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Judgment No. 1519

Decision

THE COMPLAINT IS DISMISSED.

Consideration 2

Extract:

"At its 15th and 37th sessions the [International Civil Service] Commission reaffirmed the Flemming principle, which dates back to 1949. The principle requires organisations to offer staff in the general service category conditions of employment on a par with 'the best prevailing conditions of employment in the locality' - i.e. salary and other basic components of pay - 'without being necessarily the best local conditions'."

Keywords

flemming principle; terms of appointment; duty station; general service category; salary; base salary; definition

Consideration 4

Extract:

"The Tribunal's power of review over the setting of pay has been defined in, for example, Judgments 1000 [...], 1265 [...], 1498 [...] and 1499 [...]. Thus Judgment 1265 says that the Tribunal will review both the validity of the criteria on which the methodology rests and the [International Civil Service] Commission's compliance with the methodology."

Reference(s)

ILOAT Judgment(s): 1000, 1265, 1498, 1499

Keywords

icsc decision; case law; salary; scale; judicial review

Consideration 6

Extract:

"The revision of 1992 [of the general methodology which the International Civil Service Commission applies to salary service] did result in a reduction of outside employees' fringe benefits. [...] According to the survey [...] the goods and services taken into account were such that the effect of the change was slight. So the revision is not to be deemed unlawful on that score, the Commission exercised its discretion".

Keywords

icsc decision; inquiry; flemming principle; general service category; reckoning; salary; fringe benefits; scale; discretion; investigation

Consideration 7

Extract:

"The complainants' plea that the [ICSC's] method of comparison with outside pay [as modified in 1992] should not have disregarded training would carry weight if it had any merit [...] but it is hard to evaluate the benefits of it to staff. Any attempt to do so may end in approximation or error because those benefits are not a reward for services rendered and depend on each staff member's duties, experience and career prospects. Though comparison of such benefits might have proved possible, the [ICSC's] methodology did not have to take account of them."

Keywords

icsc decision; inquiry; flemming principle; terms of appointment; general service category; salary; discretion; investigation

Consideration 12

Extract:

The International Civil Service Commission was not "bound to recommend that [the organization] fall in line with the practice of outside employers [...] In respect of compulsory insurance premiums and the refund of expenses incurred [the organization's] scheme of staff health insurance and the [national] social security system [...] are not closely comparable; indeed they are quite different. [...] The Commission abided by the applicable methodology - for all its flaws on that count - and [the organization] made no mistake of fact or of law."

Keywords

icsc decision; inquiry; flemming principle; terms of appointment; general service category; salary; social benefits; insurance; contributions; investigation; health insurance

Consideration 14

Extract:

The organization "objects that [one of] the complainants' [pleas] is irreceivable because they did not put it forward in support of their original claim. The objection is mistaken: receivability depends on the making of prior claims, not of prior pleas. [...] They may enter whatever pleas they like, including any they did not make in support of their internal appeal."

Keywords

complaint; claim; new claim; receivability of the complaint; internal appeal; new plea

Consideration 17

Extract:

"The complainants argue that the [salary] survey ought to have compared jobs at like levels of seniority inside and outside [the organization] and not ignored the inverted 'pyramid' of the age structure of [the organization's] staff. There is merit to the criticism. Yet to whichever side one may tend on that point, the comparison is fated to go awry. In any event there was nothing unlawful in the approach the survey took. Neither [the ICSC] nor [the] organization went beyond the bounds of the discretion that the case law allow".

Keywords

icsc decision; inquiry; case law; flemming principle; terms of appointment; general service category; step; seniority; salary; discretion; investigation



 
Last updated: 18.09.2020 ^ top