Judgment No. 4613
Decision
1. The impugned decision as well as the decision of 15 July 2019 to terminate the complainant’s employment are set aside.
2. The Energy Charter Conference shall pay the complainant 20,000 euros moral damages.
3. The Energy Charter Conference shall pay the complainant 8,000 euros costs.
4. All other claims are dismissed.
Summary
The complainant contests the decision to terminate her appointment.
Judgment keywords
Keywords
complaint allowed; termination of employment
Consideration 18
Extract:
In its case law, the Tribunal has recognised that decisions adversely affecting a staff member can constitute a hidden disciplinary sanction and if made without following due process requirements may be unlawful.
If the organisation’s rules do provide for formal disciplinary procedures, as is the case here, then they must be followed if proven misconduct founds or partly founds a decision to dismiss. That is not to say, in a case such as the present, the Secretary-General could not have relied simply and only on the alleged failure of the complainant to give satisfactory service or to comply with her duties and obligations under the Regulations, to use the language of Regulation 13a)i). He could have. But having regard to all the circumstances, it is clear in the present case he relied, additionally, on the complainant’s misconduct, which created the obligation to follow the procedures in Rule 24.1 to ascertain whether the misconduct was proved. The organisation’s failure to do so vitiated the decision to dismiss and it must be set aside.
Keywords
due process; misconduct; hidden disciplinary measure
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