Judgment No. 4620
Decision
1. The implied rejection of the complainant’s internal appeal lodged on 1 October 2019 is set aside.
2. The case is remitted to Interpol in order that it may examine the complainant’s internal appeal as indicated in consideration 5 of the judgment.
3. Interpol shall pay the complainant compensation in the amount of 10,000 euros for moral injury as indicated in consideration 6.
4. It shall also pay her 7,000 euros in costs.
5. All other claims are dismissed.
Summary
The complainant challenges her performance assessment and complains that she was not able to exercise her right to an effective internal appeal in its regard.
Judgment keywords
Keywords
complaint allowed; direct appeal to tribunal; right of appeal; case sent back to organisation; rating; performance evaluation
Consideration 2
Extract:
As the Tribunal recalled in, for example, Judgments 4174, consideration 4, and 3975, consideration 5, it is clearly established in the case law that where the Administration takes any action to deal with a claim, this step in itself constitutes a “decision upon [the] claim” within the meaning of Article VII, paragraph 3, of the Statute, which forestalls an implied rejection that could be referred to the Tribunal. Moreover, firm precedent has it that when an organisation forwards a claim before the expiry of the prescribed period of 60 days to the competent authority, that step in itself constitutes a decision on the claim (see, on these points, Judgments 3956, 3034, 2681, 786, 762 and 532). However, it is also clear from the case law that when an organisation merely acknowledges receipt of a claim addressed to it, that will not amount to a decision on the claim for the purposes of Article VII, paragraph 3 (see Judgment 533, consideration 3).
In this case, as may be seen in the email of 11 February 2020, the Organization merely acknowledged receipt of the complainant’s email of 4 February without taking any action whatsoever to deal with that appeal.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 532, 533, 762, 786, 2681, 3034, 3956, 3975, 4174
Keywords
direct appeal to tribunal
Consideration 5
Extract:
[T]he complainant alleges, in particular, a breach of her right to an effective internal appeal on account of the Organization’s failure to act following the submission of her internal appeal.
This plea is well founded. By not dealing with the complainant’s internal appeal, the Organization denied her the opportunity to exercise her right to an effective internal appeal and thereby undermined the fundamental safeguard provided by that right. The impugned decision will therefore be set aside, without there being any need to examine the complainant’s other pleas.
The case will be remitted to Interpol [...].
Keywords
right of appeal
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