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Receivability/administrative decision: It would be inconsistent with its standard of review to allow the Tribunal to interfere with the review of a performance appraisal before the rebuttal process has been finalised.

Administrative review/management evaluation: Requests for management evaluation are mandatory first steps in the appeal process. Requirement to request for management evaluation for former staff members: Irrespective of whether an applicant is a current or a former staff member of the United Nations, he or she must request a management evaluation, where required, prior to filing his or her application with the Dispute Tribunal. Legal hierarchy and request for management evaluation: Even assuming that staff rule 11.2(a), insofar as it is silent on whether a former staff member must also request...

Receivability/administrative decision: Preparatory measures such as the decision not to prepare a work plan for the purpose of appraising a staff member’s performance can only be reviewed within the context of the assessment of the final decision, that is, the outcome of the staff member’s performance appraisal. Rebuttal procedure: It results from ST/AI/2002/3 that a staff member may not challenge before the Tribunal his/her performance rating unless he/she has previously initiated the rebuttal process provided for in this administrative instruction.

The Tribunal found that the Applicant had submitted her request for management evaluation nearly three years after the events she was contesting occurred. The Tribunal, therefore, held that any blame for the failure of the Applicant’s case rests firmly at her own door.

Time limit to request management evaluation: Pursuant to art. 8.3 of its Statute, the Dispute Tribunal has no jurisdiction to waive deadlines for management evaluation. Confirmative decisions: Confirmative decisions do not have the effect of reopening time limits for appeal.

Administrative decision: The essential element of an appeal is that there is a contested and appealable “administrative decision”. “Conduct” is not an administrative decision subject to appeal pursuant to article 8.1(a) of the Tribunal’s Statute. Preparatory decision: Preparatory decisions do not affect the scope or extent of an applicant’s rights and are therefore not subject to appeal. Management evaluation: A request for management evaluation is a necessary step in the appeal process. While the findings of a management evaluation do not form an independent administrative decision subject to...

Waiver of management evaluation deadline: The Tribunal held that the Respondent effectively waived the deadline for management evaluation and gave the Applicant the discretionary authority to decide when to litigate her matter by engaging her on the merits of her claims, even though her request for management evaluation was approximately 6 weeks late, and by suspending her request for management evaluation “until further notice” with an undertaking that she could request for resumption of the formal process “at any stage in the future”, should the issue not be resolved to her satisfaction.

UNDT held that the Applicant’s challenge to the expiry/termination of his contract was filed out of time and, thus, not receivable. There was no evidence before UNDT to show that a disciplinary investigation was conducted against the Applicant. UNDT held that if such an investigation did take place then there was no evidence that it was concluded, and no evidence that a formal disciplinary measure was imposed against the Applicant as a result. UNDT also held that the Applicant did not make a timely request for management evaluation with respect to this issue and, as such, it was not receivable...

Management Evaluation - It was held that the Management Evaluation Unit (MEU) and the Tribunal operate on different deadlines and receivability thresholds and that the Tribunal cannot be bound by the findings of the MEU regarding the receivability of a case. Receivability - The Tribunal found that in this case, the entire 26 month period during which the Applicant was estranged from the Organization formed part of the same continuum punctuated by different contradicting decisions all of which centered on the singular issue of abuse of authority. Given the continuous nature of the Applicant’s...

The Tribunal did not find any exceptional circumstances, and found that the application was not receivable, ratione temporis.