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Independent status: OSLA enjoys functional or operational independence, in the sense that it does not receive instructions from its hierarchy when providing advice to staff members or representing their interests, while remaining administratively subject to the Secretary-General. Attribution of Independent organs¡¯ acts to the Secretary-General: If article 2.1 of the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT Statute designates the Secretary-General as the respondent before the Tribunal, he assumes this role in his capacity as Chief Administrative Officer, and not on account of his personal behaviour. This responsibility is linked...

ST/IC/2006/60, the legality of which has not been contested by the Applicant, is clear as far as the rates for relocation grant are concerned. It stipulates on the one hand that for single staff members ¡°separating from service following appointments or assignments of one year or more¡±, the applicable rate is USD10,000, and on the other hand that ¡°for assignments of less than one year¡± the rate is USD1,200. It is clear that the Applicant, who was assigned to Geneva for six months only because he decided to resign, falls within the latter category. The Administration could thus rely on this...

Applicant¡¯s request for a swap of posts and for priority consideration: The Tribunal¡¯s Statute does not authorize it to issue such orders to the Administration. Applicant¡¯s request for an internal review of ±¬ÁÏÍøDSS: The Tribunal¡¯s mandate is to enforce the individual rights of applicants; it does not behove the Tribunal to oblige the Administration to remedy problems it may identify in the functioning of the Organization. Applicant¡¯s request for determination of individual responsibilities: Assuming the Applicant intended to rely on article 10.8 of the Tribunal¡¯s Statute, such article allows the...

The Tribunal raises on its own motion the question of the receivability ratione materiae, namely whether the OIOS decision was an appealable administrative decision. On the merits, it finds that the OIOS decision is lawful. Tribunal¡¯s obligation to raise on its own motion issues related to its competence: Before ruling on the legality of a decision, the Tribunal must examine on its own motion¡ªthat is, even if the issue was not raised by the parties¡ªwhether it is competent, pursuant to its Statute, to hear and pass judgment on an application, including whether the contested decision is an...

Particular urgency: The requirement of particular urgency will not be satisfied if the urgency was created or caused by the applicant.

Assessment of irreparable damage in relation to non-selection decisions: The applicant was not the only recommended candidate and, therefore, it could not be concluded that he would have been selected for the litigious post. Accordingly, he failed to show that the implementation of the contested decision would cause him irreparable damage.

Roster candidates: The fact that a candidate is rostered does not prevent the hiring manager from conducting a selection process and it does not give the roster candidate any kind of priority. Assessment methods: Hiring managers have large latitude in choosing the methods used to assess candidates, taking into account the technical requirements of the post. In particular, resorting to subject matter experts to evaluate work samples of the candidates is in accordance with the rules of the staff selection system. Scope of judicial review: It is not for the Tribunal to substitute its own...

In accordance with staff rule 4.3, when a staff member has been legally accorded nationality status by more than one state, the staff member¡¯s nationality for purposes of the Staff Regulations and the Staff Rules shall be the nationality of the State to which the staff member is, in the opinion of the Secretary-General, most closely associated.In light of the provisions of staff rule 4.3, and in absence of any evidence that the discretion granted the Secretary-General by that rule has been exercised arbitrarily, in an abusive manner or vitiated by improper motives, the Tribunal finds that the...

The ±¬ÁÏÍøDT considered that the Applicant¡¯s initial complaint was meeting all the requirements contained in sec. 5.13 of ST/SGB/2008/5. It noted that the decision not to initiate a formal fact-finding investigation was made only six months after the complaint had been lodged hence it did not meet the requirement of ¡®promptness¡¯ contained in sec. 5.3 and sec. 5.14 of ST/SGB/2008/5. Further, the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT found that the course of action chosen by the ASG/OHRM, which consisted in asking first the alleged offender for his views, had no legal basis in ST/SGB/2008/5. Having considered the definition of the...

The Tribunal found that since the Applicant failed to request the Administration to open a new TVA, and as such to provoke an administrative decision of refusal, the application was irreceivable in this respect. The Tribunal further found that the decision to select another candidate was procedurally flawed since the Applicant, despite her request, was not provided with the names of the members of the Interview Panel. In view of the case history, there is no doubt that the Applicant would have requested a change of Panel members and a reasonable Administrator would have conceded to her request...