Judgment No. 391
Decision
THE COMPLAINTS AND THE APPLICATIONS TO INTERVENE ARE DISMISSED.
Considerations 7 and 15
Extract:
The organisation imposed four unpaid days of leave on officials. The decision "was [...] true to the aims of [the organisation] which, in the interests of workers, not only safeguards their employment but protects its terms." It was not contrary to the interests of the organisation. "Although it was not of benefit to Member States, it was in keeping with the [organisation's] aims, and so with its interests as construed by its founders."
Keywords
salary; deduction; budgetary reasons; leave; organisation's interest; compensatory measure; reduction of salary
Consideration 14
Extract:
The organisation imposed four unpaid days of leave on officials over a period of six months. "It is immaterial that the decision made no formal amendment to the Staff Regulations or to individual contracts of employment of the staff members to which it applied. First, it was a temporary measure, and so there was no question of amending the Staff Regulations. Secondly, what happened was that individual contracts of employment were subject to implied amendment for a period of six months, as provided for" in the provision concerning the modification of contracts.
Keywords
formal requirements; staff regulations and rules; amendment to the rules; contract; salary; deduction; leave; compensatory measure; reduction of salary
Considerations 11 and 13
Extract:
The organisation imposed four days of unpaid leave on officials. The provisions which relate to exceptions and amendments to the Staff Regulations do not preclude the application of the provision respecting the amendment of contracts of employment, and upon which the organisation acted. This provision takes precedence over the text which enumerates the list of deductions.
Keywords
staff regulations and rules; amendment to the rules; enforcement; provision; contract
Consideration 9
Extract:
"The principle of equality means that those in like cases should be treated alike, and that those who are not in like cases should not be treated alike. It is not violated if officials in different circumstances are treated differently."
Keywords
general principle; equal treatment
Consideration 8
Extract:
"There is no need to consider whether it is a breach of the rule [requiring consideration for services rendered] to reduce remuneration without reducing working time. In this case both salary and working time were reduced. Whatever may have been the reasons for granting compulsory leave, there was no breach of the rule."
Keywords
salary; entitlement for service rendered; leave; compensatory measure; reduction of salary
Consideration 8
Extract:
"According to the rule requiring consideration for services rendered, which is a rule of international as well as national civil service, the official's right to remuneration depends on the performance of the work he is given to do."
Keywords
salary; entitlement for service rendered; working hours
Consideration 7
Extract:
The amount of salary is contractual and is immune to amendment only if the parties intend that it should be inviolate. "At the time when the complainants' basic salary was determined and later when it was adjusted, the parties are unlikely to have had in mind the circumstances [which led to the impugned decision]. "But, had they done so, would they ordinarily have intended that the amount of remuneration should be inviolate?"
Keywords
amount; acquired right; amendment to the rules; contract; salary
Consideration 7
Extract:
"It is [...] quite within the realm of possibility that, had the parties, at the time when the contracts of employment were concluded and revised, envisaged the straitened circumstances in which the [organisation] was [...] to be placed, they would not have treated the agreed salary as inviolate. On the contrary, they would have consented to its slight and temporary reduction [four unpaid days of leave over a period of six months]. In other words, the complainants have failed to prove any breach of acquired rights."
Keywords
amount; acquired right; terms of appointment; salary; budgetary reasons; reduction of salary
Consideration 6
Extract:
"A right is acquired when he who has it may require that it be respected notwithstanding any amendments to the rules."
Keywords
acquired right; definition
Consideration 6
Extract:
"A right will be acquired if it arises under an express provision of an official's contract of appointment and both parties intend that it should be inviolate. Thus not all rights arising under a contract of appointment are acquired rights, even if they relate to remuneration: it is of the essence that the contract should make express or implied provision that the rights will not be impaired."
Keywords
acquired right; provision; contract; condition
Consideration 6
Extract:
"[T]here may be an acquired right to application of the principle that an allowance will be paid, but not necessarily to the method of calculation - in other words, to the actual amount - of that allowance."
Keywords
amount; acquired right; reckoning; allowance; payment
Consideration 6
Extract:
"A right is acquired when he who has it may require that it be respected notwithstanding any amendments to the rules." Either of the following circumstances may give rise to an acquired right: a) "a right should be considered to be acquired when it is laid down in a provision of the Staff Regulations or Staff Rules and is of decisive importance to a candidate for appointment"; b) "a right will be acquired if it arises under an express provision of an official's contract of appointment and both parties intend that it should be inviolate."
Keywords
acquired right; staff regulations and rules; amendment to the rules; provision; terms of appointment; contract; condition; definition
Consideration 4
Extract:
The complainants argue that the staff union acted at variance with its own rules in proposing reductions in salary and in hours of work to prevent dismissals. They accuse it of having consulted the whole staff instead of just its members and maintain that there were irregularities in the voting. "The Tribunal is not competent to pass judgment on the activities of the staff union and the staff union bodies. The complainants' pleas are material only insofar as the organisation gave weight to the staff union's resolutions".
Keywords
competence of tribunal; staff union; consultation; flaw
Consideration 3
Extract:
The organisation imposed four unpaid days of leave on the staff. It "doubts whether there is any substance to the complaints and hence whether they are receivable. It argues that if the complainants take the cash equivalent of the compulsory leave, all they will have done is make a 'loan' [...] 'bearing a high rate of interest' at that. But that is just a hypothesis and does not mean that there is no substance to the claims for relief."
Keywords
receivability of the complaint; cause of action; salary; leave; compensatory measure; reduction of salary
Consideration 1
Extract:
Each of the complainants "has filed a complaint against the organisation and a rejoinder which [...] rest on the same facts and make the same pleas and claims. The [organisation] has filed a single reply and a single surrejoinder. The Tribunal will therefore join the complaints and give a single decision."
Keywords
joinder; identical claims; identical facts
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