Unauthorised absence (397,-666)

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Keywords: Unauthorised absence
Total judgments found: 11

• Judgment 4695

  
  136th Session, 2023
  European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR
  Summary: The complainant challenges the decision requiring him to reimburse the undue payments of salary he received during absences that were declared to be unjustified by the Administration.

  Judgment keywords

  Keywords:

  complaint allowed; recovery of overpayment; refund; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 4433

  
  132nd Session, 2021
  European Patent Organisation
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR
  Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to treat his participation in a strike as an unauthorised absence.

  Judgment keywords

  Keywords:

  complaint allowed; decision quashed; deduction; right to strike; salary; strike; unauthorised absence;
  

  Consideration 10

  Extract:

  [T]he definition of strike in Article 30a is descriptive of conduct (a collective and concerted work stoppage) and does not raise for consideration whether that conduct arose as a result of the procedures for calling a strike being followed. The complainant was on strike within the normal conception of that term. He was on strike as defined in Article 30a. Accordingly, he was on strike for the purposes of Article 65(1)(c). An adjustment to his salary should have been made under this provision. What he did was engage in a lawful activity albeit one that resulted in a deduction from salary. It should not have been stigmatised as an unauthorised absence from work and a deduction from salary made on that basis.

  Keywords:

  right to strike; strike; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 4424

  
  132nd Session, 2021
  European Patent Organisation
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR
  Summary: The complainant challenges the outcome of his appeals concerning absences and reduced working hours for medical reasons.

  Judgment keywords

  Keywords:

  complaint allowed; decision quashed; medical grounds; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 2493

  
  100th Session, 2006
  European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 9

  Extract:

  The complainants were issued a written warning on the grounds that they had participated in industrial action which management considered to be unlawful and that caused them to be absent from duty without authorisation. They contend that the Director General had no authority to decide whether the collective action was illegal. "There is no doubt that in the absence of any statutory provisions or collective agreement between the Agency and the staff representatives, it is up to the Director General to take whatever measures are necessary to prevent actions which he deems unlawful, to warn members of staff against participating in such actions and, if necessary, to lay down guidelines for the exercise of the collective rights of staff in accordance with the general principles of international civil service law. From this point of view, one cannot object to the Director General's legitimate right to take action when he, 'in the absence of an agreement with the unions', issued on 13 March 2003 - in other words, three days after the start of the industrial action - an Office Notice setting out 'General provisions applicable in the event of a strike at Eurocontrol'. Nevertheless, the general measures taken by the administration and the individual decisions taken to implement those measures must not have the effect of restricting the exercise of the collective rights of members of staff in such a way as to deprive them of all substance."

  Keywords:

  applicable law; collective rights; competence; condition; consequence; disciplinary measure; effect; enforcement; executive head; general decision; general principle; individual decision; information note; international civil service principles; limits; no provision; organisation's duties; provision; right to strike; staff regulations and rules; staff representative; staff union; staff union agreement; strike; unauthorised absence; warning;
  

  Consideration 11

  Extract:

  The complainants were issued a written warning on the grounds that they had participated in industrial action which management considered to be unlawful and that caused them to be absent from duty without authorisation. "[I]f it were a work stoppage not involving unlawful actions, the question arises as to whether the Agency could, in view of the provisions of Article 11 of the Staff Regulations whereby an official is bound to ensure the continuity of the service and must not cease to exercise his functions without previous authorisation, deem participation in the collective action by the officials in question to be unlawful. Without overlooking the fact that a strike will necessarily affect continuity of service, the Tribunal considers that, if the answer to that question were yes, it would in practice deprive of all substance the exercise of a right, the existence of which the Agency does not deny and which, according to the case law, is lawful in principle (see, for instance, Judgments 615 and 2342 of the Tribunal). To make the exercise of that right conditional on obtaining leave of absence would clearly be incompatible with the principle itself, the necessary corollary of which is the freedom of officials to follow or not to follow a call to strike duly issued by their representative organisations."

  Reference(s)

  Organization rules reference: Article 11 of the Staff Regulations governing officials of the Agency
  ILOAT Judgment(s): 615, 2342
  

  Keywords:

  collective rights; condition; consequence; continuance of operations; disciplinary measure; freedom of association; general principle; provision; right to strike; staff member's duties; staff regulations and rules; staff union; strike; unauthorised absence; warning;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 1277

  
  75th Session, 1993
  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 12

  Extract:

  "Acknowledging that a staff member has a right to leave work by way of protest against an administrative decision he does not care for would indeed mean letting him take the law into his own hands and do justice unto himself. The right of 'legitimate defence' and self-help that the complainant is claiming is alien to due process and, if tolerated, would wreak havoc in any administration."

  Keywords:

  due process; organisation's interest; staff member's duties; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 487

  
  48th Session, 1982
  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 3

  Extract:

  "Neither the Regulations nor the Rules state what provisions apply when absence from duty which is claimed as sick leave is not authorised ex post facto. In particular the conditions for applying [a rule] which relates to unauthorised absence and prescribed disciplinary action, are not fulfilled. Accordingly, a case in which sick leave is not authorised ex post facto need not be assimilated to one of ordinary unauthorised absence."

  Keywords:

  illness; unauthorised absence;
  

  Consideration 3

  Extract:

  The complainant's absence from duty for which the organization's medical officer thought the application of sick leave unjustified was set against annual leave; the complainant contends that it was in fact a disciplinary measure tainted with abuse of authority. "In the circumstances of this case the application of the [material rule] by analogy and the consequent exclusion of [another rule] which would have entailed disciplinary action [...] constitutes no abuse of authority, since that authority was not exercised for any unlawful purpose."

  Keywords:

  abuse of power; analogy; annual leave; enforcement; illness; misuse of authority; provision; refusal; sick leave; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 481

  
  48th Session, 1982
  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 1

  Extract:

  Under the Staff Rules, any unauthorised and unjustified absence from duty shall be charged to special leave without pay. "It is for the administration to determine whether or not an official needs permission to be absent from duty and whether to authorise participation in a staff demonstration during working hours." By warning the association that participation in the demonstration set for the next day [to secure recognition of the association] would be treated as unauthorised and unjustified, the Director-General kept within the bounds of his authority.

  Keywords:

  discretion; enforcement; provision; special leave; staff regulations and rules; staff union; staff union activity; time off; unauthorised absence; unpaid leave;
  

  Consideration 2

  Extract:

  "The complainant argues that the Director of her division was not competent to order the deduction from her salary, since such a decision falls to the Director-General [...]. She fails, however, to prove any such abuse of authority. Moreover, the Director of her division merely carried out the instructions given [...] by the assistant Director-General."

  Keywords:

  competence; decision-maker; deduction; salary; unauthorised absence;
  

  Consideration 3

  Extract:

  It appears from the applicable provisions that "the monthly salary is 1/12 of the yearly salary, and the daily salary 1/360 of the yearly and 1/30 of the monthly salary. The complainant was on unauthorised leave for two hours, i.e. for one quarter of a normal working day. It was therefore right to deduct a sum corresponding to 1/120 of her monthly salary."

  Keywords:

  amount; deduction; entitlement for service rendered; proportionality; salary; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 475

  
  47th Session, 1982
  Intergovernmental Council of Copper Exporting Countries
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 9

  Extract:

  The complainant left without herself informing the chief of personnel that she would be absent for an indefinite period. She could have written to the organisation. She protracted her stay without being formally authorised to do so. The Secretary General was therefore right to terminate the contract, in accordance with the applicable provisions. "Considering the complainant's behaviour [...] he did not exceed the limits of his discretion in applying the most severe sanction."

  Keywords:

  conduct; disciplinary measure; discretion; misconduct; termination of employment; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 403

  
  43rd Session, 1980
  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 15

  Extract:

  Nothing in the dossier confutes the complainant's repeated assertion that she never took time off without permission. In drawing from the dossier "the conclusion that the complainant had taken the decision that she, and only she, would decide how much time she would devote to her duties and that she did not regard it as necessary to obtain the approval of her supervisor [...] the Director-General drew a conclusion that was clearly mistaken."

  Keywords:

  mistaken conclusion; staff representative; staff union activity; time off; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 392

  
  43rd Session, 1980
  Pan American Health Organization
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 4

  Extract:

  Abandonment implies the physical failure to perform a contractual duty and the intention to abandon future performance. The applicable provision allows the intention to be assumed from the fact of absence without reasonable explanation for fifteen days. "The explanation has not got to be one that exonerates the staff member from breach of contract or from other disciplinary measures, but it has to be one which negatives the intention to abandon."

  Keywords:

  abandonment of post; definition; presumption; unauthorised absence;
  

  Considerations 4, 6, 7 and 8

  Extract:

  Abandonment presupposes intention, which is to be assumed, under the applicable provision, from the fact of absence without explanation for fifteen days. The complainant failed to report as ordered to her chief. "By challenging the order in the manner prescribed by the Regulations, the complainant was affirming the contract, not abandoning it." An appeal entered for the purpose of delay will not do. The complainant had a bona fide case. The decision to terminate her appointment for abandonment of post must therefore be quashed.

  Keywords:

  abandonment of post; decision quashed; termination of employment; unauthorised absence;
  

  
  
  

• Judgment 214

  
  31st Session, 1973
  International Telecommunication Union
  Extracts: EN, FR
  Full Judgment Text: EN, FR

  Consideration 2

  Extract:

  The complainant was dismissed for having abandoned his post. Immediately before the end of their contracts, officials are required to undergo an examination by the staff physician. "The complainant was not so examined. Non-compliance with this rule does not of itself render a termination invalid."

  Keywords:

  abandonment of post; condition; contract; fixed-term; medical examination; organisation's duties; separation from service; termination of employment; unauthorised absence;