51³Ô¹Ï

UNAT held that all of the Appellant’s grounds of appeal failed, except for his challenge to the UNRWA decision not to renew or extend the Appellant’s limited duration contract beyond its final extension, for the simple reason that those several decisions to extend his contract advantaged him by adding, in total, six months to his contract. On the issue of the Appellant’s non-renewal or final extension, UNAT held that there was no error in UNRWA DT’s reasoning and that UNRWA was justified in deciding not to renew or extend his employment, noting that UNRWA faced a massive financial shortfall...

UNAT considered an appeal by the Secretary-General. UNAT held that UNDT was correct in its finding that the decision to terminate the Appellant’s continuing appointment was unlawful as its purported basis (insufficient funds) did not exist. UNAT held that it was not necessary for it to deal with the issue of whether UNDT erred in its finding that the Administration failed to comply with its obligation of retention. UNAT held that the abolition of the post due to financial reasons did not subsist for judicial review. On the Secretary-General’s argument that UNDT had erred in finding Mr Nugroho...

UNAT considered the Appellant’s claim that the basis for the non-renewal decision was his unsuccessful application for a newly created post for which he had applied. UNAT held that there was no evidence of the link between the decision not to renew his fixed-term appointment and his non-selection for the other post and considered that the timeline of events supported this. UNAT held that UNDT was correct in its finding that the non-renewal decision was a separate matter from the then-ongoing selection exercise. On the Appellant’s claim that the successive renewals of his appointment created an...

UNAT held that as allegations of improper motive, bias, or prejudice as reasons for the unlawfulness of the non-renewal were not raised before UNDT for its consideration, UNAT should not consider them. UNAT held that the exceptional circumstances that were required to allow additional pleadings to be considered, were not present. UNAT held that UNDT erred in finding that the Organisation properly exercised its discretion in not renewing the Appellant’s fixed-term appointment. UNAT held that, in situations of a staff member being declared persona non grata by a host country, it was the duty of...

UNAT considered two appeals (consolidated) by Mr ElShanti of judgment No. UNRWA/DT/2019/051 and judgment No. UNRWA/DT/2019/065 respectively. On the consolidation of the cases, UNAT held that UNRWA DT had broad discretion in managing its cases and that it would only intervene in clear cases of denial of due process of law affecting a party’s right to produce evidence. Accordingly, UNAT rejected Mr ElShanti’s arguments against consolidation. UNAT held that there was no merit to Mr ElShanti’s claims that the characterization of the impugned administrative decision was incorrect, noting that UNRWA...

UNDT did not err in law or in fact when it found that the decision to abolish the post was lawful. However, in not providing reasons for its decision to commute the six-month notice period into compensation, the Organisation failed in its duty to demonstrate that its discretion was not exercised arbitrarily, capriciously, or unlawfully. The Administration failed to meet its burden to minimally demonstrate that the Appellant was given full and fair consideration. The Administration acted arbitrarily and thus failed to exercise its discretion lawfully. The termination of the Appellant’s...

UNAT held that UNRWA DT exercised its discretion lawfully to consolidate the cases. UNAT held that the impugned decisions were taken in good faith and on a reasonable basis. UNAT held that there was a bona fide reason to restructure and that it was operationally rational not to renew the Limited Duration Contracts at the time. UNAT held that the Appellants' argument with regard to their acquired rights being violated was without merit. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNDT judgment.

UNAT held that there was no express rescission of the impugned decision by the Administration. UNAT held that monthly renewals pending the outcome of the rebuttal of a performance evaluation did not resolve the complaint of the non-renewal of the fixed-term appointment. UNAT held that the monthly renewals did not rescind or supersede the impugned decision and the application could not be considered moot. UNAT held that UNDT erred in its decision, resulting in a manifestly unreasonable decision. UNAT upheld the appeal, vacated the UNDT judgment, and remanded the matter to UNDT for proper...

Absent any evidence of any improper motive or irrational consideration, and given the bonafide and operational necessity to restructure, there was no basis to conclude that the UNRWA Commissioner-General acted unreasonably. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNRWA DT judgment.

As a preliminary matter, UNAT held that UNRWA DT exercised its discretion in consolidating the cases lawfully and appropriately. UNAT held the impugned decision was taken in good faith and on a reasonable basis. UNAT held that there was a bona fide reason to restructure and that it was operationally rational not to renew certain fixed-term appointments on a full-time basis but to reclassify them to part-time appointments. UNAT held that the Appellants’ claim that their acquired rights were violated was without merit. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNRWA DT judgment.