Judgment No. 247
Decision
The decision of the Director-General of 18 September 1973 is quashed and it is ordered that the complainant be paid the increment due to him on and from 1 September 1972 with interest thereon at six per cent per annum.
Consideration 19
Extract:
If the complainant had been accused of making a charge which he knew to be false, the matter would have fallen within the scope of disciplinary measures. "If it is not so alleged, then it must be open to one official, when making a complaint about another, whether his superior or not, to state what he honestly believes without fear of its being treated as insubordination."
Keywords
staff member's duties; conduct; insubordination; supervisor; working relations
Consideration 16
Extract:
"The Tribunal will assume, without deciding the question, that it is within the competence of a division director to delegate his authority in certain matters to one of the officers in his division. But if that is to be done, clear words must be used which leave the other officers in no doubt that one who is hierarchically their equal is being invested with the right to command."
Keywords
organisation's duties; duty to inform; supervisor; delegated authority; executive head
Consideration 15
Extract:
In this case, there was a substantial matter in dispute. "The complainant did not dispute the commission of an act because he was not charged with the commission of an act; but being charged with an insubordinate attitude, he disputed that he owed a duty of subordination."
Keywords
staff member's duties; conduct; insubordination; supervisor
Consideration 16
Extract:
"[I]t does not in the least follow that because a director confers upon one of his subordinates a limited authority in certain matters, that subordinate is thereby raised hierarchically and entitled to exact all the respect which is due to a superior."
Keywords
staff member's duties; conduct; supervisor; working relations; delegated authority; consequence
Consideration 13
Extract:
"Unsatisfactory conduct may or may not affect the quality of the service given. It would be easy to pick out from the [...] examples of misconduct [enumerated in the Regulations] a number which could not affect the service at all. It would also be easy to imagine acts of insubordination or pieces of impertinence which would not affect the service given".
Keywords
work appraisal; satisfactory service; conduct; insubordination
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The decision to with hold an increment from an officer is [...] a discretionary decision depending upon an evaluation made by the officer's superiors. The Tribunal will not interfere with such a decision unless it is based, among other things, on an error of law or a clearly mistaken conclusion on the facts."
Keywords
increment withheld; unsatisfactory service; judicial review; discretion
Consideration 21
Extract:
The Director General erred in law in treating the complainant's attitude towards an official as unsatisfactory service; he erred in law in concluding that at the material time, this official was the complainant's superior or supervisor; in concluding that the complainant was guilty of insubordination, he drew a clearly mistaken conclusion from the facts. "The decision [...] is quashed; the complainant [shall be] paid the increment due to him [...] with interest thereon at 6 per cent per annum."
Keywords
amount; interest on damages; increment withheld; unsatisfactory service; conduct; insubordination; supervisor; working relations; flaw; mistaken conclusion; material damages
Considerations 15, 16 and 21
Extract:
Having been accused of insubordination, the complainant questioned the existence of a duty of subordination. "Accordingly, the offence, if any, of the complainant was an offence against discipline and the Director-General erred in dealing with it as a matter of unsatisfactory service." The Director-General "erred in law in treating the complainant's attitude towards [another official] as unsatisfactory service."
Keywords
complainant; misconduct; unsatisfactory service; conduct; insubordination; disciplinary measure
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