Judgment No. 494
Decision
1. The Organization is ordered to pay the complainant US$1,000 as compensation for the moral prejudice caused by the illegal termination on 22 June 1979 of her appointment and to cover the legal costs of her appeal against the said termination.
2. All the other claims of the complainant are dismissed.
Summary
Extract:
The complainant refused to comply with a change of duty station. She was dismissed in an abrupt and precipitate manner. The transfer in question was warranted on independent grounds; no proof of prejudice has been given; the complainant was able to study the post description which had been offered to her. No claim for compensation based on the invalidity of the transfer. But compensation for moral prejudice plus costs.
Keywords
moral injury; transfer; termination of employment; refusal
Consideration 6
Extract:
"The Director was being extremely critical of the activities of the Staff Committee, considering it as an unrepresentative minority of the staff association [...]. The suggestion made by the complainant that the transfer was designed to impede her activities as vice-chairperson by removing her from headquarters and to punish her for the Committee's attitude is therefore one which must be seriously examined. [...] Even if it were to be assumed that the Director was in general pursuing a policy of handicapping or penalising staff activities, he did not in this case carry it through [...]. There is no evidence of any personal hostility [...]. The transfer was a transfer of a programme rather than of a person."
Keywords
evidence; lack of evidence; transfer; reorganisation; hidden disciplinary measure; staff union activity; staff representative; bias
Considerations 9-10
Extract:
"There is no indication in the dossier that if the proper procedure had been observed before termination the complainant would have made use of it to change her attitude; and she has in fact declined reinstatement. She has not therefore shown any financial loss that she would not have incurred anyway. "It may well be that, as she alleges, 'because of the abrupt manner in which she was terminated, there has been speculation that she was engaged in some wrong doing.' She is entitled to a sum sufficient to mark the fact that her dismissal was illegal."
Keywords
lack of injury; material injury; moral injury; transfer; reinstatement; offer; termination of employment; flaw; procedural flaw; refusal
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