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Judgment No. 4090

Decision

1. The IAEA shall pay the complainant 20,000 euros in damages.
2. The IAEA shall pay the complainant 7,000 euros in costs.
3. All other claims are dismissed.

Summary

The complainant challenges the processing of his application for a disability benefit and the calculation of his sick leave entitlements.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

complaint allowed; sick leave; disability benefit

Consideration 9

Extract:

[T]he final constitution of the Board [was delayed] for almost four months. This was an unreasonably long period and delayed the resolution of the complainant’s application, which was ultimately successful, for a disability benefit. While the complainant has not discharged the burden of proving retaliation, bias and prejudice, the IAEA is liable for the consequences of this delay involving, as it does, a breach of its duty of care towards the complainant, a ground relied on by the complainant in his fifth argument (see Judgment 2936, consideration 19). The IAEA, through its officers, was obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the complainant’s request for review of the decision to refuse him a disability benefit was dealt with as expeditiously as possible. If, as happened, an impasse about who should be the Chair arose between a member of the Board nominated by the staff member and a temporary member [...] of the Board nominated by the Administration who also had the responsibility to nominate another member as his own replacement, then steps should have been taken with great expedition to nominate the member to replace him.

Keywords

delay; organisation's duties; breach; medical board; disability benefit; duty of care; composition of the internal appeals body

Consideration 10

Extract:

Even accepting, for present purposes, that the field of operation of the Flemming principle would comprehend, as an aspect of establishing appropriate levels of pay, payment of sick leave entitlements, it is not appropriate to isolate one element of salary only and compare that element with prevailing local conditions. As the Tribunal observed in Judgment 1334, consideration 24, “[the Flemming principle] offers [...] a guide for setting general levels of pay for local staff: it offers no basis for claims about any particular component of such pay”.

Reference(s)

ILOAT Judgment(s): 1334

Keywords

flemming principle; salary; allowance; local status; sick leave

Consideration 15

Extract:

The complainant is entitled to moral damages for the delay in the consideration of his application for a disability benefit arising from the IAEA’s breach of its duty of care. The Tribunal takes into account the fact that, but for the delay, he may have been in receipt of the disability benefit earlier.

Keywords

moral injury; delay; disability benefit; duty of care



 
Last updated: 23.06.2020 ^ top