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The UNAT did not consider the seasonal absences of legal staff to be an exceptional circumstance. The UNAT found that, on the contrary, it was routinely expected that staff will take annual leave in the summer months. The UNAT further held that the fact that the Director General had failed to view any e-mail for a period of 19 days was an error for which the consequences had to be borne by the Director General. The UNAT denied the Director General’s motion for an extension of time to file a response to the staff members’ motion.

The UNAT found that the written witness statement sought to be submitted constituted new and additional evidence on appeal. The UNAT found that it was apparent that the staff member had known of the evidence at the Dispute Tribunal but, as he noted in his motion and appeal brief, had relied on other grounds which he believed were sufficient to substantiate his claims without risking exposing the witness. The UNAT held that this rendered his request to submit additional evidence on appeal inadmissible. The UNAT denied the motion for leave to submit a confidential witness statement.

The UNAT held that the staff member’s motion for recusal of the UNAT Registrar had no merit. The UNAT noted that the decision to administratively close the case had been taken by the UNAT President and communicated to the parties as such by the UNAT Registrar in her letter. The UNAT found that it followed from the administrative closure of a case that parties no longer had the right to access the Court Case Management System under the case number in question. The UNAT held that the UNAT Registrar’s decisions to reject as manifestly inadmissible the staff member’s filings following the case...

The UNAT noted that the staff member had filed his appeal of the UNRWA DT Judgment on his application for execution before the UNAT Judgment in the underlying case was issued and the Commissioner-General had an opportunity to address the UNAT Judgment before submitting the answer to the present appeal. The UNAT found that given these circumstances, it was in the interest of procedural fairness to allow the staff member to submit additional pleadings 20 days from the issuance of the Order and not exceeding five pages. The UNAT granted the motion for additional pleadings.

The UNAT noted with concern that the JAB had been dismantled temporarily without prior warning given to ISA staff members and with no reasons provided by the Administration; it was also alarming that the Administration had dismantled the JAB with no successor in place, denying the staff members access to justice in the interim. The UNAT found that there were no judgments or decisions from the JAB against which the UNAT could evaluate the requested relief. The UNAT held that the motions had become moot as the JAB had since been reconstituted and a panel to consider the requests for suspension...

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...

The UNAT noted that the staff member’s letter regarding early retirement was to be considered a letter of resignation. The UNAT noted that a few months later she had sent another letter to the Administration requesting to withdraw her resignation. The UNAT found that the UNDT had not erred in law when it identified the contested decision as the decision not to accept the staff member’s withdrawal of her resignation, and the UNDT’s approach had not caused prejudice to her as it had been able to examine all her contentions.

The UNAT held that the staff member’s resignation produced its legal...

The UNAT noted that the vacancy had been advertised for only ten days which violated the mandatory requirement of the UNRWA Personnel Directive, and this violation had been corrected by cancelling the recruitment process and constituting another one that met the requirement of the minimum posting period.

The UNAT held that the staff member had not identified the alleged defects of the impugned Judgment but rather had reargued his case and, therefore, had not discharged his burden of satisfying the Appeals Tribunal that the impugned Judgment had been in error.

The UNAT was of the view that, in...

The UNAT held that, since the purpose of compensation in lieu is to place a staff member in the same position he or she would have been had the Organization complied with its contractual obligations, the net base salary to be paid in accordance with the UNAT Judgment was the net base salary that the former staff member would have earned at the date of the contested decision and his separation from service, namely 20 May 2021. Therefore, the UNAT concluded that the Secretary-General’s calculation of two years’ net base salary was appropriate.

The UNAT further held that the deductions made for...

The UNAT held that the contested decision was lawful. It found that V01’s statements were consistent, detailed, coherent, credible and corroborated by the statements of her colleague. It held that the differences between the statements of V01 and her colleague were minor and had no bearing on the credibility or consistency of their testimonies. The UNAT found that the UNDT had properly concluded that the former staff member lacked credibility, highlighting that he waived his right to cross-examine V01 and her colleague.

The UNAT rejected the former staff members’ argument that his character...