Moral injury (50,-666)
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Keywords: Moral injury
Total judgments found: 378
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Judgment 4241
129th Session, 2020
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complaint challenges the decision to dismiss her complaint of harassment as unsubstantiated.
Consideration 4
Extract:
[The complainant's] claim for moral damages on the ground that there was excessive delay in the investigation process is well founded. The Tribunal has consistently stated that harassment cases should be treated as quickly and efficiently as possible, in order to protect staff members from unnecessary suffering, but attention must also be paid to thoroughness and procedure (Judgment 3447, consideration 7), and that the moral injury caused to the complainant by excessive delay will be fairly redressed by awarding her or him compensation (see, for example, Judgment 4111, consideration 9). The complainant submitted her harassment complaint on 19 January 2016. The IOS called the first witness on 24 October, some nine months later. On 13 July 2017 it submitted its report to the Executive Director, who informed the complainant by correspondence of 13 September 2017 that the matter was closed. The duration of the process was excessive both in light of the Tribunal’s case law and paragraph 2.1 of the Policy on the Prevention of Harassment at WHO[.]
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3447, 4111
Keywords:
harassment; moral injury;
Consideration 23
Extract:
[A]lthough the Tribunal concludes that there is nothing in the evidence to suggest that the DXD/MER intentionally set out to unsettle the complainant, the fact remains that taking all the circumstances of the case into account, the actions taken by or on the orders of the DXD/MER were liable to offend and humiliate the complainant. Moreover, in the Tribunal’s view, a reasonable person would have found the actions offensive and humiliating. The DXD/MER ought reasonably to have known that those actions would have offended and humiliated the complainant, and that they interfered with the complainant’s ability to carry out her work and created a hostile work environment for her, thus constituting harassment in the terms set out in the Policy. This entitles the complainant to moral damages[.]
Keywords:
harassment; moral injury;
Judgment 4240
129th Session, 2020
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to reassign her to the post of Senior Advisor on Innovative Strategic Information, Strategic Information and Evaluation Department.
Consideration 17
Extract:
The complainant seeks moral damages for the improper reassignment on the ground, which the Tribunal accepts, that it caused her stress, distress, physical exhaustion, humiliation and adversely affected her career.
Keywords:
moral injury;
Judgment 4239
129th Session, 2020
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to terminate her appointment for health reasons and claims that the compensation she received for her service-incurred injury is grossly inadequate.
Consideration 26
Extract:
[T]here is a possibility that the breach of WHO’s duty of care concerning the complainant when she returned to Geneva has led or contributed to the professional and personal circumstances in which the complainant now finds herself. An inference can readily be drawn that the complainant knows that, had she received appropriate treatment immediately on her return to Geneva, her grave present predicament, arising so early in her adult life, might not have come about and also she believes WHO should have done more to support and help her. It cannot be doubted that these matters have caused and will continue to cause the complainant considerable distress. In the special circumstances of this case, the complainant is entitled to a significant award of moral damages that the Tribunal assesses in the sum of 180,000 United States dollars.
Keywords:
distress; duty of care; moral injury;
Consideration 25
Extract:
One of its staff had been injured, as it turns out seriously, in a car accident while on a mission overseas when performing work for the Organization. WHO had an ongoing responsibility to do all it could to mitigate the effects of the accident as part of a more general obligation to protect the health and ensure the safety of its staff (see Judgment 3994, consideration 8). It is true that Dr H. asked the complainant to see her on her return and she did not. But that provides no real justification for WHO effectively doing nothing by way of further mitigating the effects of the accident. The complainant is entitled to moral damages for this breach of the duty of care.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3994
Keywords:
duty of care; injury; mitigation of loss; moral injury; service-incurred;
Consideration 33
Extract:
The time taken for the internal appeal was clearly lengthy. But having regard to the potentially complex factual and legal issues raised, the gravity of the subject matter and the fairly detailed consideration of the appeals undertaken by the HBA as revealed by its report, the time taken was not so long as to warrant the award of additional moral damages.
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury;
Judgment 4237
129th Session, 2020
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision – taken after his resignation – to find him guilty of serious misconduct, and the decision to withhold from his separation entitlements an amount corresponding to financial losses allegedly incurred by WHO as a result of his misconduct.
Consideration 13
Extract:
Taking into account all of the circumstances, including the factual and legal complexity of the proceedings, the number of steps in the process (the IOS investigation, the two appeals before the RBA and the appeal before the GBA), the total length of the procedure was not unreasonable. The claim for moral damages for excessive delay is rejected.
Keywords:
delay; internal appeal; moral injury;
Judgment 4234
129th Session, 2020
International Office of Epizootics
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to dismiss him.
Consideration 11
Extract:
The unlawful dismissal caused the complainant substantial moral injury.
Given, in particular, the damage to the complainant’s honour and professional reputation resulting from the grounds on which his employment was terminated, the Tribunal considers it appropriate to award him 10,000 euros in moral damages under this head.
Keywords:
moral injury;
Judgment 4231
129th Session, 2020
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision not to extend his fixed-term appointment and to place him on special leave with pay until his contract expired.
Considerations 13-14
Extract:
[T]he Tribunal’s finding in consideration 7 of Judgment 3596 merely accepted that special leave pursuant to Staff Rule 302.5.21 is intended as a privilege for the benefit of staff members for the reasons stated in that Rule “or for other important reasons”, which, in effect, must similarly be for the benefit of staff members by virtue of the ejusdem generis rule. Accordingly, in that case, as in the present case, the FAO committed an error of law and an abuse of authority when it used Staff Rule 302.5.21 unilaterally, for a purpose which was extraneous to the Rule, and in the manner in which it did.
[T]he complainant’s plea that the FAO committed an error of law and an abuse of authority when it placed him on special leave with pay some six months prior to the expiration of his appointment is well founded. The impugned decision of 12 March 2018, as well as the decisions of 4 July 2014 and 1 December 2014, will be set aside insofar as they concern the placement of the complainant on special leave. The complainant will be awarded moral damages for the harm to his professional reputation and to his dignity that he states he has suffered as a result of the unlawfulness of the decisions.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3596
Keywords:
leave with pay; moral injury; respect for dignity; special leave;
Consideration 15
Extract:
The complainant submits that he is entitled to compensation for the inordinate delay (over three years) in the process, from the submission of his appeal to the Director-General on 29 September 2014 to the issuing of the impugned decision on 12 March 2018. The Tribunal accepts that the delay in the internal appeal process was excessive. However, the request for moral damages will be rejected as the complainant has not articulated the adverse effects of the delay.
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury;
Judgment 4230
129th Session, 2020
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to introduce a maximum length of employment under short-term appointments in breach of applicable rules on consultation with staff representatives.
Consideration 15
Extract:
The Tribunal finds that the complainant has proved that the Organization showed bad faith by denying the UGSS its right to be consulted, in accordance with the Recognition Agreement and the Staff Regulations and Rules [...]. Presenting the SMCC with a pre-determined decision instead of providing for a proper consultation, and then later choosing to deal with the affected staff members on a case-by-case basis undermined the reputation, competence, and authority of the SRBs. However, according to consistent case law, the complainant, acting as a staff representative, is not entitled to an award of moral damages (see Judgments 3258, under 5, 3522, under 6, and 3671, under 5).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3258, 3522, 3671
Keywords:
bad faith; moral injury; staff representative;
Judgment 4229
129th Session, 2020
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant, a former staff member of the World Food Programme, challenges the decision to maintain the decision not to renew his contract, and to award him material and moral damages instead of reinstatement.
Considerations 5-7
Extract:
The complainant claims moral damages for excessive delay. It is well settled in the case law that internal appeals must be conducted with due diligence and in a manner consistent with the duty of care an international organization owes to its staff members. It is also settled that the amount of compensation for unreasonable delay will ordinarily be influenced by at least two considerations. One is the length of the delay and the other is the effect of the delay. These considerations are interrelated as lengthy delay may have a greater effect. The effect of the delay will usually depend on, amongst other things, the subject matter of the appeal (see, for example, Judgment 4100, consideration 7).
[...] The relevant period of delay in the internal appeal proceedings was about three years and eight months. This was too long. It was not in keeping with the Organization’s duty of care to the complainant, which required it to ensure that the internal appeal was conducted with due diligence.
Regarding the impact of that delay, the complainant states that it caused him injury that was even more serious because he was unfairly separated from WFP in June 2013 when the appeal proceedings were ongoing, although he had requested that his appointment be extended until those proceedings were finalized. He states that he has “been mistreated, discriminated [against] and denied [...] opportunities to join other UN Organizations” until the final decision was given.The FAO submits that the complainant is mistaken because Manual paragraph 331.3.25 states that the filing of an appeal does not have the effect of suspending the implementation of an administrative decision which is the subject of the appeal. While the Tribunal finds no ground on which to hold that the complainant was discriminated against on account of the delay, the FAO’s submission does not mean that the length of the delay in the internal appeal proceedings did not cause him injury, albeit that he might not have stated it forensically or with precision. He was obviously anxious over his employment situation but did not pursue other employment options as diligently as he might have done with the hope that he may have been reinstated. The Tribunal holds that this consideration in light of the length of the delay entitles the complainant to moral damages, for which he will be awarded 5,000 euros.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 4100
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury;
Judgment 4228
129th Session, 2020
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to reject his request for compensation for loss of earnings allegedly caused by a service-incurred injury.
Consideration 7
Extract:
The claim regarding excessive delay in the internal proceedings leading to the final decision of 3 November 2017 is unfounded. The Tribunal finds that the duration of the proceedings cannot be considered egregious, given that the complainant’s request for reimbursement of medical expenses was approved immediately and that the procedure regarding his request for compensation for loss of earnings included many steps prior to the internal appeal before the Appeals Committee. The Tribunal further notes that there was no urgency to the question regarding loss of earnings that could not be remedied through a retroactive payment if necessary, and that the complainant has not provided convincing evidence of an injury stemming from the length of the procedure.
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury;
Judgment 4227
129th Session, 2020
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to dismiss him for misconduct.
Consideration 15
Extract:
The complainant seeks moral damages by reference to the time taken for the investigation process (over one and a half years) as well as the time taken to finalise the internal appeal process (over two and a half years). It may be accepted that both periods were extremely lengthy. However, the explicit basis for the damages is said to be “the enormous distress suffered by the complainant”. This is but an assertion not founded on any evidence of a causal connection and it is more likely that any distress suffered by the complainant over this time arose not because of the length of time the steps took but rather from the fact that the defendant organization was consistently satisfied at several levels of decision-making and review that the decision to dismiss the complainant for serious misconduct was justified.
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; injury; inquiry; investigation; moral injury;
Judgment 4222
129th Session, 2020
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the refusal of UNESCO to award full compensation for the injury suffered as a result of an accident recognized as being service-incurred.
Consideration 18
Extract:
[W]ith regard to the other moral injuries alleged by the complainant, these appear, in the Tribunal’s view, to be negligible and therefore do not warrant substantial compensation.
Keywords:
moral injury;
Consideration 18
Extract:
With regard to moral injury, the accident caused the complainant physical suffering and disruption to her living conditions that were not compensated under the Staff Compensation Plan.
Keywords:
moral injury;
Consideration 18
Extract:
The complainant further alleges specific moral injury resulting from the excessive length of the internal appeals procedure. It is true that this procedure, which spanned some seven years for reasons mostly attributable to the Organization, was unreasonably long. The Tribunal considers, however, that this excessively long period did not in itself cause serious injury to the complainant.
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury;
Judgment 4220
129th Session, 2020
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainants challenge the rejection of their requests for an agreed separation.
Consideration 13
Extract:
The requests for damages in respect of the delay in the internal appeal proceedings are unfounded. [T]he requests lacked substantiation as the complainants sought moral damages but advanced no evidence, or even argument, to support their claims.
Keywords:
moral injury;
Judgment 4219
129th Session, 2020
ITER International Fusion Energy Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant, who had been seconded to the ITER Organization, challenges the decision to end his secondment and the failure to investigate his harassment allegations.
Consideration 18
Extract:
While this complaint is receivable and one aspect of the complainant’s case is well founded, the question of relief is problematic. In relation to the alleged harassment, he seeks an order directed to the defendant organisation “to recognize that he has been a victim of harassment and compensate him for the damage he has suffered as a consequence of the harassment, in the amount of [euros] 50,000”. Even if it was appropriate, as a matter of principle, to make such an order, there is insufficient material before the Tribunal to undertake an assessment of whether harassment has occurred. Also, in the circumstances of this case, given that the complainant has left the ITER Organization, it would not be advisable to direct the ITER Organization to investigate his allegations (see Judgments 3639, consideration 9, or 3935, consideration 8). However, he is entitled to moral damages for the failure of the ITER Organization to do so[.]
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3639, 3935
Keywords:
harassment; inquiry; investigation; moral injury;
Judgment 4218
129th Session, 2020
ITER International Fusion Energy Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision not to renew her fixed-term contract.
Consideration 6
Extract:
The fourth argument is that there had been a violation of the requirement for transparency. The only point of substance raised on this topic is that the complainant was not provided with copies of certain documents before the CRJAC. Copies of those documents have been provided by the defendant organization in its reply. They should have been provided to the complainant at the time they were provided to the CRJAC (see, for example, Judgment 2588, consideration 7). However, in her rejoinder, the complainant failed to demonstrate in any material way that either the failure to provide them at the time or their content tainted the decision-making process leading to the ultimate decision impugned in these proceedings not to renew her contract and thus failed to prove she suffered prejudice (see Judgment 3377, consideration 16). In these circumstances no moral damages should be awarded.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 2588, 3377
Keywords:
disclosure of evidence; injury; moral injury;
Judgment 4217
129th Session, 2020
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision not to provide her with the record of the investigation that ensued after she filed a harassment complaint against her supervisor, and the fact that she received no compensation for the moral harassment that she claims to have suffered.
Consideration 9
Extract:
According to the Tribunal’s case law, by virtue of the principle that an international organisation must provide its staff members with a safe and healthy working environment, it is liable for all injuries caused to a staff member by a supervisor when the victim is subjected to treatment that is an affront to her or his dignity (see, for example, Judgments 1609, under 16, 1875, under 32, 2706, under 5, or 3170, under 33).
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1609, 1875, 2706, 3170
Keywords:
compensation; harassment; moral injury; respect for dignity; working conditions;
Judgment 4215
129th Session, 2020
Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision not to confirm his appointment at the end of his probation period.
Consideration 23
Extract:
As far as moral injury is concerned, the Tribunal considers that the non-confirmation of the complainant’s appointment also caused him substantial harm in this respect, particularly inasmuch as it was liable to damage his professional reputation.
It might be observed in this regard that the Organisation itself attempted to limit that harm by endeavouring, as stated above, not to cite the complainant’s unsatisfactory performance as the official basis for the decision and by sending to his national civil service, at the same time, an appraisal that passed over the criticism of his performance. However, besides the fact that the Tribunal plainly cannot condone such questionable actions, it is highly doubtful that they actually minimised the harm to the complainant’s professional reputation.
Moreover, the abruptness with which the complainant’s appointment was ended, forcing him to leave his duties almost immediately after he was notified of the impugned decision, inevitably caused him distress.
Keywords:
moral injury; professional reputation;
Consideration 24
Extract:
[T]he period of some 11 months which it took to handle this appeal is not inherently unreasonable and, insofar as the complainant was not in a precarious position from the point of view of employment during this period, this time frame did not cause him substantial injury.
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury;
Judgment 4184
128th Session, 2019
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant mainly challenges the alleged misuse of short-term contracts in her case, the non-extension of her last contract and the allegedly incorrect classification of her job.
Consideration 10
Extract:
According to the Tribunal’s case law, staff members are entitled to expect their requests to be dealt with by the competent authorities within a reasonable period of time (see, for example, Judgment 3773, consideration 5). In the present case, the complainant sent her grievance to HRD on 26 June 2013 and it was not until 19 November 2014 that HRD informed her that she should no longer expect to receive a reply from the Organization to her grievance. The Tribunal considers that the fact that the Organization did not give the complainant any reply and, moreover, that it waited more than a year to inform her that this would be the case, after having informed her that she would receive a reply, constitutes an unacceptable attitude on the part of the Organization, which reflects a lack of respect for the complainant. This has resulted in moral injury that requires compensation.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3773
Keywords:
delay; moral injury;
Judgment 4181
128th Session, 2019
International Criminal Court
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant contests the failure by the ICC to complete his performance appraisal in conformity with the applicable statutory provisions.
Consideration 9
Extract:
The complainant will be awarded 5,000 euros given the doubtless importance to the complainant of receiving the appraisal in a timely manner, particularly having regard to the impending reorganisation and his need to equip himself to secure a position within the reorganised Registry.
Keywords:
moral injury; performance evaluation;
Judgment 4178
128th Session, 2019
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision not to grant him a promotion in the 2014 professional promotion exercise.
Consideration 14
Extract:
As was stated in Judgment 3353, consideration 26, “[a]n organisation must care for the dignity of its staff members and not cause them unnecessary personal distress and disappointment where this could be avoided”. Although the Administration remedied the error itself, as a result of the breach of the provision and the unnecessary communication to the complainant, undoubtedly, the complainant was deeply disappointed by his non-promotion and understandably distressed not knowing for an inordinate amount of time about what had led to him not being promoted for which the complainant is entitled to an award of moral damages [...].
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3353
Keywords:
injury; moral injury; respect for dignity;
Consideration 15
Extract:
It is well settled in the case law 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, for example, Judgments 3160, consideration 16, 3582, consideration 3, and 3688, consideration 11). In Judgment 3160, consideration 17, the Tribunal also observed that “[t]he amount of compensation for unreasonable delay will ordinarily be influenced by at least two considerations” namely, the length of the delay and the effect of the delay. The complainant submits that he has suffered pain and distress, including as a result of the delay in the internal grievance procedures. It is observed that the FAO did not make a submission in relation to the delay in the appeal process. Accordingly, the complainant is entitled to moral damages [...].
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 3160, 3582, 3688
Keywords:
delay in internal procedure; moral injury; patere legem;
Judgment 4177
128th Session, 2019
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary: The complainant challenges the decision to terminate her fixed-term appointment for health reasons.
Consideration 19
Extract:
Requests for moral damages must be properly motivated.
Keywords:
moral injury;
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