Judgment No. 3759
Decision
1. The decision of the Director-General of WHO of 15 August 2014 is set aside insofar as it concerns the abolition of the complainant’s position in the Comoros.
2. The case is remitted to the Organization for action as indicated under 7, above.
3. The Organization shall pay the complainant 4,000 Swiss francs in compensation for the moral injury she has suffered.
4. It shall also pay her costs in the amount of 800 Swiss francs.
5. All other claims are dismissed.
Summary
The complainant challenges the decision to terminate her fixed-term appointment following the abolition of her position.
Judgment keywords
Keywords
complaint allowed; decision quashed; case sent back to organisation; abolition of post; reassignment
Consideration 6
Extract:
[T]he impugned decision rests on an excessively formalistic approach in that it attaches more importance to the statement of intention to appeal, which was plainly clumsily drafted, than to the content of the subsequent full statement, and pays no heed to the particular circumstances of the case.
It must be recalled that, according to the case law, although rules of procedure should ordinarily be strictly complied with, they must not set traps for staff members who are trying to defend their rights (see Judgments 3592, under 3, 3424, under 8(d), 3423, under 9(d), and 3407, under 19). They must not therefore be construed with too much formalism, which is the case when an authority wrongly applies a rule of form and thus avoids addressing the merits, which is tantamount to refusing to take a decision.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 3407, 3423, 3424, 3592
Keywords
internal appeal
Consideration 9
Extract:
Although she brought her complaint to the Tribunal without the assistance of a lawyer, the complainant is also entitled to costs [...].
Keywords
costs
Consideration 7
Extract:
Insofar as the impugned decision concerns the abolition of the complainant's position in the Comoros, it must be set aside [...]. The case must be remitted to the Organization for it to examine the internal appeal filed by the complainant against that measure.
Keywords
case sent back to organisation
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