Judgment 1634
83rd Session, 1997
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 17
Extract:
"If the Director-General had really intended to employ the complainant as a supernumerary he ought to have given him a contract which complied with the Staff Rules and Regulations. He did not. The contract was therefore not one for supernumerary employment even though that was the label it bore."
Keywords:
contract; flaw; intention of parties; offer; organisation's duties; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1633
83rd Session, 1997
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The Organization may not rely on the complainant's apparent willingness in March 1995 to accept a two-year extension of his contract: since it did not reply to his letter [...] it did not accept his offer. In April 1995 he sought an extension by five years, thereby withdrawing any offer to settle for two."
Keywords:
consequence; contract; extension of contract; failure to answer claim; intention of parties; offer; refusal; request by a party;
Judgment 1539
81st Session, 1996
European Free Trade Association
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"Since the complainant was in Switzerland at the time of recruitment she was not locally recruited for employment at the Brussels Office. It is true that the Association was free to incorporate in the letters of appointment a clause saying that she was nevertheless deemed to have local status. [...] For want of a clause expressly prescribing local status the presumption is that the parties did not agree that she should have such status. The conclusion is that the contracts, read together with the Staff Regulations, set out all the terms and conditions of employment, which conferred non-local status on the complainant and gave the association no right or power to treat her as having any other. And even if there was doubt on that score it was the association, which was the source of all the relevant documents, that had the duty to resolve it."
Keywords:
complainant; contract; duty station; intention of parties; local status; non-local status; offer; organisation's duties; place of origin; staff regulations and rules; status of complainant; terms of appointment;
Judgment 1526
81st Session, 1996
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"Good faith must govern relations between administration and official [...]. It requires each party to a contract to let the other have beforehand any material information on points that may reasonably be seen as decisive. Whether a post is of limited or unlimited duration need not be a matter of indifference to the candidate since the duration may affect stability of employment. The Tribunal is not satisfied, however, and indeed doubts that the want of information influenced the complainant one way or the other."
Keywords:
acceptance; appointment; duration of appointment; duty to inform; offer; organisation's duties; post; security of tenure;
Judgment 1509
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
The complainant was assigned to a joint service of the United Nations and UNIDO at Vienna. The service was under UNIDO management. But "it was the United Nations that offered him both the appointments which he had while he was at Vienna, and it was to the United Nations that he addressed his acceptance of each offer, thereby concluding a contract of employment with the UN. Indeed that is why he addressed his letter of resignation to the Secretary-General of the UN. True, he addressed it to the Director-General of UNIDO as well, but that was merely in recognition of UNIDO's supervision of his work and did not mean that the un had ceased to be his employer. In sum, he was an official, not of UNIDO, but of the UN."
Keywords:
acceptance; appointment; complainant; contract; offer; official; organisation; resignation;
Judgment 1396
78th Session, 1995
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant objects to the grade she got when she took up her appointment. The Tribunal observes that the vacancy notice stated that the post could be filled at that grade. "She accepted the offer, before being actually appointed, both by her answer to [the organisation's offer] and by signing the letter of appointment. She thereby surrendered her right to challenge ex post facto any clause of the contract of service which she freely consented to and which was the prerequisite of her becoming a Eurocontrol official.
Keywords:
acceptance; appointment; competition; contract; grade; offer; vacancy notice;
Judgment 1341
77th Session, 1994
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The complainant seeks an order cancelling his resignation, which the organisation accepted. [...] This claim is irreceivable because he has failed to avail himself of the internal means of redress provided under [...] the service regulations and so to satisfy the condition of receivability laid down in Article VII(1) of the Tribunal's Statute."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VII(1) OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
acceptance; application for quashing; iloat statute; internal remedies exhausted; new claim; offer; receivability of the complaint; resignation; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1107
71st Session, 1991
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant, who joined CERN as a fireman, was transferred from a night-shift post to one confined to day work. The offer of the new post said that staff who gave up shift work could be compensated for loss of the shift allowance at digressive rates over three years. The Director- General decided to grant him compensation over a period of only one year. The Tribunal sets the decision aside on the grounds that "an offer of appointment holds good until it is withdrawn or accepted in good faith and without qualification, when it amounts to a contract."
Keywords:
acceptance; appointment; binding character; compensatory allowance; compensatory measure; contract; elements; good faith; offer; reduction of salary; salary; transfer;
Judgment 918
65th Session, 1988
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant argues that his resignation was merely received, not accepted by the organisation. The Tribunal observes that the terms of the recipient's written response leave no room for doubt: the resignation was well and truly accepted by the organisation.
Keywords:
acceptance; complainant; offer; organisation; resignation;
Judgment 893
64th Session, 1988
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant's post was abolished. After remaining unemployed for nine months, he accepted the organization's offer of reinstatement on condition that it be at a lower grade level. The Tribunal holds that "the complainant has indeed waived his right of appeal by accepting the director's offer."
Keywords:
abolition of post; acceptance; contract; downgrading; offer; reassignment; waiver of right of appeal;
Judgment 856
63rd Session, 1987
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
There are also several general principles that will apply even where there is no express rule, and one of them is that the offer may be withdrawn so long as it has not come into effect through acceptance by the employer."
Keywords:
acceptance; application for quashing; offer; resignation;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"A resignation that has taken effect is final and may not be withdrawn unless the offer was tainted with some flaw that makes it void. There will ordinarily be such a flaw if the staff member underwent compelling outside pressure. [...] But more commonly the pressure will come from the employer."
Keywords:
application for quashing; condition; lack of consent; offer; resignation;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"According to general principles that apply to the international civil service an official may at any time offer his resignation without explanation. But to protect the organisation's rights as employer the offer takes effect only when accepted."
Keywords:
acceptance; general principle; international civil service principles; offer; resignation;
Judgment 841
63rd Session, 1987
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
The Organisation "was willing, exceptionally, to issue a qualified performance assessment certificate in the form specified by the laws of the Federal Republic as part of an overall settlement in which the complainant would be reimbursed in respect of certain expenses incurred by him and he in turn would be required to give a written statement that all his claims arising from his employment with the ESO had been settled and that he would refrain from making any further claims or take any further action against the Organisation. The complainant being unwilling to give such a statement, no settlement was reached. In the absence of agreement by both parties to the terms to the proposed settlement, the ESO is under no obligation to provide the complainant with the performance assessment he seeks."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 780, 840, 842
Keywords:
certificate of service; lack of consent; offer; performance report; waiver of right of appeal;
Judgment 817
62nd Session, 1987
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"No contract of employment will come into being unless there are an unqualified offer by the employer, agreement between the parties on the essential terms, and unqualified acceptance by the employee."
Keywords:
acceptance; contract; definition; elements; law of contract; offer;
Judgment 686
57th Session, 1985
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant altered an appraisal report on her own performance. After being criticised for her conduct by a supervisor, she tendered her resignation. The complainant claims to have acted under pressure. In the view of the Tribunal, she had ample time to consider whether or not to resign. Her resignation is therefore valid.
Keywords:
lack of consent; offer; resignation;
Judgment 648
55th Session, 1985
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
Before formally offering the candidate an appointment, the organization will ask for information from his employer and other suitable referees. "The Tribunal sees nothing untoward in taking account of such information in recruiting an international civil servant, the practice deriving from a reasonable desire to have full information on candidates and secure staff of sound technical competence and high moral integrity."
Keywords:
appointment; condition; evidence; offer; qualifications;
Consideration 3
Extract:
The letter is clear and precise and leaves no doubt about the organization's intentions: 1] that the letter and appended form should not be treated as an offer, 2] that such an offer would be made only when various other matters had been settled, 3] that there would be confirmation of an offer, and 4] that the complainant should remain free to make up his mind and might still turn an offer down. The sole purpose of sending the 'terms of appointment' was to give particulars about the appointment. Only by deliberate distortion of the terms of the letter could its appendix be treated itself as an offer. In subscribing to the declaration, the complainant cannot but have been aware that he was signing no contract.
Keywords:
contract; offer;
Judgment 621
53rd Session, 1984
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The Tribunal holds that a contract was concluded. Only the letter of appointment, a formality not requiring further agreement, was lacking. Owing to withdrawal of support from a third party, no action was taken, the project having been suspended. On the evidence, the Tribunal awards the complainant "damages for the direct injury caused by the administration's behaviour."
Keywords:
contract; injury; moral injury; offer; offer withdrawn;
Judgment 494
48th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 9-10
Extract:
"There is no indication in the dossier that if the proper procedure had been observed before termination the complainant would have made use of it to change her attitude; and she has in fact declined reinstatement. She has not therefore shown any financial loss that she would not have incurred anyway. "It may well be that, as she alleges, 'because of the abrupt manner in which she was terminated, there has been speculation that she was engaged in some wrong doing.' She is entitled to a sum sufficient to mark the fact that her dismissal was illegal."
Keywords:
flaw; lack of injury; material injury; moral injury; offer; procedural flaw; refusal; reinstatement; termination of employment; transfer;
Judgment 465
47th Session, 1982
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The organisation's offer to convert the complainant's fixed-term contract into a contract without limit of time was not arbitrary. It was evidence of the organisation's view "that it need no longer reconsider at regular intervals whether or not to employ him" and evidence therefore of its confidence in him. "Had he accepted [the organisation's] offer it could have got rid of him only if he had committed a disciplinary offence. He would have enjoyed greater employment stability and yet would still have had the right to terminate the contract at any time. His obligations [...] would [...] have been no greater."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; complainant; contract; fixed-term; offer; organisation; permanent appointment; refusal; security of tenure;
Judgment 417
44th Session, 1980
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 19
Extract:
The Tribunal believes that the complainant was expressly excluded, by his contract of employment, from participation in the Pension Fund. An alteration in the contract could be made only by mutual consent. The Tribunal treats a letter addressed to the complainant as "an offer, which the organization was rightly confident would be accepted to remove the exclusion clause".
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; offer; organisation; participation excluded; pension; unjspf;
Judgment 339
40th Session, 1978
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 12
Extract:
The parties are bound by a contract for conditional appointment. One condition relates to "government and other internal clearances". The dossier contains no explanation of what this phrase means. "[S]ince it occurs in a document composed and proffered by the organization it is for the organization in the first place to attribute a meaning to it. Without this elucidation the Tribunal cannot hold that the condition has not been fulfilled [...]."
Keywords:
acceptance; condition; contract; judicial review; medical examination; member state; offer;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The dispute turns on whether or not a contract was concluded. "The question whether the present case is within the Staff Regulation depends on whether a person whom the organization had agreed to appoint formally as a staff member is to be deemed to be de facto a staff member within the meaning of the Regulation."
Keywords:
contract; enforcement; offer; offer withdrawn; organisation; staff regulations and rules; status of complainant;
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainant addressed himself to the Director of Personnel who informed him that no procedure existed for an appeal by a person not belonging to the staff of the organization. The complainant subsequently brought the matter to the attention of the Director-General who said that the organization considered his appeal to be irreceivable because he was not a staff member. The complainant concluded that this was a final decision and that he had exhausted his means of appeal. He informed the organization that he intended to file a complaint with the Tribunal. The organization did not reply. The organization thus led the complainant to believe that an appeal would be pointless and the organization cannot now be heard to object that it was not made.
Keywords:
contract; direct appeal to tribunal; good faith; internal remedies exhausted; locus standi; offer; receivability of the complaint; status of complainant;
Consideration 4
Extract:
The jurisdiction of an appeals committee need not necessarily be the same as the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. "It would be neither irrational nor inconvenient if the question whether a contract of appointment had or had not been concluded was left outside the jurisdiction of a committee designed to deal with staff grievances rather than with questions of law."
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; contract; evidence; internal appeals body; offer;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
There is nothing to suggest that the organization did not at the time of the contract intend to commit itself. The letter announcing the cancellation did not suggest that there had never been any commitment. The reason given was the financial situation of another body which was said to constitute a case of force majeure [...]. This point has not been pursued. the document constituted a contract for a conditional appointment.
Keywords:
budgetary reasons; condition; contract; force majeure; grounds; intention of parties; offer; offer withdrawn; organisation;
Consideration 15
Extract:
The withdrawal of finance by another body might be shown "as having such a crippling effect on the organization's ability to continue with the contract as to constitute reasonable grounds for its termination. But there is no material in the dossier which would enable the Tribunal to reach any conclusion about the effect of the withdrawal [...]. There is nothing [...] to connect the disapprovals with any financial situation." And there are further reasons for supposing that there may have been other factors to consider.
Keywords:
budgetary reasons; contract; grounds; judicial review; lack of evidence; offer; offer withdrawn;
