditions of payment of such allowances. Indeed the staff member should expect amendments to be prompted by changes in circumstances if, for example, the cost of living rises or falls, or the organisation reforms its structure, or even finds itself in financial difficulty."
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; refund;
Judgment 365
41st Session, 1978
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
Vide Judgment 366, consideration 11.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 366
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; refund;
Judgment 292
38th Session, 1977
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The provision on school fees "provides for an allowance and not the reimbursement of fees; it does not require proof of the amount actually spent".
Keywords:
allowance; condition; education expenses; evidence; refund;
Consideration 13
Extract:
The complaint seeks the refund of education expenses. "On [the first day of every month] the organisation, if the complainant is right, acted adversely towards him by failing to adopt the measure prescribed [...]. However, the time limit of three months, running backwards from the [date of] application [...] means that claims in respect of [earlier] payments are time-barred."
Keywords:
allowance; continuing breach; education expenses; injury; payment; receivability of the complaint; refund; time bar;
Consideration 25
Extract:
" [I]t is within the power of the Director-General to lay down by means of an instruction criteria for determining what is or is not 'reasonably near', provided that in doing so he has proper regard to the nature and purpose of the [material provision]. [...] He must be guided by accessibility for school children [...] to lay down [...] that for every official [...] every school within a radius of 50 kilometers [...] is to be deemed accessible is not a proper exercise of the power. Accordingly the provision to this effect [...] is not binding upon the complainant."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; competence; condition; criteria; education expenses; enforcement; executive head; interpretation; provision; refund; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 270
36th Session, 1976
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
If the parents are separated, "payment of [the higher school]allowance is warranted where the child attends school away from the place of residence of the parent with whom he normally lives [...] if [...] the child attends school at the place of residence of the parent who has custody of him, that is a normal situation and there is no reason to pay the allowance at the higher rate. It is immaterial that the parents are separated and that, though living with his mother, the child is a dependant of the father. It is true that in the present case the child's maintenance is in general more costly to the father than it would be if father and son were living together. But that is a consequence not of the choice of school but of the separation of the parents, and the organisation cannot be held liable therefor."
Keywords:
allowance; amount; condition; dependent child; education expenses; parents separated; rate; residence;
