2025-UNAT-1531, Sandrine Guezel
UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements
The UNAT held that the UNDT correctly concluded that the ABCC’s 30-month delay in processing the claim for compensation was excessive. It found that a reasonable delay for decision-making in this claim would have been no more than 24 weeks. It held that the additional delay of 24 months and 13 days, without adequate explanation, was unlawful and violated the Administration’s duty to treat the dependents of the deceased staff member fairly and reasonably.
With respect to the compensation awarded, the UNAT affirmed the UNDT’s award of six months’ net base salary for moral harm. However, the UNAT found that the UNDT erred in awarding seven months’ net base salary for material damage. While the dependents of the deceased staff member did suffer material harm from the ABCC’s undue delay, the UNAT concluded that compensation should have been calculated not by reference to the deceased’s salary but rather by an award of interest on the unpaid compensation for the period of the Administration’s unreasonable delay.
The UNAT granted the appeal in part and modified Judgment No. UNDT/2024/003. It reversed the UNDT’s award of seven months’ net base salary for material damages and affirmed the remainder of the UNDT Judgment. In substitution for the material damages award, the UNAT ordered the Secretary-General to pay the dependents of the deceased staff member interest on the sum of USD 293,641.63 at the United States Prime Rate(s) for the period from 18 June 2019 to 1 July 2021. The UNAT further held that the combined amounts of compensation for moral harm and material losses shall not exceed, and if necessary, shall be capped at, the equivalent of two years’ net base salary of the deceased staff member at the date of his death.
Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed
The sister of a deceased staff member of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) contested the implied administrative decision not to compensate his dependents, his widow and minor child, for the delay by the Advisory Board on Compensation Claims (ABCC) in processing their claim.
In its Judgment No. UNDT/2024/003, the UNDT granted the application, rescinded the contested decision, and ordered the Administration to pay seven months’ net base salary for the excessive procedural delay and six months’ net base salary for moral harm to the deceased staff member’s dependents.
The Secretary-General appealed.
Legal Principle(s)
In regimes where no specific time limits are set for decision-making, whether a delay is excessive is a question of fact and degree to be assessed case by case. However, some general principles guide this assessment, including: i) the desirability, if not the imperative, of reaching decisions promptly; ii) the nature of the decision, particularly whether it is complex and requires expert assessment; iii) the degree of involvement and cooperation by those seeking the decision.
The UNAT has the authority to award interest on orders for compensation.