Judgment No. 937
Decision
THE COMPLAINT IS DISMISSED.
Consideration 12, Summary
Extract:
The complainant was dismissed for misconduct. The organization submits that the complainant took home leave without going to his home country, the one which treats him as its citizen. The Tribunal held that the complainant was in breach of the letter and spirit of the rules: "Though the rules do allow rerouting, it must not be more than a minor change in travel arrangements."
Keywords
place of origin; exception; staff regulations and rules; enforcement; direct route; termination of employment; misconduct; serious misconduct; home leave; staff member's duties
Consideration 14
Extract:
"When disciplinary action is out of all proportion to the offence according to both objective and subjective criteria, there is a mistake of law that warrants setting the impugned decision aside. There must be the closest scrutiny when the measure is dismissal."
Keywords
proportionality; termination of employment; disciplinary measure
Consideration 14
Extract:
The complainant submits that none of "the charges supporting his dismissal for misconduct [...] amounts in itself to misconduct. Indeed some of them do not, but what is serious is that there are several."
Keywords
termination of employment; misconduct; serious misconduct; conduct; disciplinary measure
Considerations 17-18
Extract:
The complainant argues that the definition of misconduct in the FAO Manual does not fit the charges: the organization's reputation cannot suffer from inside squabbling. "The plea is mistaken. Harm to the organization's good name does not require the knowledge of the public at large since reputation may be impaired even within a closed community."
Keywords
termination of employment; misconduct; conduct; organisation's reputation; definition
Consideration 12
Extract:
"As the Tribunal said in Judgment 271, the primary purpose [of home leave] is not to make [...] a monetary concession: it is to an international organisation's advantage that staff should maintain their links with their home countries."
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 271
Keywords
home leave; organisation's interest; purpose
Consideration 19
Extract:
"To prove abuse of authority the complainant must show that the reason for his dismissal had nothing whatever to do with serving the organization's interests."
Keywords
evidence; lack of evidence; termination of employment; misconduct; disciplinary measure; misuse of authority; abuse of power
Consideration 21
Extract:
"In its surrejoinder the FAO objects to the complainant's obtaining evidence in the form of tape recordings. The Tribunal has not made use of them and therefore need not rule on the issue".
Keywords
evidence; admissibility of evidence; recording
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