Judgment 1171
73rd Session, 1992
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
ITU Staff Rule 3.4.2c) "says that on promotion from the general service to the professional category an official shall keep his pensionable remuneration at the level which it had reached immediately before promotion 'until that level is exceeded as a result of advancement or further promotion'. Since the complainant's promotion [...] resulted in a decrease in his pensionable remuneration [...] he was accordingly entitled to keep his pensionable remuneration at the level it had reached immediately prior to promotion".
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ITU STAFF RULE 3.4.2C)
Keywords:
general service category; pension; pensionable remuneration; professional category; promotion; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1160
72nd Session, 1992
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 11, 12 and 17
Extract:
Salary scales for locally-recruited staff in the general service category are reviewed every few years on the strength of comprehensive surveys of local practice. The ICSC having approved a new "general methodology" for making the surveys, WHO decided to apply it. "Although the methodology was not binding on the Organization merely by virtue of the Commission's approval of it, the Organization's decision to apply it is one that it is not free afterwards to disclaim. [...] It is inconsistent for the Organization to argue before the Tribunal that there was nothing wrong with the surveys when the methodology was not strictly followed. [...] Because the survey was not carried out in accordance with the approved methodology the case must be sent back to the Director-General for a new decision".
Keywords:
adjustment; general service category; icsc decision; inquiry; investigation; local status; organisation's duties; reckoning; salary; scale;
Judgment 1093
70th Session, 1991
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The ITU's policy is to guarantee, for staff promoted from the general service to the professional category, that the salary differential resulting from the promotion and during the year following it, as calculated in local currency, will be equivalent to at least one step in the new grade. For that purpose the Union carries out a review of the official's pay on the first anniversary of promotion, known as the "anniversary calculation". The complainant was promoted from grade G.5 to P.2. The difference between his earnings during the year after his promotion to P.2 and the amount he would have earned during the same period at G.5 being greater than a P.2 increment, there was no breach of the material rule.
Keywords:
consequence; general service category; professional category; promotion; reduction of salary; salary;
Judgment 1011
68th Session, 1990
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
To take account of shifts in currency rates when reckoning the pay of officials who changed categories on promotion, the ITU began to follow United Nations practice by adopting in 1988 the so-called "anniversary calculation" system. The complainant, who was promoted in 1985 from grade G.7 to P.2, is seeking to have her pay so reviewed. On 28 January 1986 she wrote to the chief of personnel objecting to the loss of salary she suffered as a result of promotion. On 26 May 1988 she appealed to the Appeal Board. The Tribunal holds that the memorandum of 28 January 1986 cannot be construed either in form or in substance as a request for review under Rule 11.1.2 but was merely a written claim under Rule 3.17.1. Her appeal of 26 May 1988 was patently out of time and the complaint is therefore irreceivable.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: RULES 3.17.1 AND 11.1.1.2 OF THE ITU STAFF REGULATIONS AND STAFF RULES
Keywords:
consequence; formal requirements; general service category; internal appeal; professional category; promotion; receivability of the complaint; reduction of salary; salary; time bar;
Judgment 1001
68th Session, 1990
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainants, who are employed by UNIDO in the general service category, seek the quashing of decisions setting their pay according to the new salary scales brought in as from 1 October 1987. They are objecting to the flat 2.4 per cent salary cut included in scales drawn up on the basis of an International Civil Service Commission recommendation to account for the so-called "commissary benefit". UNIDO Staff Regulation 6.5(a) says that the pay of staff in the general service category shall be based on "the best prevailing conditions of employment in the locality" (Flemming principle). The Tribunal holds that for the purpose of establishing parity with local pay the only relevant items are the ones defined in the Staff Regulations and financial rules of the organisation and paid out of its own funds. It follows that such a benefit as access to the commissary, which is provided for neither in the Staff Regulations nor in the financial rules and is a form of tax relief bestowed by the host country at no cost to the Organisation, may not count in a comparison of this nature. The Organization's decision to reduce salaries is unlawful and cannot stand. The cases are sent back to UNIDO for the recalculation of their pay.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: UNIDO STAFF REGULATION 6.5(A)
Keywords:
elements; enforcement; flaw; flemming principle; fringe benefits; general service category; headquarters agreement; icsc decision; privileges and immunities; reckoning; reduction of salary; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1000
68th Session, 1990
International Atomic Energy Agency
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainants, who are employed by the IAEA in the general service category, seek the quashing of decisions setting their pay according to the new salary scales brought in as from 1 October 1987. They are objecting to the flat 2.4 per cent salary cut included in scales drawn up on the basis of an International Civil Service Commission recommendation to account for the so-called "commissary benefit". Annex II.B.1 of the Agency's Provisional Staff Regulations says that the pay of staff in the general service category shall be based on "the best prevailing conditions of employment in the locality" (Flemming principle). The Tribunal holds that for the purpose of establishing parity with local pay the only relevant items are the ones defined in the Staff Regulations and financial rules of the organisation and paid out of its own funds. It follows that such a benefit as access to the commissary, which is provided for neither in the Staff Regulations nor in the financial rules and is a form of tax relief bestowed by the host country at no cost to the organisation, may not count in a comparison of this nature. The Agency's decision to reduce salaries is unlawful and cannot stand. The cases are sent back to the Agency for the recalculation of their pay.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ANNEX II.B.1 OF THE IAEA PROVISIONAL STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
elements; enforcement; flaw; flemming principle; fringe benefits; general service category; headquarters agreement; icsc decision; privileges and immunities; reckoning; reduction of salary; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 994
68th Session, 1990
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant was granted three concurrent promotions: the first by direct selection from grade G.6 to P.3 with effect from 1 July 1986; the second by personal promotion from G.6 to G.7 with effect from 1 January 1986; and the third as a result of the regrading of his post from G.6 to P.3 with effect from 1 February 1984. The Administration said he could choose between two options: either his promotion to P.3 as from 1 February 1984 would be deemed to have cancelled the earlier ones and, in keeping with Article 3.4.4 of the Staff Regulations, his pensionable remuneration would stay at the level it had reached at that date; or else he might keep the personal promotion and his pensionable remuneration would be at the level it had reached at 1 July 1986. The complainant having refused to choose between the two options, the Administration applied the second one. Insofar as that decision conflicts with the decision to regrade his post P.3 as from 1 February 1984 it cannot stand.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 3.4.4 OF THE ILO STAFF REGULATIONS
Keywords:
consequence; cumulative decisions; general service category; pension; pensionable remuneration; post classification; professional category; promotion; withdrawal of decision;
Judgment 613
53rd Session, 1984
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant's present contract, converting the original, extended appointment, bears out his original status as a locally recruited member of the general service staff. At the time of signing he was aware of the Organization's position that he had local status. He made no objection until after the contract had come into force. "There is nothing in WHO Rules to oblige the Organization to grant non-local status to someone [...] merely because he is a citizen of a country other than that of the duty station or has been resident in the country of his nationality."
Keywords:
general service category; local status; nationality; non-local status; residence; terms of appointment;
Judgment 606
52nd Session, 1984
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
"There are no rigid rules for determining whether a post properly belongs to the professional or the general service categories. It depends upon the presence or absence of factors which only the expert, or at least the knowledgeable knows how to weigh. It is a question to be decided by experience rather than by rule. Those who conduct the desk audit have the necessary experience. The final decision falls within the discretion of the Director-General".
Keywords:
criteria; discretion; general service category; post classification; professional category;
Judgment 523
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant's post having been abolished neither in substance nor in form (but transferred to another duty station), the termination of his contract was unlawful. On the alternative view, the complainant would find himself deprived of the right given to staff members in the general service category under a rule which makes transfer to a new station subject to the staff member's consent. As reinstatement is not an appropriate remedy, the organization must pay the complainant $40,000 as compensation and $6,000 in costs.
Keywords:
abolition of post; amendment to the rules; duty station; general service category; termination of employment; terms of appointment; transfer;
Judgment 498
48th Session, 1982
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"The Tribunal will [...] observe that the principle of equality is applicable only between officials in the same circumstances". In the instant case an official in the professional category wished to benefit from provisions concerning the grant of a family allowance applicable only to the general service category.
Keywords:
allowance; equal treatment; family allowance; general service category; professional category; salary;
Consideration 1
Extract:
"G staff are recruited largely [in the headquarters country or nearby]. It is therefore only right that as an incentive to recruitment their pay, including family allowances, should be in line with pay scales in [the headquarters country]. Officials in other categories, however, may come from and be required to serve anywhere in the world. For them [...] the [organisation] takes as its standard of comparison the best-paid national civil service." The allegation of unlawful discrimination fails.
Keywords:
criteria; equal treatment; general service category; noblemaire principle; professional category; salary; scale;
Judgment 486
48th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 4 and 8
Extract:
The complainant was promoted from GS to P. This change was not an appointment. Under the stated policy of the organization such a promotion justified a review of the place of residence. But such a statement of practice "must not conflict with the rule which it is elaborating". The applicable provision stipulates that the place determined at the time of appointment should be recognised throughout the service. "This forbids the change of residence which the complainant is asking the Tribunal to order."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; enforcement; general service category; local status; practice; professional category; promotion; provision; residence; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 6
Extract:
The complainant moved from grade GS.8 to P.2. "The Tribunal doubts whether the change was an appointment of any sort; the complainant remained in the same post which was reclassified into a higher grade. But anyway appointment is a word whose meaning depends upon the context. It can be used to mean an appointment to the staff of [the organization] or an appointment to a post on the staff. [Here] it is clearly being used in the former sense, as an appointment to the service. [...] It is not and cannot be contended that in January 1979 the complainant concluded one period of service and without changing his post embarked upon another. This solution must be rejected."
Keywords:
appointment; consequence; general service category; post classification; professional category; promotion;
Considerations 7-8
Extract:
It is organization policy to treat a promotion from GS grades to P category as justifying a review of the place of residence. "There is ample evidence that this was the stated policy, though [...] there is no evidence in the dossier of the policy being put into practice. [...] The question is therefore whether it is within the competence of the Tribunal to enforce a rule of policy or practice." A statement by the Director-General explaining a practice which he intends to follow can under certain circumstances create a contractual obligation arising out of the relationship created by the appointment. The Tribunal is competent to hear the complaint.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; binding character; competence of tribunal; contract; general service category; practice; professional category; promotion;
Consideration 4
Extract:
"It is to be noted that the change in the complainant's situation affected [statutory] entitlements [...] these are expatriate entitlements designed for recruits from abroad who will wish to maintain their contacts with the home country, the most important being grants for home leave and education. They are more freely available to officials in the P grades than to those in the GS."
Keywords:
allowance; consequence; education expenses; general service category; home leave; professional category; promotion; right;
Judgment 485
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The Director-General kept within the bounds of his authority in adopting the policy [...] embodied in Staff Rule 302.40631." That provision, which confers local status on all general service staff recruited from 1 February 1975, must be read in conjunction with other provisions providing for the grant of special benefits to such staff as required in order to recruit them. "Thus the Staff Rules make a distinction between groups of general service category members. The desirability of the distinction may be open to question, but it is enough to defeat any allegation of inequality."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 302.40631 FAO STAFF RULES AND REGULATIONS
Keywords:
appointment; equal treatment; general service category; local status; non-local status; terms of appointment;
Judgment 484
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
Vide Judgment 485, consideration 3.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 302.524 OF THE FAO STAFF RULES AND REGULATIONS
ILOAT Judgment(s): 485
Keywords:
appointment; equal treatment; general service category; local status; non-local status; terms of appointment;
Judgment 452
46th Session, 1981
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The organization's Governing Council decided to consider all general service officials, recruited after a certain date, as local staff and the Tribunal accepts that reinstatement is not the same as recruitment. But the fact that the Director-General could, consistent with the Council's declaration, have continued to reinstate non-local staff does not mean that he is required to do so. He is free to act as he wishes and the Tribunal cannot interfere.
Keywords:
appointment; condition; difference; discretion; general service category; local status; non-local status; reinstatement;
Judgment 382
42nd Session, 1979
World Meteorological Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to apply the [general service salary] scales which are now in force in its Geneva office was challenged by an official of the United Nations in case no. 225 [...] before the Administrative Tribunal of the United Nations. This Tribunal is satisfied that the United Nations Tribunal is the proper forum for the determination of this issue. That Tribunal upheld as valid the decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations." The decision taken by the Secretary-General of the WMO to apply those scales therefore stands.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; case law; competence; enforcement; general service category; judgment of the tribunal; scale; unat;
Judgment 323
39th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 20
Extract:
Under the applicable provision, the Director-General is required "to fix [general service] salary scales on the basis of the best prevailing conditions. This is an obligation of a very general character and the Director-General has a very wide discretion as to how he will carry it out."
Keywords:
discretion; flemming principle; general service category; organisation's duties; salary; scale;
Summary
Extract:
Under the "Guiding principles for the determination or revision of conditions of service of staff in the general service category" the reckoning of interim adjustments is straightforward. Whenever the local wage index goes up by 5 per cent an official's salary should also go up by 5 per cent. The complainant had her increase lowered to 1 per cent. The Tribunal finds no evidence in the file that the progressive increase in Italian income tax or that fringe benefits were behind the reduction. It holds that the reduction was either arbitrary or designed to serve some purpose of which it is ignorant.
Keywords:
adjustment; fringe benefits; general service category; reduction of salary; salary; scale;
Judgment 257
34th Session, 1975
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"The two categories have separate salary scales and are subject to different systems of calculation for variations and adjustments to meet cost of living increases and so forth. The problems stem from the fact that there is no inter-relationship between the two systems with the consequence that, unless special provision is made, promotion could leave the staff member promoted financially worse off."
Keywords:
adjustment; consequence; difference; general service category; professional category; promotion; salary; scale;
Considerations 4-5
Extract:
"After the complainant's promotion the changes which occurred in salary scales and adjustments in the general service category were more beneficial to the staff than those which occurred in the professional category. [...] The consequence is that her annual pension is now [...] less than it would have been if she had not accepted promotion." The complainant ought not to have to suffer from her promotion.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; consequence; general service category; pension; professional category; promotion; reduction of salary; salary; scale;
Judgment 244
33rd Session, 1974
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 2-3
Extract:
The complainant, of Tunisian nationality, held fixed-term contracts, followed by a contract of indeterminate duration. Under the terms of these contracts he was "locally recruited". In application of the relevant provisions, "he was deemed to be a locally recruited official and his home was therefore his duty station, namely Geneva, as the Director-General held in the impugned decision."
Keywords:
contract; duty station; general service category; home; local status; non-local status; residence; successive contracts; terms of appointment;
Judgment 233
32nd Session, 1974
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The Tribunal holds that transfers from the general services category to the professional category constitute a "promotion". Such promotions are provided for by the Regulations and are actually made. "[S]ince they are not governed by any special rule, [the general] rule [on promotions] must apply."
Keywords:
enforcement; general service category; no provision; professional category; promotion; provision; staff regulations and rules;
