Judgment No. 4671
Decision
1. There is no need to rule on the complaint insofar as it seeks repayment of the sums wrongly deducted from the complainant’s salary for the period from 1 October 2013 to 3 October 2017.
2. The decision of the Secretary General of Interpol of 25 August 2020 is set aside.
3. Interpol shall pay the complainant interest for late payment calculated as indicated in consideration 13 of the judgment.
4. The Organization shall also pay him 7,000 euros in costs.
5. All other claims are dismissed.
Summary
The complainant seeks the restitution of amounts wrongly deducted from his salary in respect of sickness insurance contributions.
Judgment keywords
Keywords
complaint allowed; negligence; organisation's duties; refund; medical insurance
Consideration 2
Extract:
The evidence in the file shows that, once URSSAF had made the corresponding reimbursements, the Organization refunded to the complainant the sums wrongly deducted from his salary in respect of the ESC for the period after 1 January 2013. Thus, apart from the question of interest, the complaint is now moot insofar as it relates to the amounts wrongly deducted during that period.
Keywords
claim moot
Consideration 5
Extract:
As to the second objection to receivability alleging that the internal appeal lodged by the complainant was premature, the Tribunal observes that the Organization is not in any event entitled to raise that objection before it because this ground of irreceivability was not mentioned in the Secretary General’s decision of 25 August 2020.
This last objection to receivability must therefore also be dismissed.
Keywords
estoppel; receivability of application
Considerations 9, 11-12
Extract:
[I]t should be recalled that interest for late payment simply represents an objective form of compensation for the time that has elapsed since the date on which an amount was due, and the mere fact that there was a delay in the payment of that amount is sufficient to justify the payment of interest, whether or not the debtor was at fault (see Judgments 4093, consideration 8, and 1403, consideration 8).
Interpol’s argument that it was not negligent is therefore, in any event, irrelevant.
[...]
[A]s regards the absence of any provision in Interpol’s Staff Regulations or Rules providing for the payment of interest on sums due to the Organization’s officials, the Tribunal recalls that the requirement to pay such interest arises even without such a provision pursuant to the general principles governing the liability of international organisations.
It is appropriate, in line with the Tribunal’s case law, to apply the principle that interest is due ipso jure whenever a principal amount is payable, which is in particular the case where amounts have been wrongly deducted from remuneration that was due to be paid on a fixed date. In this scenario, the starting point for the interest to be paid is the due date for each payment from which an amount was wrongly deducted, that due date being equivalent by itself to service of notice (see, in particular, Judgments 3180, consideration 12, 2782, consideration 6, and 2076, consideration 10).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1403, 2076, 2782, 3180, 4093
Keywords
general principle; interest on arrears
Consideration 14
Extract:
The Tribunal considers that, having regard to the subject of the complaint, the award of interest in this judgment is sufficient in itself to compensate for all the moral injury caused by the undue payment of the ESC.
Keywords
moral injury
Consideration 14
Extract:
With regard to the injury caused by Interpol’s purported bad faith when dealing with the internal appeal, the Tribunal considers that, although the appeal was wrongly rejected, as stated above, it does not appear from the submissions that the Organization acted in bad faith when handling it.
Keywords
moral injury; burden of proof; bad faith
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