Judgment 1159
72nd Session, 1992
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
WHO Staff Rule 1050.2.3 "distinguishes between holders of a career-service appointment and temporary staff. Whereas the former 'shall be given priorities', the Director-General enjoys discretion to 'establish priority' among the latter. He was therefore under no obligation to give any particular priority to the holder of a temporary appointment like the complainant."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: WHO STAFF RULE 1050.2.3
Keywords:
career; contract; discretion; fixed-term; organisation's duties; priority;
Judgment 1077
70th Session, 1991
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
PAHO Staff Regulation 4.4 gives preference to inside candidates for promotion, all other things being equal. Two editors on temporary posts were appointed after the holding of a competition. The Tribunal holds that an organisation must avoid so giving inside candidates the impression of subterfuge.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PAHO STAFF REGULATION 4.4
Keywords:
appointment; candidate; competition; internal candidate; priority;
Judgment 1071
70th Session, 1991
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
PAHO Staff Regulation 4.4 gives preference when filling vacancies to existing staff members over outside candidates. The Regulation "does not give existing staff members absolute priority in promotion and the Tribunal does not make rulings on such matters as staff policy, which are within the prerogative of the Director. Yet, if there were a consistent practice of recruiting people under temporary appointments and later appointing them to permanent posts, in preference to inside applicants, on the strength of the experience they had thereby gained, it would offend against the purpose and spirit of Regulation 4.4." (Vide Judgment 1077.)
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PAHO STAFF REGULATION 4.4
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1077
Keywords:
candidate; competition; internal candidate; judicial review; priority; vacancy;
Judgment 651
55th Session, 1985
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant maintains that the organization denied him the priority he was entitled to under the reduction-in-force procedure in the Staff Rules. He refers to the existence of five posts, "but he fails to establish that he was qualified for any of them or better qualified than the incumbents. In other words, he has not shown that the conditions for granting him the priority he claims were fulfilled."
Keywords:
abolition of post; condition; priority; qualifications; reassignment; termination of employment; vacancy;
Judgment 470
47th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The organization offered the complainant a post at a lower grade and salary in a different office; it offered to circulate his curriculum vitae to the field offices; it took his candidacy into account when filling vacancies. These measures failed to meet the requirements of the applicable staff rules, which require the organization "not just to offer the complainant any available employment [...] but to give him priority on certain conditions."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 1050 OF THE PAHO STAFF RULES
Keywords:
abolition of post; organisation's duties; priority; reassignment;
Judgment 415
44th Session, 1980
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
It is not open to the Director-General to substitute another preference for that expressed in the Staff Regulations for "persons already in the service [...] to do so is beyond his lawful powers. [...] The Regional Director in deciding not to extend the complainant's contract on the ground that her post was abolished, failed to take into consideration the other posts that were or should have been open to her and for which she should have been given preference."
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; organisation's duties; priority; reassignment;
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant's post was abolished and her contract was not renewed. The Staff Regulations stipulate that preference should be given to "persons already in the service" but the complainant was denied the benefit of such preference. "She has not been deprived of any contractual rights to salary or pension, but only of expectation of further employment. The Tribunal considers that the appropriate award of compensation is 8,000 Swiss francs."
Keywords:
abolition of post; amount; contract; damages; fixed-term; legitimate expectation; non-renewal of contract; organisation's duties; priority; reassignment;
Judgment 388
43rd Session, 1980
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant lost his job by virtue of a provision concerning the abolition of posts. For reasons of his age, seniority, the expectation that he would soon retire and family responsibilities, "the complainant had a certain right to preference, even over more highly qualified candidates. That does not mean [...] that he should have been appointed in preference to any other candidate. [...] In putting him on the same footing as the others, the organization failed to take due account of all the relevant factors of his case."
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; disregard of essential fact; organisation's duties; priority; project personnel; reassignment; termination of employment;
Judgment 334
40th Session, 1978
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainant argues that as a permanent official who had lost his post he was entitled to be appointed to a suitable vacant post without having to take a test. The applicable regulation provides for the grant of priority subject to two conditions: the existence of a suitable vacant post and the staff member's capacity to give useful service in that post. "To determine whether the two conditions are met it may sometimes be necessary to test the staff member whose post has been abolished." There was no mistake of law.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: SECTION 9.1 ITU STAFF REGULATIONS AND STAFF RULES
Keywords:
abolition of post; condition; contract; permanent appointment; priority; probationary period; qualifications; reassignment; termination of employment; vacancy;
Judgment 139
22nd Session, 1969
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
Under the Staff Rules, the Director-General must endeavour to find another post for an official whose post has been abolished. "[T]he official who has worked for many years for the organization to its full satisfaction is absolutely entitled to fill a post suitable to his abilities and grade in preference to any other candidate."
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; organisation's duties; permanent appointment; priority; reassignment; termination of employment;
Judgment 133
21st Session, 1969
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainant fulfilled the duties assigned to him in an exemplary manner over a period of 15 years. "He is now approaching 50, and would find it all the more difficult to secure employment outside the organization inasmuch as he has been engaged on specialised duties which have no counterpart in most national administrations or private organizations. He was therefore entitled to the treatment accorded to deserving former staff members, that is to say, he could claim appointment to any vacant post for which he was qualified, with priority over all other candidates."
Keywords:
abolition of post; priority; reassignment; satisfactory service; termination of employment;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"[I]t is consonant with the spirit of the Rules and Regulations that a staff member who has served the organization in a fully satisfactory manner for a particularly long period, and who might reasonably have expected to finish his career in the same organization, should be treated in a manner more appropriate to his situation. If he loses his post, he may claim to be appointed to any vacant post which he is capable of filling in a competent manner, whatever may be the qualifications of the other candidates [...]. This interpretation [...] take[s] account of the legitimate expectation of staff members [and] is not prejudicial to the organization itself, which has every interest in employing staff members who have shown themselves deserving of confidence over a long period of employment."
Keywords:
abolition of post; legitimate expectation; priority; reassignment; satisfactory service;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The evidence produced does not establish that the organization fulfilled all its obligations in the matter." On three occasions account was taken of the complainant's candidature in respect of vacant posts. "Nevertheless, on each of these occasions, instead of simply considering the complainant's qualifications and appointing him to a post that he was capable of filling, the organization assessed the merits of the various applicants and thus followed the normal procedure. In so doing it complied with the letter of the Regulations, but it did not take account of the general principle* derived from [the applicable provision]". *Preference should be extended to deserving former staff members.
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; fixed-term; material damages; organisation's duties; priority; reassignment; subsidiary; termination of employment; vacancy;
Judgment 107
17th Session, 1967
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"Although the organization is bound to have full regard to the qualifications and experience of persons already in its service, this does not mean that it must necessarily always appoint them in preference to outside applicants. If this privilege were automatically to be granted to the serving staff, the organization might be led to take decisions contrary to its own interests, a situation which was certainly not intended by those who drafted the Staff Regulations. The position is that persons already in the service of the organization have priority only if their qualifications appear to be at least equal to those of other candidates."
Keywords:
appointment; competition; internal candidate; organisation's interest; priority;
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant "is not justified in criticising the conditions under which the competition was held. As he does not deny that his work was inferior to that of the candidate who was appointed, he cannot claim a preferential right as a serving official, since this exists only where qualifications are equal."
Keywords:
competition; condition; internal candidate; open competition; priority;
Judgment 33
7th Session, 1958
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant, recruited on a temporary basis, was transferred to a post which was subsequently to be filled by competition. The granting of an indeterminate appointment was made dependent upon his success in the competition "complainant has failed to prove any irregularity of procedure in connection with this competition [...]. While [the Regulations] entitled him to a priority as far as the consideration of his candidature is concerned, the appointment to the vacant post of another official in the same situation as himself and entitled to the same priority did not deprive complainant of that right."
Keywords:
competition; contract; fixed-term; internal candidate; permanent appointment; post held by the complainant; priority; right;
Judgment 14
4th Session, 1954
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The Staff Regulations provide that in the event of a reduction of staff preference be given to staff members with permanent appointments. The "systematic recourse to the statutory exception would be contrary to the spirit of the provisions governing the conditions of service of permanent officials who must in principle be protected against [budgetary] fluctuations, and would thus lead to rendering the notion of permanency of function void of substance; [...] such a procedure would impede good administration and endanger the sound functioning of the international organisations.
Keywords:
abolition of post; budgetary reasons; contract; effect; organisation's interest; permanent appointment; priority; staff reduction; termination of employment;
Considerations
Extract:
Alleging the inferior quality of the complainant's work, the organization failed by way of exception to give her preferential treatment when implementing staff reductions. "As regards the comparative evaluation of service [...], the Director-General [...] has discretionary power [...]. This discretionary power cannot be used to misuse recourse to the aforementioned exception."
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; discretion; permanent appointment; priority; staff reduction; work appraisal;
