Judgment No. 169
Decision
THE COMPLAINT IS DISMISSED.
Consideration 4
Extract:
"[B]ecause of its tone as well as its content the complainant's correspondence shows a mentality incompatible with the performance of the duties of an international official. In terminating his appointment the Director-General therefore neither misinterpreted the facts brought to his attention nor drew clearly mistaken conclusions." It is irrelevant that the complainant's services were described as satisfactory; "it is not his professional competence but his character which is at issue."
Keywords
satisfactory service; probationary period; termination of employment; conduct; fitness for international civil service
Consideration 2
Extract:
"Informed of the uncertainty of his position, [the complainant] could not reasonably interpret the absence of a decision before the normal termination of the probation period to mean that the organization [...] implicitly agreed to keep him in its employment. On the contrary, he must have known that the Director-General would await the results of the investigation which had been ordered before reaching a decision, that is, that the probation period was tacitly extended for as long as a formal decision still remained to be taken."
Keywords
inquiry; probationary period; extension of contract; investigation
Consideration 2
Extract:
The period of probation "must be understood to mean not only the trial period prescribed by the contract of appointment but also any period by which the probation is expressly or tacitly extended".
Keywords
period; probationary period; extension of contract
Consideration 1
Extract:
Under the applicable provision, "the Director-General is entitled to terminate at any time the appointment of an official serving a probationary period if in his opinion such action would be in the interests of the organization. Such a decision falls within his discretion".
Keywords
probationary period; termination of employment; judicial review; discretion; organisation's interest
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