Judgment No. 1787
Decision
1. The Director General's decision of 12 March 1998 is set aside. 2. The process of selection, advertised in notice 23(O) of 26 August 1997, for the post of chief of the Programme Support Division, is set aside. 3. The Organization shall pay the complainant 2,500 Swiss francs in damages. 4. It shall pay him 5,000 Swiss francs in costs.
Consideration 4
Extract:
"Although the abolition of his post did demand of the Organization efforts to place him suitably and at the right grade elsewhere, he had no right to preference for any particular post, the less so since others were in the same plight. He may object to the Organization's failure to let him have the transfer he wanted, but such failure does not make it unlawful for the organization to have appointed another official to the post he had applied for, provided at least that that official was qualified."
Keywords
equal treatment; organisation's duties; grade; appointment; competition; post; qualifications; abolition of post; reassignment; priority; condition; right
Consideration 5
Extract:
"When a decision is adverse to a staff member the competent administrative authority does have to reveal the reasons for it. But when the result of a competition is announced and, more broadly, when a choice is made between candidates the reasons for the choice need not be notified at the same time as the decision."
Keywords
procedure before the tribunal; decision; duty to substantiate decision; grounds; time limit; competition; candidate; discretion
Considerations 10-11
Extract:
"The qualifications expected may be just 'desirable', not requirements binding in law. But the appointing authority is not free on that account [...] to disregard the fact that some do qualify and to plump for the very one who does not, even one who in other respects has the right experience and skills. [...] Here the Organization picked someone wanting in listed qualifications which, though said to be only 'desirable', were in fact essential. It thereby fell short of the standards of objectiveness and openness that must govern appointment to a senior post in an international organisation. The process of selection cannot stand [...]" (See Judgment 1595, under 10.)
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1595
Keywords
procedure before the tribunal; post description; professional experience; appointment; competition; candidate; competition cancelled; vacancy notice; post; qualifications; discretion; flaw; condition; criteria
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