Judgment No. 229
Decision
THE COMPLAINT IS DISMISSED.
Consideration 2(e)
Extract:
Provision is made under the Staff Regulations for the automatic expiry of fixed-term appointments and the material provision expressly states that such appointments carry no expectation of renewal. "Being in conformity with this provision the impugned decision is not based on any error of law. The duration of her appointment does not invalidate this finding, since there is no provision of the Staff Regulations or of her contract of appointment requiring the organisation to take account of the duration of the appointment." (The complainant had been advised of the impending non-renewal of her contract after 6 years of service.)
Keywords
organisation's duties; legitimate expectation; contract; fixed-term; successive contracts; non-renewal of contract; judicial review
Consideration 2(c)
Extract:
The complainant had in fact exercised her right to a hearing when she sent the Director-General a letter which included an account of her position. "She has no grounds for complaining that the Director-General did not interview her personally since the right to a hearing does not imply any right to plead one's case orally before the Director-General."
Keywords
general principle; right to reply; contract; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; consequence
Consideration 2(h)
Extract:
"[T]he Director-General did not draw conclusions which are clearly false from the facts brought to his attention. Over and above the various criticisms, couched in more or less veiled terms, of the complainant's relations with other staff members, the organisation's financial difficulties [...] warranted the decision to terminate the appointment of a staff member whose services appeared no longer necessary."
Keywords
contract; fixed-term; budgetary reasons; non-renewal of contract; conduct; working relations
Consideration 2(b)
Extract:
"The decision not to renew a staff member's appointment need not take any particular form. The impugned decision was communicated in writing and its form is not open to any formal criticism."
Keywords
formal requirements; contract; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; formal flaw
| 
