Judgment 1821
86th Session, 1999
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The principles governing the limits on the discretion of international organisations to set adjustments in staff pay [...] may be concisely stated as follows: (a) An international organisation is free to choose a methodology, system or standard of reference for determining salary adjustments for its staff provided that it meets all other principles of international civil service law [...]. (b) The chosen methodology must ensure that the results are 'stable, foreseeable and clearly understood' [...]. (c) Where the methodology refers to an external standard but grants discretion to the governing body to depart from that standard, the organisation has a duty to state proper reasons for such departure [...]. (d) While the necessity of saving money may be one valid factor to be considered in adjusting salaries provided the method adopted is objective, stable and foreseeable [...], the mere desire to save money at the staff's expense is not by itself a valid reason for departing from an established standard of reference [...]." (See cited case law.)
Keywords:
adjustment; budgetary reasons; case law; condition; coordinated organisations; cost-of-living increase; criteria; discretion; duty to inform; duty to substantiate decision; exception; executive body; good faith; grounds; international civil service principles; limits; organisation's duties; patere legem; rule of another organisation; salary; scale;
Judgment 1791
86th Session, 1999
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 15-16
Extract:
"The complainants contend that [...] the impugned decision was in breach of [...] their right to a steady level of pay. [...] [T]hey maintain that [...] the Organization acted in breach of the general principle of the international civil service known as Noblemaire. The Tribunal is satisfied that there was no breach here of any principle of the international civil service. [...] [T]he measure the complainants are objecting to was exceptional and limited in time. As for their right to a steady level of pay, that measure neither changed the pay scales nor had any impact whatever on terms of employment in the long term. The conclusion is that there was no breach of acquired rights."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; breach; exception; international civil service principles; noblemaire principle; official; provisional decision; reduction of salary; right; salary; scale; terms of appointment;
Judgment 1682
84th Session, 1998
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The decisions taken by the [Organisation] each year on pay fully supersede earlier ones. In entertaining challenges to individual decisions on the complainants' pay [...] the Tribunal will look at the latest decision [...] on pay scales."
Keywords:
adjustment; complaint; decision; general decision; individual decision; period; receivability of the complaint; salary; scale;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"True, Article R 4 1.01 [of the EMBL Staff Regulations] does not commit [the EMBL] to granting [its staff] all the adjustments that apply to the staff of the coordinated organizations. Yet the provision does not leave it quite free to apply only in part, let alone to cast aside altogether, the decisions of those organisations. [...] Of course it may switch to another system or standard of reference [...] but as long as [...] the system [...] holds good [...] the staff are entitled to the safeguards that R 4 1.01 bestows: objective arbitrament and sure figures."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE R 4 1.01 OF EMBL STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
adjustment; amendment to the rules; coordinated organisations; organisation's duties; rule of another organisation; safeguard; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1641
83rd Session, 1997
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7(a)
Extract:
The Flemming principle "demands that, so far as can be, pay in the international civil service should stay on a par with the best pay on the local market. Since for the time being there is neither a continuing survey nor a new one interim adjustment answers the purpose of Flemming. Yet [...] it is not at odds with that purpose to make the adjustment for the last period retroactive in the light of the findings of the general survey. During that period, which is short, the idea of interim adjustment is not discarded but the grant of it simply made subject to other conditions."
Keywords:
adjustment; condition; flemming principle; general service category; inquiry; investigation; period; purpose; salary; scale;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The Tribunal holds that "if [the rules for reckoning post adjustments] reflect the current state of the employment market and the financial straits that some organisations are in, the Commission and the Organization may not be held liable on that account."
Keywords:
adjustment; budgetary reasons; decision; icsc decision; organisation; salary; scale;
Consideration 2
Extract:
The case concerns the "general methodology" which provides the procedure for the salary surveys done under the auspices of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and which permits adjustments in pay. The ICSC and the United Nations were granted leave to intervene, but the complainants object to the intervention by the UN. "Under Article 13, paragraph 3, of the Rules of the Tribunal the President may allow submissions from a third party." The Tribunal holds that it was appropriate to allow the United Nations to comment, "the aim being to make for uniform application of the rules to the organisations of the United Nations 'common system'."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE 13(3) OF THE RULES
Keywords:
adjustment; coordinated organisations; enforcement; icsc decision; iloat statute; inquiry; investigation; organisation; president of the tribunal; rule of another organisation; salary; scale; submissions;
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainants are challenging the methodology laid down for carrying out salary surveys and a decision by WIPO reflected in their pay slips to apply that method. The Tribunal holds that they have a cause of action, which is is to obtain from the Tribunal "a declaration that the rule and the decision they are challenging would still be unlawful even if they had later got the increase that was withheld for the six months prior to the general survey. They would indeed have been slightly better off had they received the increase earlier. They are also entitled to a decision as to whether the rule they are challenging holds good for the future."
Keywords:
adjustment; cause of action; decision; decision quashed; increase; increment withheld; inquiry; investigation; payslip; receivability of the complaint; salary; scale;
Consideration 7(a)
Extract:
Preserving accrued benefits is not the aim of the Flemming principle: "it requires no more than alignment with the best conditions at the duty station."
Keywords:
acquired right; adjustment; flemming principle; purpose; salary; scale;
Judgment 1604
82nd Session, 1997
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
The complainants want the ICSC to correct a mistake it made in reckoning their post adjustment retroactively. The Tribunal holds that "making a decision retroactive would require the calculation of the past pay of all the staff concerned, including those who have since left. The Commission's practice is to have its decisions take effect only in a few months' time so that the Secretariat and the organisations may make the calculations. The Tribunal concludes that it is neither necessary nor even reasonable to require retroactive application of the revised method. [...] All the Commission can do is to keep [the various elements] under review and, when defects do emerge, revise the method so as to make the correction reasonably soon."
Keywords:
decision; effect; icsc decision; non-retroactivity; post adjustment; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1519
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The Tribunal's power of review over the setting of pay has been defined in, for example, Judgments 1000 [...], 1265 [...], 1498 [...] and 1499 [...]. Thus Judgment 1265 says that the Tribunal will review both the validity of the criteria on which the methodology rests and the [International Civil Service] Commission's compliance with the methodology."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1000, 1265, 1498, 1499
Keywords:
case law; icsc decision; judicial review; salary; scale;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The revision of 1992 [of the general methodology which the International Civil Service Commission applies to salary service] did result in a reduction of outside employees' fringe benefits. [...] According to the survey [...] the goods and services taken into account were such that the effect of the change was slight. So the revision is not to be deemed unlawful on that score, the Commission exercised its discretion".
Keywords:
discretion; flemming principle; fringe benefits; general service category; icsc decision; inquiry; investigation; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1498
80th Session, 1996
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 14
Extract:
"As is plain from the case law, the setting of pay scales is at an organisation's discretion. The Tribunal has recognised as much in Judgments 1000 [...] and 1265 [...], where under 26 it said, quite specifically, that it would not interfere in the drafting of the salary policy that the exercise of such discretion was based on, even though it did have power of review in the area. The discretionary authority of the Agency holds good for interim adjustments as well as for the setting of pay scales on the strength of the five-yearly general surveys."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1000, 1265
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; discretion; judicial review; salary; scale;
Judgment 1423
79th Session, 1995
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
Since the complainant's grade is P.2 he "has no locus standi in challenging any new salary scales applicable to the general service category of staff. Because he belongs to another category of staff the revision of those scales cannot cause him injury."
Keywords:
cause of action; claim; complainant; general service category; injury; lack of injury; professional category; receivability of the complaint; salary; scale;
Judgment 1356
77th Session, 1994
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"In refusing the complainant's claims the Union has acted in accordance with its own rules and with its obligations as a member of the common system and under the Statute of the International Civil Service Commission. Those claims are nothing more than an attempt to challenge the pay scales under the guise of attacking the multiplier."
Keywords:
adjustment; coordinated organisations; icsc decision; icsc statute; organisation's duties; reckoning; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1311
76th Session, 1994
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The hallmark of 'basic salary' is that it takes the form of regular and uniform payments to local staff by virtue of their status as such, according to prescribed scales and at set dates. The 'special allowances' are distinguishable by being due only in particular circumstances that are usually peculiar to each staff member".
Keywords:
allowance; base salary; definition; scale; social benefits;
Judgment 1280
75th Session, 1993
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 29
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1279, consideration 29.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1279
Keywords:
adjustment; discretion; executive head; flemming principle; general service category; local status; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1279
75th Session, 1993
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 29
Extract:
The organization carried out a review of the salary scales for general-service staff on the basis of an overall survey of local employment conditions. The complainants object to the new scales. "Whether the list of local employers makes a reasonable cross- section of economic sectors and whether the fund and the world bank are too closely linked to be taken separately are matters of appreciation that must ultimately be decided by the Director in the exercise of his discretion."
Keywords:
adjustment; discretion; executive head; flemming principle; general service category; local status; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1266
75th Session, 1993
International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 21
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, consideration 21.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 382, 825
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; coordinated organisations; general service category; icsc decision; local status; organisation's duties; reckoning; right of appeal; salary; scale; tribunal;
Consideration 24
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, consideration 24.
Keywords:
adjustment; competence of tribunal; coordinated organisations; declaration of recognition; general service category; icsc decision; local status; official; organisation's duties; reckoning; right of appeal; salary; scale; written rule;
Consideration 23
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, consideration 23.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1197
Keywords:
adjustment; adversarial proceedings; coordinated organisations; duty to inform; general service category; icsc decision; local status; organisation's duties; reckoning; salary; scale; tribunal;
Considerations 26 and 28
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, considerations 26 and 28.
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; criteria; discretion; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; limits; local status; reckoning; salary; scale;
Considerations 26 and 29
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, considerations 26 and 29.
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; criteria; discretion; icsc decision; judicial review; limits; municipal court; reckoning; salary; scale;
Considerations 26-27
Extract:
Vide Judgment 1265, considerations 26 and 27.
Keywords:
adjustment; criteria; discretion; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; limits; local status; reckoning; salary; scale; staff member's interest;
Judgment 1265
75th Session, 1993
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 26 and 29
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organisations whose headquarters are in Geneva. The complainants submit that the ICSC's decisions are invalid. "The Tribunal may not interfere in the exercise of [the organization's] discretion or in the drafting of the salary policy it is based on. But it does have a power of review in this area which is clearly defined [...] the Tribunal has, like other international and national administrative tribunals, set criteria for what may be termed 'external' or 'marginal' review of discretionary decisions, and [...] they were set out in detail in Judgment 1000, under 12."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1000
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; compensation; criteria; discretion; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; limits; municipal court; reckoning; salary; scale;
Consideration 24
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organisations whose headquarters are in Geneva. The complainants submit that the ICSC's decisions are invalid. "Insofar as such standards are found to be flawed they may not be imposed on the staff and WIPO must if need be replace them with provisions that comply with the law of the international civil service. That is an essential feature of the principles governing the international legal system the Tribunal is called upon to safeguard. It is therefore plain that the complainants' rights to judicial process are safeguarded by the defendant organization's recognition of the Tribunal's jurisdiction. Such jurisdiction may not be restricted by the introduction into the organization's Staff Regulations or Rules adopted by bodies outside the Tribunal's competence."
Keywords:
adjustment; competence of tribunal; coordinated organisations; declaration of recognition; general service category; icsc decision; international civil service principles; judicial review; local status; official; organisation's duties; reckoning; right of appeal; salary; scale; staff member's interest; written rule;
Considerations 26 and 28
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organisations whose headquarters are in Geneva. The complainants submit that the ICSC's decisions are invalid. "The Tribunal may not interfere in the exercise of such discretion or in the drafting of the salary policy it is based on. But it does have a power of review in this area which is clearly defined [...] there are specific [factors] that in this comparative sort of exercise must be taken in isolation from the rest and subject to critical evaluation. Judgment 1000 [...] illustrates how such a procedure may yield notable results. In this case the information provided by the Commission shows that it is quite possible to isolate the factor at issue and even to put exact figures on the effects they have on the salary scale."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1000
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; criteria; discretion; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; limits; local status; reckoning; salary; scale;
Consideration 21
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of its staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organisations whose headquarters are in Geneva. The organization, having thus complied with the obligations it derives from membership of the common system, "may not in that way decline or limit its own responsibility towards the members of its staff or lessen the degree of judicial protection it owes them. The Tribunal has already had occasion to speak of that responsibility and to stress the duty of any organisation that introduces elements of the common system or any other outside system into its own rules to make sure that the texts it thereby imports are lawful: see Judgment 825 [...], under 18, which in turn refers to Judgment 382 [...], under 6."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 382, 825
Keywords:
adjustment; case law; coordinated organisations; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; local status; organisation's duties; reckoning; right of appeal; salary; scale;
Considerations 26-27
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organisations whose headquarters are in Geneva. The complainants submit that the ICSC's decisions are invalid. "[T]he Tribunal may not interfere in the exercise of such discretion or in the drafting of the salary policy it is based on. But it does have a power of review in this area which is clearly defined [...] it will consider in the event of dispute whether the Commission's methodology has been properly observed. The methodology is an important factor in ensuring that the results are stable, foreseeable and clearly understood. And though the Commission is free to choose its methods, once it has chosen them the staff may expect them to be followed in all circumstances."
Keywords:
adjustment; criteria; discretion; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; limits; local status; patere legem; reckoning; salary; scale; staff member's interest;
Consideration 23
Extract:
The organization, a member of the "common system" administered by the ICSC, revised the salaries of staff in the general service category in keeping with a scale drawn up by the ICSC for organistions whose headquarters are in Geneva. WIPO says it is unable to submit any comments on the complainants arguments because it lacked authority to set the salary scales. Having done what was required to import the challenged scale in full into WIPO's own rules and thereby endorsed the ICSC's decisions without qualification, the Director General then "took up an unhelpful posture and thereby prevented before the Tribunal the adversarial pleadings that are an essential feature of judicial process and, besides, indispensable for providing the Tribunal with adequate information: see Judgment 1197 [...], under 13 and 14."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1197
Keywords:
adjustment; adversarial proceedings; coordinated organisations; duty to inform; general service category; icsc decision; judicial review; local status; organisation's duties; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1241
74th Session, 1993
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 19
Extract:
The complainants object to the way of reckoning their premiums "the change the complainants object to is part of wider reforms the WHO made to put the scheme on a sounder financial footing over the long term. The Organization is right to pursue that aim by all suitable means at its disposal, and they include measures to ensure that, in keeping with the notion of mutual aid, everyone bears a fair share of costs."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; budgetary reasons; contributions; illness; insurance; scale; social solidarity; written rule;
Judgment 1199
73rd Session, 1992
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The complainants plead breach of their acquired rights concerning pay. "In this case the changes were made because of shifts in economic trends and tax rules in the United States [...] The competent authorities [...] decided in the exercise of their discretion to keep the link with the civil service of the member State - the United States - that is customarily the 'comparator' in determining pay in the international civil service. Their solution is not intrinsically unlawful."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 832
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; discretion; domestic law; general principle; noblemaire principle; reckoning; salary; scale;
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainants contend "that the arrangement for adjustment ought to have reflected average economic trends in more than just one country. That is to question the whole basis of the pensions scheme. The United States federal civil service was the 'comparator' for determining the pay and pensions in the United Nations common system. It was therefore only reasonable to take economic trends in the United States alone into account. So it was not just a matter of policy: the ILO's decision was a logical application of the prescribed approach."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 832
Keywords:
adjustment; coordinated organisations; domestic law; general principle; noblemaire principle; pension; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1160
72nd Session, 1992
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 11, 12 and 17
Extract:
Salary scales for locally-recruited staff in the general service category are reviewed every few years on the strength of comprehensive surveys of local practice. The ICSC having approved a new "general methodology" for making the surveys, WHO decided to apply it. "Although the methodology was not binding on the Organization merely by virtue of the Commission's approval of it, the Organization's decision to apply it is one that it is not free afterwards to disclaim. [...] It is inconsistent for the Organization to argue before the Tribunal that there was nothing wrong with the surveys when the methodology was not strictly followed. [...] Because the survey was not carried out in accordance with the approved methodology the case must be sent back to the Director-General for a new decision".
Keywords:
adjustment; general service category; icsc decision; inquiry; investigation; local status; organisation's duties; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1130
71st Session, 1991
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The Organisation granted the complainants incremental steps on a provisional basis while awaiting for new salary scales to come into force. The Tribunal holds that "there was nothing unlawful about replacing them several months later with retroactive decisions granting them lower steps."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; increment; provisional decision; reduction of salary; salary; scale; step; withdrawal of decision;
Judgment 1001
68th Session, 1990
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainants, who are employed by UNIDO in the general service category, seek the quashing of decisions setting their pay according to the new salary scales brought in as from 1 October 1987. They are objecting to the flat 2.4 per cent salary cut included in scales drawn up on the basis of an International Civil Service Commission recommendation to account for the so-called "commissary benefit". UNIDO Staff Regulation 6.5(a) says that the pay of staff in the general service category shall be based on "the best prevailing conditions of employment in the locality" (Flemming principle). The Tribunal holds that for the purpose of establishing parity with local pay the only relevant items are the ones defined in the Staff Regulations and financial rules of the organisation and paid out of its own funds. It follows that such a benefit as access to the commissary, which is provided for neither in the Staff Regulations nor in the financial rules and is a form of tax relief bestowed by the host country at no cost to the Organisation, may not count in a comparison of this nature. The Organization's decision to reduce salaries is unlawful and cannot stand. The cases are sent back to UNIDO for the recalculation of their pay.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: UNIDO STAFF REGULATION 6.5(A)
Keywords:
elements; enforcement; flaw; flemming principle; fringe benefits; general service category; headquarters agreement; icsc decision; privileges and immunities; reckoning; reduction of salary; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1000
68th Session, 1990
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainants, who are employed by the IAEA in the general service category, seek the quashing of decisions setting their pay according to the new salary scales brought in as from 1 October 1987. They are objecting to the flat 2.4 per cent salary cut included in scales drawn up on the basis of an International Civil Service Commission recommendation to account for the so-called "commissary benefit". Annex II.B.1 of the Agency's Provisional Staff Regulations says that the pay of staff in the general service category shall be based on "the best prevailing conditions of employment in the locality" (Flemming principle). The Tribunal holds that for the purpose of establishing parity with local pay the only relevant items are the ones defined in the Staff Regulations and financial rules of the organisation and paid out of its own funds. It follows that such a benefit as access to the commissary, which is provided for neither in the Staff Regulations nor in the financial rules and is a form of tax relief bestowed by the host country at no cost to the organisation, may not count in a comparison of this nature. The Agency's decision to reduce salaries is unlawful and cannot stand. The cases are sent back to the Agency for the recalculation of their pay.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ANNEX II.B.1 OF THE IAEA PROVISIONAL STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
elements; enforcement; flaw; flemming principle; fringe benefits; general service category; headquarters agreement; icsc decision; privileges and immunities; reckoning; reduction of salary; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
