Judgment No. 305
Decision
THE COMPLAINTS ARE DISMISSED.
Consideration 1
Extract:
"According to Article VII of the Statute of the Tribunal a complaint shall not be receivable unless the internal means of redress have been exhausted and the complaint was filed within ninety days after the notification of the impugned decision. Hence only a final decision may prompt a complaint and the period of ninety days runs from the date of notification."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VII, PARAGRAPH 1, OF THE STATUTE
Keywords
complaint; decision; receivability of the complaint; internal appeal; internal remedies exhausted; time limit; date of notification; start of time limit
Consideration 1
Extract:
"Since no appeal lay to the Appeals Committee, the internal authority which took the decision was the last instance."
Keywords
complaint; decision; receivability of the complaint; internal appeal; internal remedies exhausted; decision-maker
Consideration 2
Extract:
"[A] judgment by the Tribunal on a dispute between an organisation and a staff member affects only the parties to that dispute: it cannot alter a decision affecting third parties which is already in force. The stability of legal relationships would be impaired if staff members were entitled to rely upon new case law to cast doubt on the validity of earlier and final decisions."
Keywords
res judicata; judgment of the tribunal; effect
Consideration 1
Extract:
"[T]hat further decision was a refusal to reconsider [the earlier decision] and is therefore a mere confirmation: it cannot give rise to a new ninety-day period when the first was allowed to lapse."
Keywords
complaint; confirmatory decision; receivability of the complaint; new time limit; time bar
Consideration 1
Extract:
"It is immaterial that in its report [...] the Appeals Committee declared itself competent and so apparently overlooked [the provision which excludes appeals against the decision in question]. It is for the Tribunal to see whether Article VII of its own Statute is applicable: that means that in particular it must determine, with reference to the [organisation's] rules, the date on which the internal body of last instance took its decision and from which the ninety-day period therefore began to run."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VII OF THE STATUTE
Keywords
decision; receivability of the complaint; internal appeals body; mistaken hearing of merits; competence of tribunal; start of time limit; judicial review; date
Consideration 2
Extract:
"[A] judgment by the Tribunal [...] affects only the parties to that dispute [...]. The stability of legal relationships would be impaired if staff members were entitled to rely upon new case law to cast doubt on the validity of earlier and final decisions." The complainants in the present case "failed to impugn [the material decision] in time [...] and they must bear the consequences of that failure."
Keywords
judgment of the tribunal; effect
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