Judgment 2049
91st Session, 2001
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
After lenghty negociations, the complainant accepted the offer of separation by mutual agreement (which increased by 50% his termination indemnity on the condition that he would not challenge the decision of separation either before the Appeals Board or the Tribunal). He pleads lack of consent. "The complainant cites financial difficulties and a 'reactive anxio-depressive clinical context' to demonstrate that he was in no state to consent freely. But the evidence shows that he had been examined by an expert chosen by mutual agreement between his doctor and the chief medical officer of [the organization] and that he had been found fit to resume work as from June 1996. There are no grounds for doubting that the complainant had all his mental faculties when, after lengthy negotiations, he finally accepted an offer which afforded him significant financial benefits. He has neither proved that his consent to the negotiated termination was deficient nor provided any evidence to cast doubt on its validity."
Keywords:
agreed termination; lack of consent; medical fitness; non-renewal of contract; offer; separation from service; terminal entitlements; waiver of right of appeal;
Judgment 1981
89th Session, 2000
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainant was placed on leave without pay. Although she was included in a reduction-in-force exercise, she was not successful and she was paid damages in lieu of reinstatement. She argues that her termination indemnity should be recalculated to take into account the period of leave. "The issue is therefore whether service time continued to accrue. the answer is that it did not accrue, since the organization opted to pay damages in lieu of reinstatement. As there was no reinstatement, service time did not occur."
Keywords:
abolition of post; compensation; leave; reinstatement; separation from service; terminal entitlements; unpaid leave;
Judgment 1934
88th Session, 2000
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant was offered an exceptional separation package on the condition that he not appeal his separation and/or its terms and conditions. He accepted the same day. "There is no evidence that these commitments - which the complainant now appears to regret - were tainted by a fraudulent attitude or pressure from the [organisation]. The complainant accepted the terms and conditions of the settlement that he made with the organisation, some of which were very favourable, and he cannot challenge them now."
Keywords:
abolition of post; agreed termination; good faith; terminal entitlements; termination of employment; waiver of right of appeal;
Judgment 1790
86th Session, 1999
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainant says that the Organisation has paid him a termination indemnity reckoned on the strength of only six years' service though he was on its staff for over twelve years. The defendant's answer is that according to the Staff Regulations the complainant had only six years' unbroken service. The Tribunal considers that "the defendant has misread its own rules. For the purpose of reckoning the total period of unbroken service they do not, as it makes out, distinguish between a year served as a fellow' and a year served as a staff member or auxiliary."
Keywords:
continuance of operations; interpretation; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1596
82nd Session, 1997
European Free Trade Association
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 25-26
Extract:
"The Tribunal is satisfied on the evidence that the Association calculated the extensions of the complainants' appointments so as to make the dates of expiry and of abolition of their posts coincide and to avoid paying them the [terminal] indemnities in accordance with Regulation 12.5(c). [...] EFTA was not free to manipulate renewal so as to avoid the payment of the indemnity where, if the normal pattern had been followed, the indemnity would have been payable. EFTA must therefore pay the complainants termination indemnities to be reckoned according to length of service as provided in Regulation 12.5."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: EFTA STAFF REGULATION 12.5
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; due process; extension of contract; separation from service; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1363
77th Session, 1994
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 42
Extract:
The complainant was charged with serious misconduct and dismissed. He regards the penalty he received as disproportionately severe in that, among other things, the organisation reduced his severance grant. "The EPO was fully justified in getting rid of an employee whose doings were a constant challenge to its authority and deeply disruptive of the public service and in using its power under [...] the Service Regulations to impose on him the further penalty of making the maximum allowable reduction in severance grant."
Keywords:
amount; breach; organisation's interest; staff member's duties; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements; termination of employment;
Judgment 1326
76th Session, 1994
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 13-14
Extract:
The complainant alleges breach of his right to a termination indemnity because his post was abolished by the ITU. The Tribunal holds that he was not dismissed but transferred from the ITU to another organisation under the inter-organization agreement concerning transfer, secondment or loan of staff among the organizations of the United Nations common system. Since his leaving the ITU did not result from the abolition of his post, he is not entitled to a termination indemnity.
Keywords:
abolition of post; coordinated organisations; inter-agency agreement; right; secondment; separation from service; terminal entitlements; termination of employment;
Judgment 1311
76th Session, 1994
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 9-10
Extract:
"In determining the amount of basic salary [...] as against the special allowances what counts is sums actually paid in salary, whatever they may be called and whatever method of accounting may be applied." The Tribunal holds that what the ESO regards as "special allowances" form part of "the basic salary that counts in reckoning the service indemnity where [it is] a regular additional item of pay."
Keywords:
allowance; base salary; definition; elements; reckoning; terminal entitlements;
Consideration 21
Extract:
The complainant, who reached retirement age, is challenging the amount he received in terminal entitlements. Two former officials, also retirees, have filed applications to intervene. "It appears from the wording of the applications that the interveners' cases were settled once and for all when they left the ESO. Their entitlements are therefore beyond challenge and this judgment may neither reduce nor increase them. The applications fail."
Keywords:
intervention; reckoning; request by a party; retirement; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1233
74th Session, 1993
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
The complainant objects to UNESCO's holding up her dismissal indemnity and to the slowness of the compensation procedure, for which she claims damages. "The evidence does reveal unfortunate delay and remarkable dilatoriness in settling the case. But the organization may not be held liable for any particular negligence warranting an award of special damages under this head. The delay in sorting out the various issues of the case was due to a combination of several factors: procedural complications, the changing nature of the complainant's health, her living far from headquarters, and the need - for her own sake too - for many medical inquiries."
Keywords:
administrative delay; allowance; delay; lack of injury; misconduct; refusal; request by a party; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1126
71st Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
Article 61(5) of the Interpol Staff Rules empowers the Secretary General to grant an official a supplementary indemnity on termination of appointment, "taking into account the particular circumstances relating to the personal situation of the official concerned". The Tribunal finds no evidence of such a "particular circumstance" in this case.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 61(5) OF THE INTERPOL STAFF RULES
Keywords:
amount; condition; discretion; enforcement; provision; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1124
71st Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant objects to the amount of his termination indemnity. He relies on a practice the organization followed before its staff regulations came into force, on breach of equal treatment and on the rules of other international organisations. For each plea the Tribunal refers to the answers it gave in Judgment 1080.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1080
Keywords:
amount; condition; equal treatment; practice; rule of another organisation; terminal entitlements;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant is not satisfied with the amount paid him in termination indemnity and submits that he has an acquired right to the application of the material provisions in French law. The Tribunal observes that "French law would have applied only if, and insofar as, there had been an agreement with the French government to that effect. There was none."
Keywords:
amount; applicable law; condition; domestic law; terminal entitlements;
Summary
Extract:
See Judgment 1126, summary.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 61(5) OF THE INTERPOL STAFF RULES
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1126
Keywords:
amount; condition; discretion; enforcement; provision; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1111
71st Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant, having tendered her resignation, was mistakenly paid a termination indemnity upon the transfer of Interpol's Headquarters to Lyons. The organisation ordered repayment. "[T]he Secretary General's decision to claim the sum back from her is a discretionary one. In deciding whether to demand full or part repayment he takes accounts of such factors as the staff member's good or bad faith, the sort of mistake that has been made, the organization's own and the staff member's negligence and the inconvenience which the demand, made necessary by the organization's own oversight, will put the staff member to. So the Tribunal will exercise only a limited power of review over the decision."
Keywords:
discretion; good faith; judicial review; negligence; recovery of overpayment; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1086
70th Session, 1991
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
In keeping with the Flemming principle and to make up for the end-of-service allowance paid to employees in Austria's private sector, general service staff at the IAEA, whose headquarters are in Vienna, got a percentage increase in gross salary from 1972 to 1987. As from 1987 the Agency brought in a system comparable to the one in Austrian enterprises. The complainants object to the IAEA's discounting service up to 1972 in reckoning the allowance. The Tribunal holds that by providing for a non-retroactive increase in applicable salary the Agency took a decision which had become final and that by replacing a system in force since 1972 by another was not in breach of any acquired right. No matter which method it followed, the Agency had complied with the Flemming principle.
Keywords:
compensatory measure; flemming principle; increase; non-retroactivity; salary; terminal entitlements; terms of appointment; time bar;
Judgment 1080
70th Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
Challenging the amount of the termination indemnity they received, the complainants rely on a practice Interpol followed before the Staff Regulations came into effect. Their plea fails. "Whatever arrangements may have been made before the Regulations came into force, they were neither so constant nor even so consistent as to afford evidence of the existence of any general rule."
Keywords:
amount; condition; practice; terminal entitlements;
Summary
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1126, summary.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 61.5 OF THE INTERPOL STAFF RULES
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1126
Keywords:
amount; condition; discretion; enforcement; provision; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Consideration 6
Extract:
The complainants object that the terminal entitlements Interpol granted them under the Staff Rules and Regulations were "paltry". "Even if there are rules the Tribunal may still check that the organisation has kept to the general principles that govern the international civil service, one of them being its duty to treat its staff considerately. As has been said before, an organisation must act from reasonable motives and not cause its staff unnecessary or undue prejudice."
Keywords:
enforcement; international civil service principles; judicial review; organisation's duties; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements;
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainants object to the amount of their terminal entitlements and point out that another official got a much higher amount through an error made by the organization. "The unlawful handling of one case does not entitle the complainants to the same unlawful treatment."
Keywords:
amount; equal treatment; exception; flaw; terminal entitlements;
Considerations 12-13
Extract:
In the complainants' view, the amount of their terminal entitlements was too low when compared to what other international organisations give, and they contend that the provisions of French social legislation apply to them. The Tribunal observes that Interpol is an independent international organisation and that there is no evidence of the organization's having agreed to apply French law.
Keywords:
amount; applicable law; domestic law; rule of another organisation; terminal entitlements;
Judgment 1079
70th Session, 1991
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
Interpol's Staff Regulations and Staff Rules provide staff members guarantees against the loss of grade or changes to their conditions of service in connection with the headquarters move. The organization having failed to comply in full with those obligations, as a result of which the complainant turned down the offer of transfer, the Tribunal refers the complainant to Interpol to determine the compensation to which he is entitled.
Keywords:
downgrading; promise; refusal; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements; terms of appointment; transfer; transfer of headquarters;
Judgment 1068
70th Session, 1991
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4, Summary
Extract:
The complainant received a termination indemnity under Article 11.6 of the ILO Staff Regulations (indemnity upon reduction of staff). She claims a more generous one under Article 11.16 (agreed termination). The indemnity under dispute was mentioned in an agreement signed in 1977, which the Tribunal recognised as valid in Judgment 404 of 24 April 1980. Besides, her entitlements were paid in full on 24 January 1979. Her claim of 20 December 1988 is therefore time- barred under Article 14.8 and also irreceivable under the res judicata rule.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLES 11.6 AND 11.16 OF THE ILO STAFF REGULATIONS
ILOAT Judgment(s): 404
Keywords:
agreed termination; internal appeal; receivability of the complaint; res judicata; terminal entitlements; time bar;
Judgment 1026
69th Session, 1990
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant's appointment was terminated upon the abolition of his post. The organization offered him 5000 United States dollars in compensation for the delay in dealing with the case. The Tribunal holds that this "does not measure up to the degree of moral and material injury [the organization] has caused the complainant, whose health has grown much worse since termination. The Tribunal believes that more reasonable awards would be $8,000 in damages and $2,000 towards costs."
Keywords:
abolition of post; administrative delay; amount; costs; internal appeal; internal appeals body; moral injury; terminal entitlements; termination of employment;
Judgment 1024
69th Session, 1990
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
Interpol's Staff Regulations and Staff Rules provide staff members guarantees against the loss of grade or changes to their conditions of service in connection with the headquarters move. The organization having failed to comply in full with those obligations, as a result of which the complainants turned down the offer of transfer, the Tribunal refers the complainants to interpol to determine the compensation to which they are entitled.
Keywords:
downgrading; promise; refusal; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements; terms of appointment; transfer; transfer of headquarters;
Judgment 1023
69th Session, 1990
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
See Judgment 1024.
Keywords:
downgrading; promise; refusal; staff regulations and rules; terminal entitlements; terms of appointment; transfer; transfer of headquarters;
Judgment 896
64th Session, 1988
Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"When his post is abolished someone with a fixed-term appointment is ordinarily entitled to fair compensation or other redress. The amount and the manner of determining it will depend on the particular circumstances of the organisation and an assessment of the staff member's own situation, and seniority, record of service and the terms of his appointment. The decision must not be discriminatory or tainted with any other flaw."
Keywords:
abolition of post; amount; compensation; contract; elements; fixed-term; organisation's duties; terminal entitlements; termination of employment;
