Judgment No. 4686

• Organization: World Health Organization (WHO)
• Date: 07.07.2023
• Original: English
• Judges: Moore, De Nictolis, Shen
• Full judgment text - Full judgment text (french)

Decision

1. WHO shall pay the complainant a further amount of 15,000 Swiss francs moral damages.
2. WHO shall pay the complainant 2,000 Swiss francs costs.
3. All other claims are dismissed.

Summary

The complainant challenges a decision to close the harassment complaint she lodged against her former supervisor without carrying out an investigation.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

complaint allowed; harassment

Consideration 6

Extract:

In relation to the delay, WHO has accepted the time taken to consider and dispose of her complaint was excessive and her arguments that it was excessive are unnecessary, if not beside the point. However, it should be pointed out that the characterization of the delay as egregious is fortified by the actual decision made. That is, a decision based on there being no prima facie case. That decision could have been made within a few months, if not weeks, of the filing of the complaint.

Keywords

delay

Consideration 7

Extract:

[I]t may […] be accepted that the uncertainty over several years about the fate of [the complainant's] formal harassment complaint also caused her moral injury.

Keywords

moral injury; delay; harassment