Judgment 382
42nd Session, 1979
World Meteorological Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to apply the [general service salary] scales which are now in force in its Geneva office was challenged by an official of the United Nations in case no. 225 [...] before the Administrative Tribunal of the United Nations. This Tribunal is satisfied that the United Nations Tribunal is the proper forum for the determination of this issue. That Tribunal upheld as valid the decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations." The decision taken by the Secretary-General of the WMO to apply those scales therefore stands.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; case law; competence; enforcement; general service category; judgment of the tribunal; scale; unat;
Judgment 381
42nd Session, 1979
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The obligation put upon an employer to negotiate changes in salary may be a condition of the contract of employment, but it would have to be specifically expressed in the individual contract or very clearly implied. "Merely because the term is contained in a collective agreement, it cannot be deemed ipso facto to be incorporated in the individual contracts of all those affected by the collective agreement."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; collective bargaining; contract; organisation's duties; provision; salary; terms of appointment;
Judgment 380
42nd Session, 1979
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
Vide Judgment 381, consideration 6.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 381
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; collective bargaining; contract; organisation's duties; provision; salary; terms of appointment;
Judgment 372
42nd Session, 1979
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"A right is acquired when he who has it may require that it be respected notwithstanding any amendment to the Rules. It may be either a right which is laid down in a provision of the Staff Regulations or Staff Rules and which is of decisive importance to a candidate for appointment, or a right which arises under an express or implied provision of an official's contract of appointment and which the parties intend should be inviolate."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; definition; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Judgment 371
42nd Session, 1979
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
Vide Judgment 372, consideration 4.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 372
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; definition; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 8
Extract:
Expatriation, education and leave expense allowances are matters of importance to someone joining the staff of an international organisation. "The question therefore arises whether the outright abolition of such allowances would in principle violate an acquired right. There is, however, no acquired right to the amount and the conditions of payment of such allowances. Indeed the staff member should expect amendments to be prompted by changes in circumstances if, for example, the cost of living rises or falls, or the organisation reforms its structure, or even finds itself in financial difficulty.
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; reckoning;
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The provisions which lay down the conditions governing promotion do not confer any acquired rights on a staff member because, when he takes up his appointment, he cannot foresee how he will fare in his career. On the contrary, those provisions are subject to amendment and the staff member must expect such amendment."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; career; promotion; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 5
Extract:
According to the organisation, the Staff Regulations were not amended but replaced by other Staff Regulations. Hence the Tribunal may not decide to apply the former provisions which are no longer in force. "If a complainant is justified [...] what the Tribunal will do is to treat those provisions as part of the contract of appointment and apply them as such, and award damages for any breach of them."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence of tribunal; judicial review; merger; organisation; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Judgment 369
42nd Session, 1979
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 9
Extract:
Vide Judgment 372, consideration 4.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 372
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; definition; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 3
Extract:
The Tribunal's Statute limits its competence to review of individual cases. "Hence the Tribunal may not hear an application for the repeal or amendment of a provision of the Staff Regulations or Staff Rules. If it heard such a complaint it would be passing judgment on matters which fall outside the context of an individual case and would therefore be exceeding the competence conferred on it by its Statute."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; application for quashing; competence of tribunal; general decision; individual decision; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 368
42nd Session, 1979
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
Vide Judgment 371, consideration 8.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 371
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; reckoning;
Consideration 7
Extract:
There is no acquired right to the amount and method of calculation of an indemnity; a staff member should expect amendments to be made. The reduction in the indemnity "does not infringe any right which was of decisive importance to [the complainants] in accepting appointment and which may be regarded as acquired. Moreover, there is no clause in their contract which even tacitly guaranteed them any such right."
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; reckoning; reduction of salary; terms of appointment;
Consideration 6
Extract:
Vide Judgment 372, consideration 4.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 372
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; definition; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Judgment 366
41st Session, 1978
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"A right is acquired when he who has it may require that it be respected notwithstanding any amendment to the rules. In particular, it may be either a right which arises under an official's contract of appointment and which both parties intend should be inviolate, or a right which is laid down in a provision of the Staff Regulations or Staff Rules and which is of decisive importance to a candidate for appointment."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; definition; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Where a provision of the Staff Regulations is amended the Tribunal may order the defendant organisation to apply the old text and not the new. So, too, when provisions of staff regulations are amended so as to comply with clauses in an international agreement(*) the Tribunal may order the application of the former rather than the latter" and is therefore competent. (*) which provides for the IPI's integration in the EPO
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence of tribunal; enforcement; international instrument; merger; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 11
Extract:
"[E]xpatriation, education and leave expense allowances are matters of importance to someone who joins the staff of an organisation. The question therefore arises whether the outright abolition of such allowances would not violate an acquired right. There is, however, no acquired right to the amount and the conditions of payment of such allowances. Indeed the staff member should expect amendments to be prompted by changes in circumstances if, for example, the cost of living rises or falls, or the organisation reforms its structure, or even finds itself in financial difficulty."
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; refund;
Consideration 9
Extract:
"[T]he acquired right to promotion is merely the possibility of advancement because it is only on the strength of such a possibility that a staff member may have accepted appointment. The provisions which lay down the conditions governing promotion do not confer any acquired rights on a staff member because, when he takes up his appointment, he cannot foresee how he will fare in his career. On the contrary, those provisions are subject to amendment and the staff member must expect such amendment."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; career; promotion; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 365
41st Session, 1978
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
Vide Judgment 366, consideration 6.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 366
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; definition; provision; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 11
Extract:
Vide Judgment 366, consideration 11.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 366
Keywords:
acquired right; allowance; amendment to the rules; amount; discontinuance; education expenses; home leave; non-resident allowance; payment; refund;
Consideration 4
Extract:
Vide Judgment 366, consideration 3.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 366
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence of tribunal; enforcement; international instrument; merger; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 9
Extract:
Vide Judgment 366, consideration 9.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 366
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; career; promotion; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 363
41st Session, 1978
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"Normally a staff member is expected to find his own living accommodation for himself and his dependants and to pay for it out of his salary and allowances. It is however recognised that upon a change of duty station a staff member may not at once succeed in finding accommodation at normal rates. Accordingly the Staff Rules provide for the payment of an installation allowance."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; duty station; installation allowance; purpose; transfer;
Judgment 357
41st Session, 1978
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
One may ask whether the application of the former text is "warranted by the rule precluding retroactivity, which removes from the ambit of new law facts and events which were completed by the time that law came into force. Insofar as the accumulated annual leave in the present case became due before [the implementation of the new provision], is there not a completed set of facts which [...] continues to be subject to the former law ?" The Tribunal need not settle the point.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; general principle; non-retroactivity; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"A staff member may derive an acquired right either from a clause of his contract of appointment or from a provision of the Staff Regulations or the Staff Rules which was important enough to affect the mind of the ordinary applicant when he was considering joining the staff of the organisation." [In the instant case, the provision on compensation for accumulated leave was modified; but there is nothing to suggest that an applicant for a position on the staff would have joined the organisation in reliance on the earlier rule.]
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; commutation of accrued leave; contract; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 335
40th Session, 1978
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
According to the regulations, by special decision and in exceptional circumstances, the place of origin of a staff member may be altered while the staff member is in service to the organisation. "The provisions do not specify the circumstances which warrant a change in the place of origin and they leave the matter to the discretion of the competent authority." Limited power of review by the Tribunal.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; discretion; exception; home; judicial review; place of origin;
Judgment 327
39th Session, 1977
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
Up to a certain date, the complainant was employed as a contractual employee. She then became an official subject to the Staff Regulations. The second appointment was not simply an extension of the first, but must be considered "a quite separate, fixed-term appointment. In other words, she was not dismissed: her appointment was not extended."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; effect; extension of contract; status of complainant;
Judgment 323
39th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"Bearing in mind that the salary scales are established in consultation and on the basis of [certain] guiding principles, it is [the Director-General's] duty in making revisions to have regard to the guiding principles. Subject to this, his power to fix salary scales under [the applicable provision] is a discretionary one."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; discretion; organisation's duties; salary; scale;
Consideration 21
Extract:
"Many of the obligations put upon the organization by the [Staff] Regulations are in general terms, leaving the organization free to choose its own method of discharging them. [...] Once it is settled, [the method] becomes, until it is altered, part of the obligation. [...] Until [a] change is made, an official is entitled to have the obligation discharged in the manner selected by the organization itself [...]."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; discretion; enforcement; organisation's duties; practice; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 26
Extract:
"The conception of a legislative enactment, insofar as it applies to matters within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, means the power to alter unilaterally by general enactment the relationship created by the contract. The Tribunal has recognised this power to the extent that it may affect those terms of the contract which appertain to the structure and functioning of the international civil service and to benefits of an impersonal nature and subject to variation, but not the the extent to which it purports to affect the individual terms and conditions of an official in consideration of which he accepted appointment."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; discretion; judicial review; legislative body; limits; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 28
Extract:
According to the organization, the modification of the salary schedule was decided by a legislative enactment of the Council. If this is true, "it means that there is no control whatever over the dealings of an executive body such as the Council with the staff of the organization [...]. Since the Director-General in his dealings with the staff is subject to the control of the Council, it means that an official's contract gives him no rights which the Council cannot nullify and in particular that he is paid his salary ex gratia and not as a matter of contract. In the opinion of the Tribunal this is not the law."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; enforcement; legislative body; right; salary; scale;
Judgment 319
39th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The rules exclude from the material benefits two categories of officials. The first consists of those who adopt the nationality of the duty station, who may be regarded as having broken their links with their country of origin. Having changed their way of living, they are no longer in need of the special benefits. The other category is made up of local officials who give up the nationality of the duty station. They do not thereby change their way of living and so are not qualified for benefits framed for those who are moving from one country to another.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; consequence; local status; nationality; non-local status; status of complainant;
Consideration 3
Extract:
FAO Manual Section 311.112 provides for the possibility of a staff member's status at the time of recruitment to be modified at a later stage. In context this "is an introductory provision or recital to be distinguished from an operative rule; it is informative and not normative. This is shown also by its language. It neither itself requires anything to be done nor confers a power of command on any person. It is merely pointing out [...] that a change of status may be caused by a number of factors [...]."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PARAGRAPH 311.112 FAO MANUAL
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; condition; criteria; local status; non-local status; provision; staff regulations and rules; status of complainant;
Summary
Extract:
When she was recruited, the complainant had local status. She later married, acquired a new nationality by naturalisation and lost her original nationality. The Tribunal holds that her status is dependent on her nationality at the time of appointment. According to the relevant provisions, a change of nationality does not in itself entail a change in status. The complainant is not entitled to the benefits provided for officials who leave their own country to live in another. The complaint is dismissed.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; appointment; consequence; local status; marital status; nationality; non-local status;
Consideration 3
Extract:
The text cited "is merely pointing out [...] that a change of status may be caused by a number of factors which it specifies and of which a change of nationality is one. It does not mean that every rule dealing with a change of nationality has to be interpreted, even if contrary to its express words, to effect a change of status."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; consequence; local status; nationality; non-local status; status of complainant;
Judgment 308
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"If [...] the complainants want general and non-specific measures in the form of new rules, the claim is [...] irreceivable, since the Tribunal is competent to correct breaches of terms of appointment or provisions of the Staff Regulations, not to order the adoption of new rules."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence of tribunal; complainant; request by a party; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 304
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"It is for the [competent] committees and for the Director-General to adapt the conditions of promotion to the [organisation's] requirements. Hence those conditions may change from year to year and, since they do so, different staff members are differently treated according to the dates on which they receive promotion. Where there are administrative reasons for such difference in treatment, it is no breach of the principle of equality laid down in [the Staff Regulations]."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; criteria; equal treatment; executive head; organisation's interest; promotion; promotion board;
Judgment 301
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
It is for the competent committees and the Director-General to adapt the conditions of promotion to the requirements of the organisation. "Hence those conditions may change from year to year and, since they do so, different staff members are differently treated according to the dates on which they receive promotion. Where there are administrative reasons for such difference in treatment, it is no breach of the principle of equality."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; criteria; date; effective date; equal treatment; executive head; organisation's interest; promotion; promotion board;
Judgment 300
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
Vide Judgment 301, consideration 5.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 301
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; criteria; date; effective date; equal treatment; executive head; organisation's interest; promotion; promotion board;
Judgment 294
38th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
At issue is a new salary schedule with additional steps in the complainant's grade. "The Director-General was right in thinking that the rule could not be interpreted in a way that would equalise the effect of the change. Where he was wrong was in thinking that he had neither the power nor the duty to equalise the effect of the change by some other means consistent with the principle that the object of the salary scale is to reward length of service and experience. [...] The change [...] required some transitional provision to cover exceptional cases and it was the duty of the Director-General to make such provision."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; enforcement; equal treatment; grade; increment; right; salary; scale; seniority; top step;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"it is unnecessary to determine whether the council's decision automatically amended the rule to which the old salary schedule was attached... it is not to be expected that the council would itself consider and provide in detail for all the implications of the change. the council's function in relation to the staff is to settle or approve fundamental conditions of service and basic rights, duties and obligations..."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; decision; executive body; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant reached the highest step in her grade some years ago. An amendment was adopted introducing three new steps in her grade. She should obtain the successive increments on the date at which she fulfilled the requisite conditions. The Director-General should take steps to ensure that a) the complainant is treated as if at the time the modification was implemented she had been at step XIV for a period of five months and b) each intervener is treated in the same way, according to length of service.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; date; effective date; enforcement; grade; increment; staff regulations and rules; top step;
Consideration 7
Extract:
The Director-General "is under an obligation to use his powers so as to ensure that an amendment authorised by the Council does not in its application result in inequality of treatment which the Council cannot be supposed to have intended."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; equal treatment; executive head; staff regulations and rules;
