Organisation's duties (202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 645,-666)
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Keywords: Organisation's duties
Total judgments found: 652
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Judgment 4779
137th Session, 2024
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges her dismissal for misconduct.
Considerations 5 & 13
Extract:
[A]lthough it is indeed a matter of principle under the Tribunal’s case law that an organisation must respect the confidentiality of private messages stored in a professional email account (see, in particular, Judgment 2183, consideration 19), that requirement must clearly be balanced against the requirements intrinsic to the need to combat fraud and, more generally, to the need to tackle misconduct on the part of officials. [...]
[I]t should be recalled that, while international organisations cannot intrude on the private lives of their staff members, those staff members must nonetheless comply with the requirements inherent in their status as international civil servants, including in their personal conduct. This principle is, for example, laid down in the Standards of Conduct for the International Civil Service [...].Furthermore, the Tribunal has repeatedly stated in its case law that some private conduct may, on this account, legitimately lead to disciplinary action (see, for example, Judgments 4400, consideration 24, and 3602, consideration 13, and, with specific regard to a failure to honour private financial obligations, Judgments 2944, considerations 44 to 49, 1584, consideration 9, and 1480, consideration 3).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1480, 1584, 2183, 2944, 3602, 4400
Keywords:
conduct; disciplinary procedure; organisation's duties; private life;
Judgment 4748
137th Session, 2024
International Olive Council
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to terminate his appointment at the end of his probationary period.
Consideration 7
Extract:
The [organization] violated its duty of care by failing to maintain a properly functioning appeal system, in breach of the applicable rules established by Articles 50 and 64 of the Staff Regulations [...]. Denying the complainant the opportunity to exercise his right to an effective internal appeal denied the fundamental safeguards provided by that right. Neither administrative inefficiency nor a lack of resources can excuse this failure. This is particularly important in a case involving the termination of employment, such as the present. If the appeal reveals that the termination decision was flawed, then, if it has been dealt with in a timely way, steps can be taken to reverse the effects of the termination, including reinstating the employee. As time passes, that outcome becomes increasingly difficult, for practical purposes, to achieve.
Keywords:
duty of care; internal appeals body; organisation's duties; right of appeal;
Judgment 4746
137th Session, 2024
International Organization for Migration
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to close her harassment complaint following a preliminary assessment and without conducting an investigation.
Judgment keywords
Keywords:
complaint dismissed; opening of an investigation; organisation's duties; parallel proceedings; time bar;
Consideration 9
Extract:
It should be recalled that, according to firm precedent, an organisation has no obligation to open a full investigation into allegations of harassment if the allegations are insufficiently substantiated at the stage of the preliminary assessment. As the Tribunal recalled in Judgment 3640, consideration 5, “[t]he sole purpose of the preliminary assessment of [...] a complaint [of harassment] is to determine whether there are grounds for opening an investigation”.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3640
Keywords:
harassment; opening of an investigation; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4727
136th Session, 2023
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant asserts that the EPO failed to assist him in his attempts to obtain corrected identity cards for his children.
Considerations 6 & 10
Extract:
As regards the particular legal context of the present dispute, it must be noted that the issuing of identity documents or visas to persons enjoying the privileges and immunities conferred by the seat agreement of an international organisation is the prerogative of the host State. The only duty on the organisation in question in that regard is to provide its officials with the necessary assistance to ensure that the rights inherent in their status as members of staff of that organisation are complied with by that State. Furthermore, the organisation is free to choose how it approaches the authorities in order to discharge that duty. As a result, the organisation can only be liable for delays in a suitable visa or identity document being issued if it has acted in bad faith, behaved inappropriately in its relations with the host State or been negligent in monitoring the progress of the case (see, in particular, on these various points, Judgment 3510, delivered in connection with a previous complaint lodged by the complainant concerning the initial refusal of the Dutch authorities to grant an entry visa to his daughter S., considerations 9, 12 to 14, 17 and 18, and the case law cited therein).
[...]
Admittedly, as has already been stated, issuing identity cards is a matter for the authorities of the host State and it is clearly beyond the competence of the Tribunal to examine the conditions in which the authorities assume that responsibility.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3510
Keywords:
duty of care; host state; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4697
136th Session, 2023
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the Director General’s decision to impose on him the disciplinary sanction of downgrading.
Consideration 26
Extract:
As regards the complainant’s claim for the award of 50,000 euros in moral damages, it is well established in the Tribunal’s case law, firstly, that international organisations are bound to refrain from any type of conduct that may harm the dignity or reputation of their staff members and that the general principle of good faith and the concomitant duty of care require them to treat their staff with due consideration in order to avoid causing them undue injury (see, for example, Judgment 4559, consideration 10). Secondly, settled case law also holds that internal appeals must be conducted with due diligence and in a manner consistent with the duty of care an international organisation owes to its staff members (see Judgment 4178, consideration 15).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 4178, 4559
Keywords:
duty of care; good faith; internal appeal; moral injury; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4671
136th Session, 2023
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant seeks the restitution of amounts wrongly deducted from his salary in respect of sickness insurance contributions.
Judgment keywords
Keywords:
complaint allowed; medical insurance; negligence; organisation's duties; refund;
Judgment 4670
136th Session, 2023
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant seeks the restitution of amounts wrongly deducted from her salary in respect of sickness insurance contributions.
Considerations 12-13
Extract:
[S]ince reimbursement of the disputed contributions for the 2009-2012 period did not appear clearly impossible in the light of the aforementioned decision of the French Constitutional Council and the above-mentioned provisions of the French Social Security Code, the Tribunal considers that the Organization ought, at the very least, to have expressly requested URSSAF or the French public authorities to effect that reimbursement.
Interpol’s decision to affiliate its officials to the French social security scheme did not in any way release it from its obligations towards them. While it is true that the Organization only deducted the ESC following what it believed, wrongly, to be the applicable French law on the matter, it cannot take refuge behind the fact that it acted only as an intermediary, nor behind its status as an international organisation with no responsibility of its own for the application of that law. In fact, it is pursuant to Staff Regulation 7.1 that the Organization’s officials are usually covered by the compulsory social security schemes in force in the States in which they are stationed, unless the Organization decides otherwise. The officials concerned thus have no choice in this regard and it is therefore unreasonable to suggest that it was their own responsibility to pursue the matter with the French authorities and courts of their own accord, assuming this would be possible.
Keywords:
domestic law; medical insurance; organisation's duties;
Judgment keywords
Keywords:
complaint allowed; medical insurance; negligence; organisation's duties; refund;
Judgment 4669
136th Session, 2023
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant seeks the restitution of amounts wrongly deducted from her salary in respect of sickness insurance contributions.
Judgment keywords
Keywords:
complaint allowed; interest on arrears; medical insurance; negligence; organisation's duties; refund;
Judgment 4668
136th Session, 2023
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant seeks the restitution of amounts wrongly deducted from his salary in respect of sickness insurance contributions.
Considerations 10-11
Extract:
[S]ince reimbursement of the disputed contributions for the 2009-2012 period did not appear clearly impossible in the light of the aforementioned decision of the French Constitutional Council and the above-mentioned provisions of the French Social Security Code, the Tribunal considers that the Organization ought, at the very least, to have expressly requested URSSAF or the French public authorities to effect that reimbursement.
Interpol’s decision to affiliate its officials to the French social security scheme did not in any way release it from its obligations towards them. While it is true that the Organization only deducted the ESC following what it believed, wrongly, to be the applicable French law on the matter, it cannot take refuge behind the fact that it acted only as an intermediary, nor behind its status as an international organisation with no responsibility of its own for the application of that law. In fact, it is pursuant to Staff Regulation 7.1 that the Organization’s officials are usually covered by the compulsory social security schemes in force in the States in which they are stationed, unless the Organization decides otherwise. The officials concerned thus have no choice in this regard and it is therefore unreasonable to suggest that it was their own responsibility to pursue the matter with the French authorities and courts of their own accord, assuming this would be possible.
Keywords:
domestic law; medical insurance; organisation's duties;
Judgment keywords
Keywords:
complaint allowed; medical insurance; negligence; organisation's duties; refund;
Judgment 4667
136th Session, 2023
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainants seek the restitution of amounts wrongly deducted from their salaries in respect of sickness insurance contributions.
Judgment keywords
Keywords:
complaint allowed; medical insurance; negligence; organisation's duties;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
[S]ince reimbursement of the disputed contributions for the 2009-2012 period did not appear clearly impossible in the light of the aforementioned decision of the French Constitutional Council and the above-mentioned provisions of the French Social Security Code, the Tribunal considers that the Organization ought, at the very least, to have expressly requested URSSAF or the French public authorities to effect that reimbursement.
Interpol’s decision to affiliate its officials to the French social security scheme did not in any way release it from its obligations towards them. While it is true that the Organization only deducted the ESC following what it believed, wrongly, to be the applicable French law on the matter, it cannot take refuge behind the fact that it acted only as an intermediary, nor behind its status as an international organisation with no responsibility of its own for the application of that law. In fact, it is pursuant to Staff Regulation 7.1 that the Organization’s officials are usually covered by the compulsory social security schemes in force in the States in which they are stationed, unless the Organization decides otherwise. The officials concerned thus have no choice in this regard and it is therefore unreasonable to suggest that it was their own responsibility to pursue the matter with the French
authorities and courts of their own accord, assuming this would be possible.
Keywords:
domestic law; medical insurance; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4663
136th Session, 2023
International Criminal Police Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the refusal to acknowledge the harassment that she alleges she suffered and to provide her with the full inquiry report drawn up following her internal complaint against a colleague.
Considerations 10-13
Extract:
The Tribunal observes that the position taken by the Organization in the preliminary inquiry report, the decision of 13 October 2017 and the responses given to the complainant’s request for review, namely that there was insufficient evidence of the conduct alleged by the complainant because any reasonable doubt had to weigh in Mr S.’s favour when it came to the decision whether to take disciplinary action against him, was incorrect. In Judgment 4289, consideration 10, the Tribunal stated as follows on precisely this point:
“[...] A staff member alleging harassment, and a fortiori in an investigation on a preliminary basis of the type being undertaken, does not need to establish, nor does the person or body evaluating the claim, that the facts establish beyond reasonable doubt that harassment occurred. While an allegation of harassment may found disciplinary proceedings in which the standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ would apply, it has no application in the assessment of the claim of harassment where the staff member is seeking workplace protection or damages or both.”
(See, to the same effect, aforementioned Judgment 4207, consideration 20.)
In the present case, given that it was aware that the complainant objected to the impact of the harassment and that her harassment complaint was not confined to seeking the adoption of disciplinary measures against Mr S., the Organization should not have considered only the question of whether reasonable doubt existed but should instead have carried out a rigorous and thorough inquiry so as to resolve any credibility issues that it had identified in respect of what it saw as the contradictory accounts given by the complainant and Mr S. in their testimonies. In this respect, the Tribunal notes that the Organization appears to have attached little importance to the email exchanges that immediately followed the incident on 8 July 2017, the content of which strengthened the credibility of the complainant’s testimony while diminishing that of Mr S.’s subsequent account, or to the explanations provided by Mr S., called into question by the investigators themselves, as to the sexualised language he had used.
Nor could the Organization ignore the complainant’s perception of herself as a victim of harassment and her assertion that she had felt demeaned, degraded and humiliated by the behaviour to which she had been subjected. As the Tribunal similarly noted in Judgment 4541, consideration 8, the main factor in the recognition of harassment is the perception that the person concerned may reasonably and objectively have of acts or remarks liable to demean or humiliate her or him. In this respect, the Organization should have ascertained why the harassment complaint submitted by the complainant could not be deemed credible, especially as the complainant’s good faith was never called into doubt.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3312, 4207, 4471, 4541, 4547
Keywords:
harassment; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4609
135th Session, 2023
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant impugns the new decision taken by UNESCO pursuant to Judgment 3936 in the context of her appeal against the decision to transfer her to Paris.
Consideration 5
Extract:
The Tribunal notes [...] that, in this particular case, UNESCO was obliged to end the complainant’s assignment as Head of the Kinshasa Office following the birth of her child. Non-family duty stations, which are determined for all organisations in the United Nations system by the International Civil Service Commission on the basis of recommendations from the United Nations’ Department of Safety and Security, and a list of which appears, in the case of UNESCO, in Annex 4 C to the Human Resources Manual, are places considered unsuitable for the assignment of staff members who are accompanied by their family due to the security situation in the States where they are located. Since Kinshasa was, at the material time, classed as a duty station in this category, the Tribunal considers that the Organization was therefore obliged to transfer the complainant to a post compatible with her new family status. Had it not done so, UNESCO would not only have failed to follow its own rules but also and above all would have put the complainant and her child in danger, which would have been a serious breach of the duty that all international organisations have pursuant to the Tribunal’s case law to adopt appropriate measures to ensure the safety of their staff members and, more generally, a breach of the duty of care towards them (see, inter alia, Judgments 4239, consideration 21, 3689, consideration 5, and 3025, consideration 2).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3025, 3689, 4239
Keywords:
duty of care; duty station; non-family duty station; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4606
135th Session, 2023
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the non-recognition of her illness as an occupational illness and requests that her sick leave entitlements be re-credited to her.
Consideration 14
Extract:
It is well settled in the Tribunal’s case law that international organizations must respond to requests from their staff members within a reasonable time (see, for example, Judgment 3188, under 5).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3188
Keywords:
delay; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4601
135th Session, 2023
World Trade Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to summarily dismiss him after an internal complaint of harassment was made against him.
Consideration 9
Extract:
[T]he WTO’s assertion that those complaints did not lead to a full or thorough examination of the situation at the time because the procedure for dealing with harassment complaints was deficient is clearly not an argument capable of justifying that reversal. First, even assuming that the procedure at the time was inadequate, that cannot be relied on by the WTO since the Tribunal has consistently stated that international organisations are required to investigate accusations in this area and to provide protection for persons who claim they are the victims of harassment (see Judgments 2706, consideration 5, and 2552, consideration 3) and also to ensure that their investigative and internal appeal bodies for this purpose are functioning properly (see Judgments 3314, consideration 14, and 3069, consideration 12), these obligations being are part of a more general duty owed by those organisations to provide a safe and adequate environment for their staff, free from physical and psychological risk (see Judgments 4299, consideration 4, and 4171, consideration 11).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 2552, 2706, 3069, 3314, 4171, 4299
Keywords:
investigation; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4599
135th Session, 2023
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decisions to abolish her post, reassign her, terminate her contract including the decision to defer the date of her termination, and to reject her claims of retaliation.
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
[T]he case law has it that a decision concerning the restructuring of an international organization, which leads to the abolition of a post, may be taken at the discretion of its executive head and is subject to review only on limited grounds by the Tribunal. The Tribunal will not supplant an organisation’s view with its own. Nevertheless, any decision to abolish a post must be based on objective grounds and its purpose may never be to remove a member of staff regarded as unwanted. Disguising such purposes as a restructuring measure would constitute abuse of authority (see, for example, Judgment 4353, under 6). It has also been stated that in order to achieve greater efficiency or to make budgetary savings international organisations may undertake restructuring entailing the redefinition of posts and staff reductions. However, each and every individual decision adopted in the context of such restructuring must respect all the pertinent legal rules, and, in particular the fundamental rights of the staff concerned (see, for example, Judgment 4353, under 7).
Following the decision to abolish a post, there must be proper institutional support mechanisms in place to assist the staff member concerned in finding a new assignment (see, for example, Judgment 4353, under 7).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 4353
Keywords:
abolition of post; organisation's duties; reorganisation;
Judgment 4559
134th Session, 2022
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant impugns the refusal to grant him retroactively two days of annual leave as compensation for two days worked during that leave.
Consideration 10
Extract:
[I]t is well established in the Tribunal’s case law that international organisations are bound to refrain from any type of conduct that may harm the dignity or reputation of their staff members (see, for example, Judgment 3613, consideration 46) and that the general principle of good faith and the concomitant duty of care require them to treat their staff with due consideration in order to avoid causing them undue injury (see, for example, Judgment 3861, consideration 9).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3613, 3861
Keywords:
duty of care; good faith; organisation's duties; professional reputation; respect for dignity;
Judgment 4558
134th Session, 2022
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant impugns the decision not to reimburse the costs incurred in connection with his third complaint to the Tribunal.
Consideration 6
Extract:
The Tribunal observes that it is contradictory and regrettable that the Organisation submits before it that the decision communicated to the complainant was not final while it had nevertheless specified, in its email [...], that the complainant could not submit a request for review. While an organisation has a duty to correct any mistakes made by an employee in the exercise of her or his right of appeal, it has an even greater duty not to misdirect an employee to the wrong venue by incorrectly telling her or him that a request for review is not the right remedy or that her or his only possible recourse is to file a complaint with the Tribunal and then criticise her or him for having followed its directions.
Above all, however, the Tribunal notes that an organisation cannot exempt the complainant from the requirement to exhaust internal remedies when the applicable provisions of the staff rules and regulations do not authorise it to do so, and still less indicate wrongly to the employee concerned that she or he can file a complaint directly with the Tribunal.
Keywords:
final decision; organisation's duties; waiver of internal appeal procedure;
Judgment 4541
134th Session, 2022
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision not to notify her of the outcome of the investigation into her internal complaint of moral harassment, the decision not to send her the full report drawn up following that investigation, and the decision not to inform her of the outcome of her internal complaint.
Consideration 6
Extract:
[T]he Organisation [...] breached its obligation to give a staff member who complains of harassment by her or his supervisor a clear and definite reply regarding the existence and characterisation of the conduct complained of and any redress it intends to provide [...].
Keywords:
harassment; organisation's duties;
Judgment 4450
133rd Session, 2022
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to terminate her appointment at the end of her probationary period for unsatisfactory performance.
Consideration 6
Extract:
The Tribunal is satisfied that the Organization met its general duties regarding the probationary period. Namely it: (i) established clear objectives; (ii) provided the necessary guidance for the performance of the duties; and (iii) identified the unsatisfactory aspects of the performance in a timely manner, so that remedial steps might be taken.
Keywords:
organisation's duties; probationary period;
Judgment 4427
132nd Session, 2021
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to maintain his transfer to a patent examiner post.
Consideration 12
Extract:
[T]he complainant’s contention that the transfer decision was tainted by misuse of authority is unfounded. In consideration 10 of Judgment 4146, for example, the Tribunal recalled that the principle of good faith and the concomitant duty of care require international organisations to treat their staff with due consideration in order to avoid causing them undue injury. It also observed that in order for there to be misuse of authority, it must be established that the decision rested on considerations extraneous to the organisation’s interests and that the staff member alleging abuse of authority bears the burden of establishing the improper purpose for which the authority was exercised. Misuse of authority cannot be presumed. The complainant has not provided evidence, against conjecture, that shows that his transfer was based on improper purpose.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 4146
Keywords:
abuse of power; burden of proof; duty of care; evidence; misuse of authority; organisation's duties;
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