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The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT noted that the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT had not erred when it established that the staff member had improperly used his employer-issued laptop to access sexually-explicit websites and engaged in multiple instances of unauthorized outside activities. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT held that he had not obtained approval to continue being the majority shareholder and director of a company.

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT was of the view that the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT had not erred when it found that the staff member¡¯s activity constituted misconduct. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT found that his contributions to the overall running of the business were material. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT agreed with the...

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT held that the ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA DT rightly identified that the standard of proof for placing the staff member on ALWOP was whether there was reasonable suspicion or reasonable grounds to believe that the staff member had committed the alleged misconduct.

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT rejected the staff member¡¯s argument that his ex-wife¡¯s withdrawal of the complaint against him in a national court should have stopped all investigations against him. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT noted that the national court had provided the case records to the Agency, and the Agency, following its complete assessment of the situation, can proceed with...

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT noted that the staff member had been among the staff whose fixed-term appointments were not renewed due to the closure of the ±¬ÁÏÍøAMID mission.

With regard to his colleague who was laterally reassigned to the Headquarters and consequently remained in service, the ±¬ÁÏÍøAT found that the reassignment had been directly related to the undisputed fact that the colleague could not have been repatriated to Afghanistan for safety and security reasons. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT was of the view that without the lawfulness of the reassignment decision having been placed before it for determination, it was unable to...

The Appeals Tribunal found that the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT correctly held that it was within the SRO's discretion to make comments on Ms. Abdellaoui¡¯s performance, that the SRO's disputed comments were reasonable and balanced by other comments that provided a positive perspective supporting the overall rating, and that as such they did not detract from the overall satisfactory appraisal. Accordingly, the Appeals Tribunal concurred with the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT¡¯s determination that the challenged performance evaluation was not an ¡°administrative decision¡± and agreed that the application was therefore not receivable ratione...

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT noted that the Administration had initiated a preliminary investigation into the staff member¡¯s conduct with regard to the ostensible theft of cash from the office safe, reached agreements with him regarding repayment, and then sought initiation of criminal proceedings by filing a criminal complaint and delivering him to the local police. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT found that because the underlying facts of the case involved his conduct as a United Nations staff member towards his employer, the ±¬ÁÏÍøDT should have been competent to review his application on the merits, had it been timely filed.

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT...

As a preliminary matter, the Appeals Tribunal dismissed the Appellants' requests for an oral hearing on grounds that an oral hearing would not be expeditious and that in light of comprehensive written submissions nothing would be gained from hearing the Appellants¡¯ counsel in person.

The Appeals Tribunal found that in the absence of an express promise of renewal of the Appellants¡¯ fixed-term appointments, the Appellants did not have a legitimate expectation of renewal of their fixed-term contracts. The statements giving assurances to ±¬ÁÏÍøOPS staff members were not made by a ±¬ÁÏÍøOPS official with...

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT held that the staff member¡¯s application was not receivable ratione materiae. It further found that the e-mail identified as the contested decision was a general response from the Human Resources Partner to the staff member¡¯s general inquiry regarding SEG, which did not address his personal situation. As such, it did not constitute an individual or final administrative decision affecting his terms of appointment under Staff Rule 11.2(a).

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed Judgment No. ±¬ÁÏÍøDT/2023/107, albeit for different reasons, with Judge Colgan dissenting.

The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT upheld the ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA DT¡¯s determination of the former staff member¡¯s chances of selection for the position at one-fourth on alternative grounds. The ±¬ÁÏÍøAT held that the ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA DT appropriately considered the possibility that the Agency could have introduced additional candidates on an equivalency basis during a second review after the shortlisting phase. In particular, the ±¬ÁÏÍøRWA DT held that, since the sufficient number of candidates for a competitive exercise was normally between three to five candidates per vacancy, it was reasonable to expect that the Agency would have brought more...

Receivability

The Applicant correctly submitted that he was not contesting the promulgation of the Mobility AI. It was clear from the content of the application that he did not challenge the existence of the Mobility AI as a regulatory decision of the Secretary-General affecting all staff members. Instead, he was contesting the impact of what he perceived as a specific decision made after he accepted the offer of appointment, i.e., that the Mobility AI would be a term of his employment contract. The Tribunal thus found the application receivable.

Merits

The Tribunal established that the Applicant...

Regarding the non-installation decision, the Tribunal observed that by the time the Applicant reported on duty, the family restrictions at Naqoura (his duty station) had been in place for six weeks, and the conditions had caused the duty station to be granted a special hardship classification of ¡°D¡±. The existence of armed conflict and the deteriorating security situation made the presence of dependents at the duty station unsafe. Therefore, the decision not to bring the Applicant¡¯s family to the unsafe area was obviously reasonable. The Tribunal, thus, held that the contested decision not to...