Judgment No. 185
Decision
THE COMPLAINANT IS REFERRED BACK TO THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL FOR A RULING BY THE ORGANIZATION ON HIS CLAIM IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCEDURE LAID DOWN IN THE STAFF RULES.
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant inquired whether a refusal decision was final. the absence of a reply from the administration must be considered, by virtue of a general rule of law, as a refusal of the claim. The complainant ought to have followed the procedure prescribed in the Staff Rules to secure "a decision by the Director-General, which decision could alone be impugned before the Administrative Tribunal." [The procedure provides for appeal at the regional level and subsequently at headquarters.]
Keywords
procedure before the tribunal; implied decision; failure to answer claim; internal appeal; internal remedies exhausted; case sent back to organisation; staff regulations and rules; enforcement
Considerations
Extract:
The regional administration failed to reply because it made a reply conditional on a matter unrelated to the request. "The position thus taken up by the administration misled [the complainant] and prevented him from following the procedure laid down [in the Staff Rules]. There is all the more reason for taking account of his error inasmuch as the [...] Rules do not mention the general rule of law [...] whereby the silence of the administration after a certain period is equivalent to rejection of a claim."
Keywords
complaint; implied decision; failure to answer claim; organisation; receivability of the complaint; direct appeal to tribunal; internal appeal; internal remedies exhausted; exception; time bar; negligence
Considerations
Extract:
Article VII, paragraph 3, of the Statute of the Tribunal must be read in conjunction with paragraph 1 of the same article. "[T]he provision can apply only if a complainant has exhausted all internal means of resisting the decision open to him, and if he is impugning either an explicit decision or the implicit decision resulting from the failure of the Director-General of the organization, the final competent authority, to give a ruling on his claim."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VII, PARAGRAPH 3, OF THE STATUTE
Keywords
express decision; implied decision; failure to answer claim; receivability of the complaint; internal remedies exhausted; condition
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