Judgment 1636
83rd Session, 1997
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
Under dispute is a decision by the Secretary-General to hold new elections for staff representatives on the ITU's Staff Pension Committee. Although "the executive head took the impugned decision not on behalf of the pension fund but in the exercise of the authority he has, or believes he has, to act for the organisation" the Tribunal lacks jurisdiction because the case is about the Secretary-General's failure to observe Article 6 of the Regulations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; decision; election; fund regulations; staff pension committee; staff representative; tribunal; unjspf;
Judgment 1565
82nd Session, 1997
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The complainant argues that since it was unlawful to have no staff representative on the Selection Committee its recommendation too was unlawful. [...] But since the provisions on the membership of the Committee are not binding, and if no staff representative chooses to attend, that cannot have the effect of invalidating its recommendations."
Keywords:
advisory body; composition of the internal appeals body; flaw; promotion; promotion board; recommendation; staff representative;
Judgment 1542
81st Session, 1996
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"A complaint is receivable only if it is about an individual official's status as an employee of the organisation, not about the collective interests of trade unionists." Insofar as the present complaint purports to be made on behalf of a trade union it is irreceivable.
Keywords:
cause of action; competence of tribunal; complainant; complaint; contract; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union; status of complainant;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"This complaint, which seeks the grant of staff union facilities [...], does concern the exercise of the freedom of association that Article 30 of the Service Regulations guarantees. So the Tribunal is competent ratione materiae under Article II(5) and (6)(a) of its Statute, whereby it is open to any official - even one whose employment has ceased - who alleges breach in substance or in form of the Staff Regulations."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II (5) AND (6)(A) OF THE STATUTE
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 30 OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; complainant; complaint; facilities; freedom of association; iloat statute; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules; staff representative; staff union; staff union activity; status of complainant; vested competence;
Judgment 1520
81st Session, 1996
World Tourism Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The Organization objects "that the complainants are just acting as a front for the Staff Association and fall foul of the precedents that declare complaints by such associations to be irreceivable: see for example Judgment 911. [The Tribunal finds that] the complainants have filed complaints in their own name and are quite free to claim rights as officials of the WTO by the means at their disposal."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 911
Keywords:
case law; competence of tribunal; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 1451
79th Session, 1995
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 18
Extract:
"In Judgment 1932 - submits the [organisation] - the Tribunal held under 18 and 24 that [...] a suit, [filed in the general interests of the civil service,] of which the hallmark is action by staff associations or agents professing to represent them, does not form part of the system of individual appeal that the organisations which have recognised the Tribunal's jurisdiction commonly provide for in their rules and that the Tribunal's own Statute contemplates. The Tribunal need not revert to that case law since this is not such a complaint. It has been filed by several officials with the commendable aim of making the proceedings simpler, and each of them is defending his own individual interests, even though they are the same as the others'. The objection [to receivability for being a 'collective' complaint] fails."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1392
Keywords:
case law; competence of tribunal; complainant; complaint; iloat statute; internal appeal; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 1392
78th Session, 1995
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 24
Extract:
"The appeal procedure set forth in the Service Regulations is, to quote Article 106, an individual appeals system. Such too is the basic feature of the system of appeal embodied in Article II of the Statute of the Tribunal, though it is subject to the provision in Article VII(2) setting a special time limit for appeal against any decision affecting a 'class of officials', which runs from the date of issue. So it is only by virtue of an individual contract of employment with the organisation that someone may lodge a complaint and the complainant may not alter the nature of the suit by declaring when he files the complaint that he is doing so as a staff union representative."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II AND ARTICLE VII(2) OF THE STATUTE
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 106 OF THE EPO SERVICE REGULATIONS
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; complainant; complaint; general decision; iloat statute; internal appeal; locus standi; publication; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules; staff representative; start of time limit; time limit; tribunal;
Judgment 1315
76th Session, 1994
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
Vide Judgments 1147, consideration 4, and 1269, consideration 13.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1147, 1269
Keywords:
case law; collective rights; iloat statute; locus standi; right of appeal; staff regulations and rules; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 1269
75th Session, 1993
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 14
Extract:
Having held that an official might act in his capacity as representative of the Staff Association in furtherance of common interests before the Tribunal, the Tribunal holds that "it is only fair to acknowledge a similar right for a staff member who, while defending his own case, is also pursuing some particular common interest that the Service Regulations safeguard", even after resigning.
Keywords:
locus standi; resignation; right of appeal; staff regulations and rules; staff representative;
Consideration 13
Extract:
"As a staff representative he was filing suit both for himself and in the common interest. Since neither the Service Regulations of the EPO nor the Statute of the Tribunal allow staff associations as such to file suit, the only way for them to safeguard their interests is for individual officials to act as their representatives in furtherance of the common rights and interests of the whole or part of the staff. In Judgment 1147 the Tribunal held, under 3 and 4, that an EPO staff member might in such circumstances act in his capacity as chairman of the Staff Committee."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1147
Keywords:
case law; iloat statute; locus standi; right of appeal; staff regulations and rules; staff representative;
Judgment 1262
75th Session, 1993
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
The complainant objects to a decision not to extend his appointment. "The complainant was involved in the layout and design of the staff magazine, which, he says, was at times critical of the ESO. [...] The charge of victimisation, which is easy enough to make, has to be supported by serious evidence. The complainant has failed to discharge the burden that lies on him to prove the charge against the Observatory. For one thing, he was not even an official of the Staff Association. For another, his allegation that he was victimised merely because he helped with the publication of the magazine is unsupported by a shred of evidence."
Keywords:
burden of proof; contract; decision; evidence; fixed-term; freedom of speech; harassment; hidden disciplinary measure; non-renewal of contract; staff representative;
Judgment 1061
70th Session, 1991
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Freedom of speech must be protected particularly for officers of a staff association, so that they are not hampered in their task of representing the membership when in dispute with the administration. But there are limits on such freedom. A staff representative's public statements must not impair the dignity of the international civil service: indeed he is under a special obligation not to abuse his rights by using expressions or resorting to behaviour incompatible with the decorum appropriate to his status both as an international civil servant and as an elected staff representative." (Vide Judgments 87 and 911.)
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 87, 911
Keywords:
conduct; duty of discretion; fitness for international civil service; freedom of speech; staff member's duties; staff representative; staff union;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"In taking part in the radio interview the complainant was in direct breach of Rule 302.155. Staff representatives are not exempted from observance of the Rules by reason of holding office in the Union. [...] Such deliberate airing of staff grievances in public is conduct likely to jeopardize the reputation of the FAO and its staff. The conclusion is that the charge [of misconduct] is proven and warranted dismissal."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: FAO STAFF RULE 302.155
Keywords:
duty of discretion; freedom of speech; misconduct; organisation's reputation; staff representative; termination of employment;
Judgment 911
64th Session, 1988
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The organization [...] accepts as a term of every contract of appointment its duty to respect freedom of association, and anyone who has such a contract may challenge any decision that impairs that freedom. What the complainant is saying - indeed it is the sole issue - is that the organization acted in breach of freedom of association. His complaint is therefore receivable insofar as he is suing in his own name."
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; enforcement; freedom of association; locus standi; official; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules; staff representative;
Consideration 2
Extract:
The list of those to whom the Tribunal is open as given in Article II[6] of the Statute of the Tribunal "is exhaustive. For one thing, it does not include bodies that have legal personality. For another, even supposing the association, though it is an official body, did not have personality in law but was just a de facto group, it does not hold a contract of appointment with the organization. On both counts it does not have access to the Tribunal under Article II and the complaint is irreceivable insofar as it purports to be a party."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II, PARAGRAPH 6, OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 615
53rd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The complainants observe that they were Chairman and Vice-chairman of the staff union and in their brief they claim as such an award of damages. The [organisation] retorts that insofar as they are appealing as such their complaints are irreceivable [...] the Tribunal will not rule on the plea. What the complainants seek is repayment of the sums they believe were unlawfully deducted from their salary as staff members, and they are therefore acting in their own name."
Keywords:
deduction; locus standi; receivability of the complaint; salary; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 494
48th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The Director was being extremely critical of the activities of the Staff Committee, considering it as an unrepresentative minority of the staff association [...]. The suggestion made by the complainant that the transfer was designed to impede her activities as vice-chairperson by removing her from headquarters and to punish her for the Committee's attitude is therefore one which must be seriously examined. [...] Even if it were to be assumed that the Director was in general pursuing a policy of handicapping or penalising staff activities, he did not in this case carry it through [...]. There is no evidence of any personal hostility [...]. The transfer was a transfer of a programme rather than of a person."
Keywords:
bias; evidence; hidden disciplinary measure; lack of evidence; reorganisation; staff representative; staff union activity; transfer;
Judgment 447
46th Session, 1981
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
There had been tension between the Director and the staff association. The complainant, a member of the association, was transferred against her wishes. She insists that she was the victim of a disguised disciplinary sanction: she was transferred hastily and over her objections. But the transfer was part of a general plan which had been drawn up much earlier. There is nothing to suggest that its intention was to mask a sanction. The complainant was not especially active in the staff association. There being uncertainty about the real grounds for the impugned decision, the Tribunal will not regard as proved her allegation of a breach of the right of association.
Keywords:
evidence; freedom of association; hidden disciplinary measure; lack of evidence; staff representative; staff union; staff union activity; transfer;
Judgment 403
43rd Session, 1980
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
The complainant was urged by the organisation not to use official stationery for communications of a non-recognised staff association. The Tribunal does not believe that the use of inter-office memoranda could be interpreted as giving an official character to the correspondence. "The Tribunal does not consider that the position is so clear or the offence, if there was one, so heinous as to call for a warning of severe disciplinary measures."
Keywords:
disciplinary measure; misconduct; proportionality; staff representative; warning;
Consideration 15
Extract:
Nothing in the dossier confutes the complainant's repeated assertion that she never took time off without permission. In drawing from the dossier "the conclusion that the complainant had taken the decision that she, and only she, would decide how much time she would devote to her duties and that she did not regard it as necessary to obtain the approval of her supervisor [...] the Director-General drew a conclusion that was clearly mistaken."
Keywords:
mistaken conclusion; staff representative; staff union activity; time off; unauthorised absence;
Consideration 18
Extract:
The Director-General issued the complainant, the chairman of a staff association not recognised by the organization, instructions concerning time off in two memoranda. The Tribunal believes that the Director drew clearly erroneous conclusions from the dossier. By way of relief the complainant asks for the withdrawal of the documents mentioned from her file. "The Tribunal considers that in this case the quashing of the decision will afford all the relief necessary."
Keywords:
application for quashing; mistaken conclusion; personal file; staff representative; staff union; time off; warning;
Judgment 362
41st Session, 1978
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
Nothing in the Regulations cited by the complainant suggests "that an elected representative of the staff is employed as such by the organization. Any such interpretation would be destructive of the nature and purposes of the staff association, since, if its representatives were as such in the employment of the organization, they could be instructed by the organization what to do."
Keywords:
independence; organisation; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 274
36th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 27
Extract:
The complainant was reprimanded on two occasions, the second being related to the first. "Since the Tribunal is setting aside the Director-General's conclusions about the earlier incident, it is clear that the second reprimand cannot in any event remain on the complainant's record in its existing form. The Tribunal considers therefore that the second reprimand should be set aside and that the matter should be remitted to the Director-General so that he can consider whether the [second] incident [...] is sufficiently grave to be by itself deserving of a reprimand."
Keywords:
conduct; disciplinary measure; freedom of association; reprimand; staff representative;
Consideration 26
Extract:
"When [the complainant] is present at a meeting of the [organization's] council or of its committees [she] must behave with the same propriety as any other staff member. If there was here an act of misconduct, the fact that it was committed by a staff representative for a serious purpose mitigates the offence but does not extinguish it."
Keywords:
conduct; consequence; freedom of association; misconduct; staff member's duties; staff representative; staff union;
Consideration 13
Extract:
The elections were postponed by the Election and Referendum Committee following an intervention by the Director-General. "Whatever may be the power under the Staff Regulations, the Statutes, which are the [...] Committee's only source of authority, required quite clearly that the election should be held in January. The Committee may have believed that the Director-General's prerogative enabled him to dispense them from observance of the Statutes, but they cannot [...] have supposed that their action would not meet with criticism and even indignation."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; date; election; enforcement; executive head; provision; staff regulations and rules; staff representative;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
On the eve of the elections, the Director-General sought assurances from the election and referendum committee concerning the participation of regional members, in particular as regards their nomination of candidates. "Any intervention by an employer with the processes by which his employees elect the representatives who will have to negotiate with him is a delicate matter even when he has a clear 'locus standi'." In the instant case, it is doubtful whether the Director-General had such a right.
Keywords:
competence; election; executive head; staff representative; staff union;
Considerations 6-7
Extract:
The complainant was reprimanded for her criticisms of two members of the Staff Council, of which she was herself a member. "The organization's case is simply that to cast doubt upon the integrity of another staff member is misconduct. In the opinion of the Tribunal this is too broad a proposition. [...] On a charge of misconduct motive and intent are relevant".
Keywords:
conduct; grounds; judicial review; reprimand; staff representative;
Consideration 19
Extract:
"The position of a staff representative is not an easy one. There may be times when there is a conflict of interest between loyalty to the staff and loyalty to the administration. Each representative must resolve the conflict in his or her own way and not all will see it alike."
Keywords:
consequence; freedom of association; staff member's duties; staff representative;
Judgment 87
15th Session, 1965
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
As staff representative, the complainant had additional responsibilities and enjoyed "special rights. [...]. He also had special obligations, such as the obligation to act solely in defence of the interests of the staff and the strict duty not to abuse these rights by using methods or expressions incompatible with the decorum appropriate both to his status as a civil servant and to the functions entrusted to him by his colleagues."
Keywords:
limits; right; staff member's duties; staff representative;
Consideration 4 (I)
Extract:
"In the light of the terms actually used by the complainant, it cannot be asserted that in presenting this demand he was refusing to follow the procedure legally applicable to relations with the staff; at the most he was challenging its effectiveness. Furthermore, without it being necessary to consider whether this demand in itself implied some lack of the proper discretion which the complainant was bound to observe towards the Director-General, the fact that he made it did not in any case amount to an act of insubordination or impertinence."
Keywords:
duty of discretion; insubordination; staff claim; staff representative;
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainant, a trade union official, made criticisms which were included in a tract. "The conduct which was deemed to justify [his] summary dismissal did not constitute misconduct serious enough to jeopardise or to be likely to jeopardise the reputation of the organization or its staff." Summary dismissal was not justified.
Keywords:
contract; duty of discretion; material damages; misconduct; moral injury; permanent appointment; proportionality; serious misconduct; staff representative; staff union activity; summary dismissal; termination of employment;
Consideration 2
Extract:
A staff representative has "the obligation to act solely in defence of the interests of the staff and the strict duty not to abuse these rights."
Keywords:
collective rights; limits; right; staff member's duties; staff representative;
Judgment 82
14th Session, 1965
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant requests compensation for the prejudice suffered as a result of the delay by the organisation in giving effect to the judgment. Intervenors x,y and z, insofar as they are acting on their own behalf, do not enjoy any right liable to be affected by the present judgment; they are also acting on behalf of the staff, who have no cause to intervene in the present proceedings. Their interventions are accordingly not receivable.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 61
Keywords:
cause of action; intervention; lack of injury; locus standi; no cause of action; receivability of the complaint; staff representative; staff union;
Judgment 54
9th Session, 1961
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"An official [...] elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Staff Association provided for by [...] the Staff Regulations should, in that capacity, enjoy freedom of action and of expression, on the sole condition that he respect the obligations incumbent upon him as an official of the organization and those incumbent upon international officials generally, and that he observe secrecy in respect of deliberations of joint bodies in which he takes part, or confidential information communicated to him by virtue of his trade union position".
Keywords:
duty of discretion; freedom of association; freedom of speech; staff member's duties; staff representative; staff union activity;
Consideration 6
Extract:
A trade union official should enjoy freedom of action and expression on the condition that he respect the obligations incumbent upon him as an official of the organization and those incumbent upon international officials generally; he should be allowed reasonable time for discharging his functions. "Any decision affecting an official which does not take these rights into account - and, in particular, any measure motivated solely by "any activity carried out by him in that capacity while respecting the obligations enumerated above - would be tainted by an error in law."
Keywords:
facilities; freedom of association; organisation's duties; staff member's duties; staff representative; staff union activity; time off;
