Judgment 1901
88th Session, 2000
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 8-9
Extract:
The organization refused the complainant both an unsuitability and an invalidity pension. It explains that it couldn't arrange for a final medical examination at the time of the complainant's dismissal because he was in prison. "The Tribunal cannot accept that argument. Under Article R II 4.18 of the Staff Regulations, a medical examination is compulsory when a contract is terminated, for whatever reason. In view of the particular circumstances of the case, [the organization] should have been at particular pains to comply with that rule. In the absence of such an examination the pension fund should have determined whether, upon termination of service, the complainant was to be treated as unfit for work because of a deterioration in his physical or mental health which occurred while he was employed by [the organization]. The administrator of the Pension Fund was, therefore, wrong [...] when he refused to consider the complainant's entitlement to a pension for unsuitability." The case was sent back to the Pension Fund.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE R II 4.18 OF THE STAFF REGULATIONS OF CERN
Keywords:
cern pension fund; disability benefit; due process; incapacity; invalidity; medical examination; organisation's duties; pension; pension entitlements; procedure before the tribunal; refusal; service-incurred; termination of employment;
Judgment 1889
87th Session, 1999
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 6-7
Extract:
The complainant was assigned to Chad in 1991 and contracted Hepatitis B in 1993. "The Appeals Committee considers that the medical service did not completely fulfil its role and did not offer the staff member concerned the advice that it could have supplied. The Appeals Committee even refers to responsibility being equally shared'. In practice, there could be no grave fault of the medical service incurring the responsibility of the organization unless the protective measures recommended by a competent authority had been disregarded. In the material case, the organization demonstrates that in 1991 [...] the World Health Organization's guidelines did not specifically recommend vaccination against Hepatitis B for persons posted to African countries affected by an endemic illness of this type."
Keywords:
breach; illness; liability; medical consultant; negligence; no provision; organisation; organisation's duties; rule of another organisation; service-incurred;
Judgment 1637
83rd Session, 1997
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
The complainant alleges improper treatment of him by his supervisor. The Tribunal holds that it is "hard to dismiss - as UNIDO does in its surrejoinder - the keen tension between the complainant and his supervisor as 'everyday occurrences in any office' or the effect of 'action taken in the ordinary run of management and likely to make for the degree of stress that any international civil servant is expected to cope with'."
Keywords:
harassment; injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; service-incurred; supervisor; working conditions;
Consideration 16(c)
Extract:
The complainant claims an invalidity pension. The Tribunal holds that he is not entitled to one. "Articles 11.1 and 11.2, [of UNIDO's Staff Rules], which deal with total or partial disability attributable to the performance of official duties, do not apply to cases like this one where, after several months' sick leave on full pay, the member does not go back to work and the reason is not that he is unfit but that he has reached the age of retirement and has had to stop work because of a decision no longer subject to challenge."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLES 11.1 AND 11.2 OF UNIDO'S STAFF RULE
Keywords:
age limit; invalidity; res judicata; retirement; separation from service; service-incurred; sick leave; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 16(d)
Extract:
The complainant alleges that he has been a victim of harassment by his supervisor. The Tribunal notes that "the conditions the complainant suffered in his last few months of work harmed his health. They caused him injury for which he is entitled to redress. Acting by virtue of Article II, paragraph 2, of its Statute [...]. The Tribunal awards him damages".
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II(2) OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
compensation; harassment; illness; iloat statute; injury; moral injury; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; service-incurred; working conditions;
Judgment 1606
82nd Session, 1997
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
"The complainant's case is that his earning capacity has been impaired, not directly, but merely indirectly in that travel is essential for any employment for which he is suited and his condition [following a service incurred accident] has made it difficult, if not impossible, for him to travel. The burden therefore lay on him in the internal proceedings to show that any suitable employment would entail an appreciable amount of travel."
Keywords:
burden of proof; evidence; incapacity; injury; professional accident; service-incurred;
Judgment 1486
80th Session, 1996
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 16
Extract:
"The Tribunal concludes that the complainant's illness must be assumed to have been directly due to his assignment by the FAO to an area posing a special hazard to his health, to have occurred as a result of that hazard, and therefore to be service-incurred within the meaning of Manual Paragraph 342.213."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PARAGRAPH 342.213 OF THE FAO MANUAL
Keywords:
duty station; field; illness; service-incurred; special hazard; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1284
75th Session, 1993
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The complainant's main claim - that his condition be declared attributable to the performance of official duties - fails because the Tribunal may not substitute its own assessment of the case for the Medical Board's."
Keywords:
discretion; illness; judicial review; medical board; report; service-incurred;
Judgment 889
64th Session, 1988
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"The burden is on [the complainant] to prove service-incurred illness."
Keywords:
burden of proof; complainant; evidence; illness; service-incurred;
Considerations 4-5
Extract:
"The new text of [Article] II 4.01 [CERN Pension Fund] reads: 'Unsuitability is the reduction, presumed to be permanent or long-term, by at least 1/3 in earning capacity resulting from a deterioration in physical or mental health, which occurred while the person concerned held a contract with one of the participating organizations'. [...] The complainant did not satisfy the conditions in [Article] II 4.01."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE II 4.01 OF THE CERN PENSION FUND
Keywords:
cern pension fund; definition; illness; incapacity; medical fitness; service-incurred;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Although the disputes [between the complainant and his employer] may indeed have made his condition worse, it is not established that that condition was directly attributable to his employment."
Keywords:
cause; illness; service-incurred; working relations;
Judgment 875
63rd Session, 1987
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"The information available does not enable the Tribunal to assess whether the accident of 3 April 1982 resulted in all the permanent injuries now suffered by the complainant or only in the permanent injury to his left foot. In these circumstances an examination should be carried out by a medical expert whose terms of reference are set out below."
Keywords:
expert inquiry; further submissions; incapacity; interlocutory order; invalidity; medical examination; professional accident; rate; service-incurred;
Judgment 770
59th Session, 1986
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant was injured in an aircraft accident while on an official mission. He sought compensation from the airline whose plane had caused the accident. The airline agreed to conclude a reasonable settlement. The complainant never disclosed the amount of the payment made to him. Under the circumstances, the Tribunal holds that it was proper for the organization to deny the complainant further benefits. Indeed, paragraph 32 of aAnnex E to the WHO Manual releases the compensation scheme from the obligation to make payments to a staff member who has obtained satisfaction through a third party.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PARAGRAPH 32 OF ANNEX E TO THE WHO MANUAL
Keywords:
accumulation; health insurance; illness; insurance; medical expenses; organisation; professional accident; refusal; service-incurred;
Judgment 641
54th Session, 1984
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 10
Extract:
"The Tribunal [...] holds that between the overtime [the official] performed and his death no causal link is proved so close as to warrant the conclusion that death was attributable to official duties. His death was not the direct outcome of the additional work he did. Such being the facts of the case, the Tribunal will dismiss the complaint."
Keywords:
cause; death; lack of evidence; service-incurred;
Judgment 620
53rd Session, 1984
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
The complainant suffers from angina pectoris; he did not receive regular medical examinations. The organization's breach of its duty deprived him of an opportunity to take precautions against an illness which has impaired his work capacity. The complainant is entitled to damages. "The award cannot be the full amount which would have been due had [the illness] been attributable beyond peradventure to the performance of official duties. But the FAO is liable in damages for injury the complainant may have suffered."
Keywords:
illness; injury; material damages; medical examination; organisation's duties; service-incurred;
Consideration 2
Extract:
The organization holds that the complainant need only to have asked for an examination to have had one. As a rule, every provision of the Regulations is intended to be put into effect, with the exception of those stated not to be binding. "There is no reason to suppose that the FAO was free to disregard [the provision on regular medical examinations]. In fact, in giving officials of the age of 55 or more a right to an examination every six months, the rule implies that the FAO is under a duty to have staff in other age groups examined."
Keywords:
illness; medical examination; organisation's duties; service-incurred;
Judgment 528
49th Session, 1982
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"Though the existence of such a risk [noise levels] is, in the Tribunal's view, a material point, it does not suffice to establish that the complainant's disability was service-incurred".
Keywords:
elements; evidence; illness; service-incurred; working conditions;
Consideration 5
Extract:
The specialists "do no more than concede the likelihood of a causal link between the complainant's impairment and the discharge of his duties." The Internal Appeals Board summed up in cautious wording that "is not such as to allow the Tribunal to declare that the conditions in the [material rules] are fulfilled in the complainant's case. The presumptions in his favour are, with regard to all the points at issue, neither sufficiently precise nor sufficiently concordant".
Keywords:
evidence; illness; lack of evidence; presumption of innocence; service-incurred;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"Although the complainant took over eleven years to file a claim, it will not be declared time-barred in the absence of an express time limit. The time bar extinguishes obligations, and its existence will not be presumed: it must be expressly prescribed. [...] The sole consequence of the delay in lodging the claim is that proof is more difficult; but the matter is one of fact, not of law."
Keywords:
complaint; illness; invalidity; no provision; receivability of the complaint; service-incurred; time bar; time limit;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"It is for the employer to make proper arrangements for a comprehensive check-up of the applicant for employment. To expect him to prove that he is in perfect health would be to require him to disprove the existence of any impairment, and that is simply not feasible. [...] The burden is [however] on [the complainant] to satisfy the Tribunal with positive proof, that his impairment was service-incurred."
Keywords:
appointment; burden of proof; complainant; illness; medical examination; medical fitness; organisation; service-incurred;
Judgment 502
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant suffers from illnesses which, he alleges, are due to his duties in the organization. Before appealing to the Tribunal, he should have exhausted the internal remedies and appealed to the Advisory Committee; that step was left out and the complaint is therefore not receivable. The complainant is still entitled to put his claims forward at the administrative level. For that purpose the parties need only designate the members of the Medical Board provided for in the Rules.
Keywords:
absence of final decision; case sent back to organisation; illness; internal remedies exhausted; medical board; receivability of the complaint; service-incurred;
Judgment 479
47th Session, 1982
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant draws an invalidity pension for an illness contracted when on a mission as a consultant. The rules provide for a bigger pension if a dependant's allowance had been payable. "A dependant's allowance would not have been payable to the complainant. His contract did not provide for one in addition to his salary or fee. [A] staff rule [...] excludes from the staff members entitled to a dependant's allowance short-term staff and consultants." The claim for an increase was rightly rejected.
Keywords:
allowance; contract; dependant; disability benefit; external collaborator; illness; service-incurred; short-term;
Consideration 10
Extract:
"By the inclusion of the word 'function' ['organe' in the French version] in the [material provision] it is obviously intended that the loss of the use of a limb or member shall be treated in the same way as the actual loss. Whether it means more than this is open to question. Unless it does, it will not apply to persons like the complainant who are incapacitated by disease." The organization chose to apply another provision by analogy.
Keywords:
illness; incapacity; interpretation; invalidity; provision; service-incurred; staff regulations and rules;
Summary
Extract:
The complainant became disabled following a disease contracted during a one-month mission. The complainant receives an invalidity pension. His incapacity was assessed by the Tribunal at 100 per cent. The amount of the pension must be redetermined. The deductions made of a university retirement pension were unwarranted they must be reimbursed, with the amounts being indexed against inflation and with interest [2 per cent]; costs.
Keywords:
amount; disability benefit; illness; incapacity; invalidity; rate; reckoning; refund; service-incurred;
Judgment 435
45th Session, 1980
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The organization "would have incurred liability beyond the requirements of the Staff Rules and Regulations only if it had exposed the complainant to a degree of danger incompatible with the normal performance of his duties and beyond the requirements of his contract of appointment." This was not the case. There is no need to consider whether the organization had been negligent by failing to take precautions against the accident in question.
Keywords:
assignment; liability; organisation; professional accident; service-incurred; special hazard;
Judgment 402
43rd Session, 1980
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 12
Extract:
As to loss of earning capacity on account of long-term invalidity, "there is no general principle by which compensation is restricted to the period of the employee's contract with the employer who is liable. It is quite usual for persons of pensionable age to seek further employment and there is no reason why a loss of earning capacity should not apply to that."
Keywords:
compensation; duration of appointment; incapacity; invalidity; material damages; period; professional accident; retirement; service-incurred;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The compensation appropriate to a breach of contract is indemnification for loss actually incurred as a result of that particular breach; it cannot, unless the contract expressly so provides, be settled according to a general tariff."
Keywords:
amount; compensation; liability; material damages; organisation; professional accident; service-incurred;
Judgment 362
41st Session, 1978
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"Under Article II of its Statute the Tribunal is open to any official [...] who is in dispute with the organisation concerning the compensation provided for in cases of invalidity, injury or disease incurred by him in the course of his employment."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE II OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; illness; iloat statute; invalidity; professional accident; service-incurred;
Judgment 349
40th Session, 1978
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 31
Extract:
"Under [the applicable provision] the complainant should have made his claim within six months from the date the injury originated or at latest within six months of the date when its serious consequences became manifest, and this he has failed to do. It is not enough to report the occurrence, as the complainant claims he did to a direct superior or to the organisation's male nurse or medical doctor; there must be a claim for compensation."
Keywords:
invalidity; professional accident; receivability of the complaint; service-incurred; time bar; time limit;
Judgment 250
34th Session, 1975
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
A clause in the complainant's contract provides for compensation in the event of "illness". It is unclear whether the term applies to all cases of illness or only to cases of illness which were due to performance of duties. Under the second interpretation, the person concerned would be entitled to full compensation for the prejudice suffered and its direct consequences, for example disability. "Without settling that question, and assuming in the complainant's favour that the second interpretation is correct", the Tribunal notes that the illness was not related to the performance of his duties.
Keywords:
compensation; condition; contract; illness; injury; interpretation; provision; service-incurred;
Considerations
Extract:
It appears from the evidence "that the complainant's duties, however demanding and difficult they may have been, did not as such require him regularly to work longer hours than might reasonably have been expected of a staff member in his position." The illness is thus not directly related to his duties "by reason of the particularly demanding nature thereof."
Keywords:
cause; illness; service-incurred; working conditions;
Considerations
Extract:
Assuming that the terms of appointment entitling the complainant to compensation cover only cases of illness which are the direct result of his duties, by reason of the particularly demanding nature thereof, "the complainant would be entitled, quite apart from the terms of his appointment and in accordance with the general principles of liability in public law, to full compensation for any prejudice suffered by him and its direct consequences, including, for example, chronic or temporary disability."
Keywords:
compensation; general principle; illness; injury; invalidity; liability; right; service-incurred;
Judgment 235
32nd Session, 1974
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"The Tribunal does not propose to base its judgement in this case upon an analysis of the phraseology of the rules and regulations. It will, for the purposes of this case, accept the complainant's contention that what has to be proved is that the performance of official duties was a cause of the death of her husband."
Keywords:
death; service-incurred;
Considerations
Extract:
The Tribunal's decision is subject to the specific circumstances of each case. It "is not to be taken as laying it down that death in a country to which an official is assigned and which lacks ordinary medical facilities can never be attributed to the performance of official duties."
Keywords:
cause; death; duty station; evidence; field; illness; service-incurred;
