Judgment No. 230
Decision
1. The Organization is ordered to pay the complainant from the date of his retirement half the amount of the pension to which he would have been entitled as a full participant in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.
2. The rest of the complainant's claims are dismissed.
Considerations
Extract:
"The decision to extend the complainant's appointment [...] was taken in the exercise of discretion. The Tribunal can therefore interfere with it only if [...]."
Keywords
contract; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; judicial review; discretion
Considerations
Extract:
"In the circumstances of the case under consideration, the omission to take account of the complainant's situation in respect of membership of the pension fund constituted a fact which must be described as essential."
Keywords
organisation's duties; unjspf; participation; disregard of essential fact
Considerations
Extract:
"[T]he complainant was deprived of full participation both by his own negligence and by an omission on the part of the organization. It is therefore proper to meet the complainant's claims in part by ordering the organization to pay the complainant from the date of his retirement half the amount of the pension to which he would have been entitled as a full participant in the Joint Staff Pension Fund."
Keywords
complainant; organisation; negligence; organisation's duties; pension; unjspf; participation; forfeiture of benefit
Considerations
Extract:
The contracts concluded were replaced by a new contract effective retroactively. The organization argues that the situation in question resulted from an earlier contract which was not challenged. "[H]aving replaced one contract with another the organization is implicitly estopped from arguing that the original contract was not contested in time. Hence, insofar as that contract is relevant, the organization cannot properly rely on the non-observance of the rules on internal means of redress."
Keywords
receivability of the complaint; internal remedies exhausted; amendment to the rules; contract
Considerations
Extract:
"When the complainant was reappointed [...] the officials of the organization did not realise that they were depriving him of the chance of becoming a full participant in the Joint Staff Pension Fund. In all likelihood, had they realised the consequences of their decision, they would have extended the period of the contract [...] without regard to the date of expiry of the project and so enabled the complainant to become a full participant."
Keywords
negligence; contract; extension of contract; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; unjspf; participation; contributory service; forfeiture of benefit
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