Judgment 1334
76th Session, 1994
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 22
Extract:
"The purpose of the case law [on acquired rights] is to safeguard the substance of the staff's pay and pensions in the event of amendments to the material rules. The supplementary benefits were intended to afford compensation for constraints that at the time were not part of the complainant's ordinary duties." There was no breach of acquired rights.
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; base salary; case law; compensatory allowance; discontinuance; pension; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1330
76th Session, 1994
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainants regard as a breach of their acquired rights an amendment to the Staff Regulations whose effect is to confer on the United Nations Administrative Tribunal competence for disputes concerning the reckoning of pensionable remuneration. But the Tribunal "cannot treat an amendment to the rules on competence as 'loss of an essential legal safeguard'. After all, with the new text competence goes to an independent and impartial international administrative tribunal."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; competence; competence of tribunal; pension; pensionable remuneration; right of appeal; safeguard; staff regulations and rules; unat;
Judgment 1211
74th Session, 1993
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 2-3
Extract:
The material question is whether a staff member who is entitled to payment of a pension at the maximum rate must go on contributing to the scheme. "The organisation is right in holding that there is no exception to the rule about monthly deduction."
Keywords:
contributions; pension; retirement; seniority; staff member's duties;
Judgment 1206
74th Session, 1993
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 3 and 5
Extract:
The complainant objects to the period of service taken into account for the reckoning of his pension entitlements. "The Tribunal is not competent to make any ruling on the application of the Fund's Regulations and therefore declines to entertain the complaint."
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; pension; pension entitlements; tribunal; unjspf;
Judgment 1199
73rd Session, 1992
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainants contend "that the arrangement for adjustment ought to have reflected average economic trends in more than just one country. That is to question the whole basis of the pensions scheme. The United States federal civil service was the 'comparator' for determining the pay and pensions in the United Nations common system. It was therefore only reasonable to take economic trends in the United States alone into account. So it was not just a matter of policy: the ILO's decision was a logical application of the prescribed approach."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 832
Keywords:
adjustment; coordinated organisations; domestic law; general principle; noblemaire principle; pension; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1171
73rd Session, 1992
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
ITU Staff Rule 3.4.2c) "says that on promotion from the general service to the professional category an official shall keep his pensionable remuneration at the level which it had reached immediately before promotion 'until that level is exceeded as a result of advancement or further promotion'. Since the complainant's promotion [...] resulted in a decrease in his pensionable remuneration [...] he was accordingly entitled to keep his pensionable remuneration at the level it had reached immediately prior to promotion".
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ITU STAFF RULE 3.4.2C)
Keywords:
general service category; pension; pensionable remuneration; professional category; promotion; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1143
72nd Session, 1992
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 5-6
Extract:
The complainant applied for extension of the age limit on the grounds that without it her pension would be paltry and that her continued service would be in the organization's interest. The Director General rejected her request, relying on Judgment 358 [...], which he said precluded his acting in the exclusive interests of the staff member, and on the fact that Staff Regulation 9.8 prevented him from making an exception to the age-limit rule to take account of an official's financial situation. The Tribunal holds that "in stating his decision in those terms the Director General mistook the scope of his discretion and the ratio of Judgment 358: he may not refuse to exercise his discretion just because he is being asked to take a staff member's financial situation into account." Moreover, her performance reports were good. "The Director General erred in law because his decision was not in accordance with Regulation 9.8(a). He could have taken into account the complainant's financial situation provided that that was not the exclusive factor and that the interests of the Organization were also taken into account."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: WIPO STAFF REGULATION 9.8
ILOAT Judgment(s): 358
Keywords:
age limit; exception; organisation's interest; pension; retirement;
Judgment 1053
69th Session, 1990
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7, Summary
Extract:
When the complainants retired in 1988 they chose to take partial lump-sum payment of their pensions in the belief that United States taxes levied on those amounts would be reimbursed in keeping with a practice that remained in force until 1989. But they were denied reimbursement. As the complainants all believed the practice to be applicable when they made their choice, both the principle of non-retroactivity and that of good faith apply.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; date; good faith; lump-sum; non-retroactivity; pension; pension entitlements; practice; refund; retirement; tax;
Summary
Extract:
In respect of tax reimbursement the IAEA took the reference in Provisional Staff Regulation 5.02(a) to "salaries or allowances paid by the Agency" to cover lump-sum payments from the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund between 1980 and 1989. The Tribunal holds that, "having been followed over several years,the interpretation became part of the Agency's personnel policy and had to be applied to all departing staff members who found themselves in similar circumstances. If the Agency chose to take a different view of the interpretation at a later stage, it could not in doing so break with the general principle of good faith which it is required to observe in dealings with its staff members."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: IAEA PROVISIONAL STAFF REGULATION 5.02(A)
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; good faith; interpretation; lump-sum; pension; practice; refund; staff regulations and rules; tax;
Judgment 1034
69th Session, 1990
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The pension rights of an employee in the United Nations family of institutions are governed by the Regulations of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund and are determined by the kind of contract he holds. The complainant was employed for a certain time under special service agreements which do not entitle him to membership in the Fund.
Keywords:
contract; external collaborator; fund regulations; participation excluded; pension; pension entitlements;
Judgment 1032
69th Session, 1990
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant left employment in a private company to join the staff of the EPO and applied for the transfer of his pension rights to the organisation's retirement scheme. The company agreed to refund the contributions he had made but would not transfer the actuarial equivalent of his pension rights. Inasmuch as Article 12(1) of the EPO Pension Scheme Regulations and Implementing Rule 12.1/1(i)(b) only allow the transfer of those rights with the consent of the previous retirement scheme and that in such cases the amount must be certified by that scheme to be the actuarial equivalent of the official's pension rights, the organisation's retirement scheme was not empowered to accede to the complainant's request.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 12(1) OF THE EPO PENSION SCHEME REGULATIONS; RULE 12.1/1(I)(B) OF THE IMPLEMENTING RULES
Keywords:
actuarial equivalent; condition; pension; transfer of pension rights;
Judgment 994
68th Session, 1990
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant was granted three concurrent promotions: the first by direct selection from grade G.6 to P.3 with effect from 1 July 1986; the second by personal promotion from G.6 to G.7 with effect from 1 January 1986; and the third as a result of the regrading of his post from G.6 to P.3 with effect from 1 February 1984. The Administration said he could choose between two options: either his promotion to P.3 as from 1 February 1984 would be deemed to have cancelled the earlier ones and, in keeping with Article 3.4.4 of the Staff Regulations, his pensionable remuneration would stay at the level it had reached at that date; or else he might keep the personal promotion and his pensionable remuneration would be at the level it had reached at 1 July 1986. The complainant having refused to choose between the two options, the Administration applied the second one. Insofar as that decision conflicts with the decision to regrade his post P.3 as from 1 February 1984 it cannot stand.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 3.4.4 OF THE ILO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
consequence; cumulative decisions; general service category; pension; pensionable remuneration; post classification; professional category; promotion; withdrawal of decision;
Judgment 990
68th Session, 1990
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The General Assembly of the United Nations brought in a new scale of pensionable remuneration as from 1 January 1985. The scale, provided for in Article 3.1.1 of the Staff Regulations, did not come into force until 1 April 1985. The complainant's pension, however, was reckoned according to the new scale between 1 January and 31 March 1985. The Tribunal holds that "the ILO is undoubtedly bound [...] by the provisions of the Staff Regulations so long as they remain in force and is therefore liable towards the complainant for the breach of them. That its difficulty is due to the stand taken by the fund cannot alter its liability as employer towards its staff."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 3.1.1 OF THE ILO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; difference; effective date; fund regulations; liability; organisation; payment; pension; pensionable remuneration; provision; reduction of salary; scale; staff regulations and rules; unjspf;
Consideration 8
Extract:
The Tribunal "may not order any increase in [the complainant's] pension in redress for the breach of the regulations since the body that determines the pension is outside its jurisdiction."
Keywords:
amount; competence; competence of tribunal; flaw; pension; reckoning; unjspf;
Consideration 6
Extract:
"Having put the scale of pensionable remuneration into its own Staff Regulations, the ILO has a duty to ensure the payment of the corresponding benefits. The sole purpose of pensionable remuneration is the reckoning of the pension, and if the pension discounts the scale in the Staff Regulations because the organisation has entrusted the matter to another body, the ILO must make good the loss to its staff, who are entitled to have the regulations applied. Any difference of opinion there may be between the ILO and the fund is of no concern to the staff."
Keywords:
compensation; enforcement; injury; organisation's duties; pension; pensionable remuneration; staff regulations and rules; unjspf;
Summary
Extract:
The General Assembly of the United Nations brought in a new, lower scale of pensionable remuneration as from 1 January 1985. That scale, provided for in Article 3.1.1 of the ILO Staff Regulations, did not come into force for officials serving in the organization until 1 April 1985. The complainant's pension was nonetheless reckoned according to the new scale between 1 January and 31 March 1985. She challenges the Director-General's implied rejection of her internal complaint seeking to have her pension reckoned according to the old scale up to 31 March 1985 or, failing that, compensation. The Organization submits that the measure had come to her attention through various channels and that the complaint was out of time. The Tribunal holds that the Staff Regulations contained an explicit provision which set out the staff's rights. The staff were not told of any valid ilo decision not to abide by the Staff Regulations. The Organization's contention that the complaint is irreceivable is mistaken.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 3.1.1 OF THE ILO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; complaint; difference; effective date; fund regulations; pension; pensionable remuneration; provision; receivability of the complaint; reduction of salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 986
67th Session, 1989
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 24
Extract:
Though the Tribunal "has held that the new scale [of pensionable remuneration] impairs the complainants' rights, it cannot now set the amount of their entitlements." Its ruling will therefore be one of principle.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; amount; injury; material damages; pension; pensionable remuneration; reduction of salary; scale;
Consideration 16
Extract:
On 1 April 1987 the ILO brought in a new scale which further lowered pensionable remuneration. Though there is no going back on what was said in earlier judgments, "the complainants may back up their case against the decisions they impugn by citing the earlier ones on the same subject [vide Judgments 832 and 862]. The full set of decisions is material in ruling on the plea of breach of acquired rights even though, if breach there has been, the consequences will touch only the decisions now under challenge."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 832, 862
Keywords:
acquired right; consequence; cumulative decisions; pension; pensionable remuneration; reduction of salary; res judicata; scale;
Considerations 23-24
Extract:
The Tribunal holds that as a result of the further reduction in pensionable remuneration brought in on 1 April 1987 the complainants are "worse off, to an extent [...] that goes beyond the bounds of the ILO's discretionary authority"; the reduction is in breach of the essential terms of their employment. The Tribunal quashes the impugned decisions and makes the following ruling of principle: "if the amount of the pension each of them gets when the 1987 scale is taken into account proves to be at least 3 per cent lower than the amount he or she gets when it is not, compensation shall be due for any loss over and above the 3 per cent."
Keywords:
acquired right; breach; pension; pensionable remuneration; reduction of salary; scale; terms of appointment;
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The Tribunal may not review the management of the [United Nations Joint Staff Pension] Fund, the sole basis of its competence in this case being the ILO's Staff Regulations."
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; iloat; pension; unjspf;
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The relations of staff with an international organisation do not end when they leave its employ. The pension scheme forms part of the administrative arrangements they may look forward to and, like pay, pensions are governed by basic rules that are binding on the organisation. Foremost among them is Noblemaire, the purpose of which is not to bestow privilege on international civil servants but to draw some of the best people from every country into the service."
Keywords:
enforcement; international civil service principles; noblemaire principle; pension; salary; separation from service;
Judgment 961
66th Session, 1989
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4, Summary
Extract:
The Permanent Commission of Eurocontrol took a decision of policy to bring about a differential of up to 5 per cent between staff pensions in the European Communities and pensions in Eurocontrol. The complainants are challenging a general decision, not individual decisions. Not one of the complainants has retired. "Since the amount of the complainants' pension contributions is not under challenge, all that is material in this case is the amount each complainant will get when he retires. The Tribunal will not make a general ruling, being competent only to entertain individual and actual disputes, and it therefore declares the complaints irreceivable."
Keywords:
cause of action; competence of tribunal; general decision; individual decision; legislative body; pension; pension entitlements; receivability of the complaint; reduction of salary;
Judgment 960
66th Session, 1989
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The organisation argues that the complainant's internal appeal against the application of the amended scale of pensionable remuneration was time-barred. The plea fails. The Tribunal holds that "although [the complainant] must have known for over two years that amending the scale would have consequences when she left she could not know what the financial consequences would be."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; amount; consequence; decision; internal appeal; pension; pensionable remuneration; receivability of the complaint; reduction of salary; retirement; scale; separation from service; start of time limit; time bar; time limit;
Consideration 6
Extract:
The purpose of the present complaint is the same as the purpose of the complaints which lead to Judgment 832. The rationale of that judgment and the ruling hold good. The Tribunal declares that "the ILO acted lawfully in adopting the new scale as from 1 April 1985, its decision was not in breach of any promise and did not have retroactive effect, and although it did cause the complainant financial injury the reasons were objective and the extent of the injury admissible."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 832
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; non-retroactivity; pension; pension entitlements; pensionable remuneration; reduction of salary; scale;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The notice [...] that prompted her internal appeal cannot in itself afford grounds for a complaint to the Tribunal since it merely showed the amount of the benefit she would get according to the option she preferred, and that amount is determined by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund. if, as the ILO maintains, that is how the notice is to be construed, the Tribunal may not review the lawfulness of the decision." However, the complainant takes a different line. The complainant's objections, based on Article 8.2 of the ILO Staff Regulations, concern not the amount of her pension, but the fact that account was taken of the new scale of pensionable remuneration which the Director-General had brought in as from 1 April 1985. Therefore, the Tribunal is competent.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 8.2 OF THE ILO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
amount; competence; competence of tribunal; decision; pension; pension entitlements; pensionable remuneration; scale; unjspf;
Judgment 902
64th Session, 1988
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 25
Extract:
The Permanent Commission of the Organisation took a decision bringing in a 5 per cent differential between pensions in Eurocontrol and pensions in the European Community. "Since the Commission is not the appointing authority its decisions are not subject to appeal".
Keywords:
competence of tribunal; complaint; condition; decision; decision-maker; legislative body; pension; pension entitlements; receivability of the complaint; reduction of salary;
Judgment 900
64th Session, 1988
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The complainant was employed by the Credit Union and became a staff member of the FAO after the Union became a part of that organization. He seeks to have his prior service with the Credit Union validated under the Pension Fund. The Tribunal holds that in the circumstances of the case "his prior service with the Union would not count except for within-grade increments. The Union was not a member of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund and he had no entitlement to revalidation of his past service with the Union."
Keywords:
fund membership; pension; status of complainant; unjspf; validation of service;
Judgment 866
63rd Session, 1987
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"The Tribunal [...] is not competent to construe the Fund Regulations: by Article 48 the United Nations Administrative Tribunal alone may hear complaints alleging breach of those Regulations."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 48 OF THE UNITED NATIONS JOINT STAFF PENSION FUND
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; fund regulations; iloat statute; pension; remand; unat;
Judgment 865
63rd Session, 1987
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
Vide Judgment 866, consideration 5.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 48 OF THE UNITED NATIONS JOINT STAFF PENSION FUND
ILOAT Judgment(s): 866
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; fund regulations; iloat statute; pension; remand; unat;
Judgment 864
63rd Session, 1987
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
Vide Judgment 866, consideration 5.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 48 UNITED NATIONS JOINT STAFF PENSION FUND
ILOAT Judgment(s): 866
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; fund regulations; iloat statute; pension; remand; unat;
