Judgment 1938
88th Session, 2000
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The complainant worked continuously for the organization for 17 years under various short term contracts - including contractual service agreements - after his fixed-term appointment as a staff member expired. "In practice he is seeking to obtain a revision of the whole of his career from 1976 to 1996. But he himself accepted the contractual conditions offered to him. He did not challenge the decision taken in 1979 not to renew his fixed-term appointment and not to convert it into a permanent appointment. Moreover, he offers no legally valid argument to challenge the way he has been treated since 1979. His claims must therefore be dismissed [...]."
Keywords:
complainant; contract; duration of appointment; external collaborator; fixed-term; locus standi; project personnel;
Judgment 1783
85th Session, 1998
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"When the Tribunal quashes a flawed decision not to renew a fixed-term appointment it has discretion as to the relief it grants. It may send the case back for a new decision by the Organisation on renewal [...] but if it considers that renewal would be only fair, it will, instead of ordering a new decision, actually order reinstatement under a new contract for an appropriate term. [...] But if it considers neither a new decision nor reinstatement to be possible or advisable, it may, as authorised by Article VIII of its Statute, award the complainant compensation."
Reference(s)
ILOAT reference: ARTICLE VIII OF THE STATUTE
Keywords:
allowance; application for execution; case sent back to organisation; compensation; contract; decision quashed; duration of appointment; effect; fixed-term; iloat statute; judgment of the tribunal; non-renewal of contract; reinstatement; subsidiary;
Judgment 1782
85th Session, 1998
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
"What [Staff Rule 110.02 a) on abolition of posts and staff reduction] entitles staff members with permanent appointments to is preference to 'suitable posts in which their services can be effectively utilized', and that means posts not just at the same grade but even at a lower one. [...] The Advisory Group should have asked the complainant [who held grade G.7] at the outset whether she would accept a G.6 post. Because it failed to do so, it considered her for vacant posts at G.7 only and deprived her of the opportunity of being considered for G.6 vacancies." See also Judgment 346 [...].
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: UNIDO'S STAFF RULE 110.02 A)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 346
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; duration of appointment; grade; organisation's duties; permanent appointment; post; priority; staff reduction; staff regulations and rules; vacancy;
Judgment 1643
83rd Session, 1997
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
It is true that the suspension of the unit in which the complainant was employed was based on a mistake about the date of expiry of her contract. But she was aware of the mistake and knew full well what she was doing when she accepted the impugned decision. "So she may not plead lack of consent."
Keywords:
abolition of post; acceptance; contract; date; decision; duration of appointment; lack of consent; secondment;
Judgment 1618
82nd Session, 1997
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainants, who are permanent officials, object to a change in the Service Regulations which applies to officials under fixed-term appointments. "For the same reasons as those stated in Judgment 1451 the present complaints are receivable. What is at issue is not a general decision setting out the arrangements governing pay or other conditions of service. Such arrangements take the form of individual implementing decisions that each employee may eventually challenge [...]. What is at issue here is the adoption of rules on the employment of contract staff that may have indirect effects on the status of permanent employees as to their pay - if they have to bear a heavier financial burden - or as to their indirect involvement in the framing of EPO policy" as members of advisory bodies.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 1451
Keywords:
case law; competence of tribunal; contract; duration of appointment; exception; fixed-term; general decision; individual decision; permanent appointment; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1617
82nd Session, 1997
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"Whether the case is one of non-renewal or of dismissal, the rules on notice must be observed: so say the precedents. The need for such a safeguard is ordinarily not so great when the appointment is extended, but extended by a shorter term than the current one."
Keywords:
case law; contract; duration of appointment; extension of contract; non-renewal of contract; notice; termination of employment;
Consideration 3
Extract:
"On the strength of the unfavourable appraisal non-renewal of her appointment may have seemed too harsh for someone who until then had had good reports which offered hope of improvement. So the [Organization] concluded that the right expedient was to give a shorter extension so that she might show her mettle. In coming to those conclusions on the evidence before him the Director-General did not go beyond the bounds of his discretion".
Keywords:
contract; different appraisals; discretion; duration of appointment; executive head; extension of contract; non-renewal of contract; proportionality; staff member's interest; unsatisfactory service; work appraisal;
Judgment 1560
81st Session, 1996
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The complainant had a temporary appointment. The Staff Regulations and Rules distinguish such an appointment both from a permanent and a fixed-term one and from a traineeship and supernumerary employment. It differs in particular from a fixed-term appointment in that it is expected from the outset to be a fairly short stint, with no more than a few brief extensions, whereas the fixed-term appointment is commonly extended and may even afford the basis of a career in the Organization".
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: UNESCO STAFF RULE 104.8
ILOAT Judgment(s): 444, 1116
Keywords:
career; contract; definition; difference; duration of appointment; fixed-term; short-term; staff regulations and rules; successive contracts;
Judgment 1526
81st Session, 1996
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
"An organisation owes its staff a general duty of care, and must not cause them undue hardship. A case of non-renewal is no exception. The duty may entail avoidance or reduction of injury that termination may cause [...] at least when it was not a short-term appointment, when the record of service was long, and when the official had reasonable expectations of making a career in the organisation."
Keywords:
career; contract; duration of appointment; general principle; injury; legitimate expectation; moral injury; non-renewal of contract; official; organisation's duties; respect for dignity; short-term;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"Good faith must govern relations between administration and official [...]. It requires each party to a contract to let the other have beforehand any material information on points that may reasonably be seen as decisive. Whether a post is of limited or unlimited duration need not be a matter of indifference to the candidate since the duration may affect stability of employment. The Tribunal is not satisfied, however, and indeed doubts that the want of information influenced the complainant one way or the other."
Keywords:
acceptance; appointment; duration of appointment; duty to inform; offer; organisation's duties; post; security of tenure;
Judgment 1522
81st Session, 1996
World Intellectual Property Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
The organization has "discharged its duty to take an express decision duly giving its reasons for not reinstating him. Its decision [not to reinstate him] takes seriatim all the posts he might have been appointed to. It explains the reasons of fact or law why it came to the view that his training, experience or grasp of languages or the need for special skills disqualified him for some posts. The reasons why he was not appointed to others had to do with the budget, some posts being 'frozen'. Or else the reasons were administrative: for example the Appointment and Promotion Board was not in favour, or the organization gave priority to a permanent employee."
Keywords:
advisory opinion; application for execution; budgetary reasons; due process; duration of appointment; duty to substantiate decision; judgment of the tribunal; judicial review; knowledge of languages; organisation's duties; permanent appointment; priority; professional experience; promotion board; qualifications; refusal; reinstatement; selection board; training;
Judgment 1481
80th Session, 1996
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
The ILO had told the complainant upon recruitment that he could expect to receive an appointment without limit of time in five or six years. The Tribunal holds "that the conditions that precedent requires are met. The Director-General was wrong to refuse him an appointment without limit of time and to grant him only two years".
Keywords:
case law; criteria; duration of appointment; permanent appointment; promise; terms of appointment;
Judgment 1450
79th Session, 1995
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 23
Extract:
"However municipal law on the grant of fixed-term contracts may vary from country to country, the fact is that in the international civil service such contracts are common and the policy is seen as a proper and even necessary method of administration. So the EPO acted unimpeachably in resorting to fixed-term contracts to get auxiliary work done and so ease the undue rigidity of its staff structure."
Keywords:
contract; domestic law; duration of appointment; fixed-term; international civil service principles; organisation's interest; practice;
Consideration 24
Extract:
"The organisation is free to make whatever use it wishes of the possibility of granting fixed-term contracts. The Tribunal will not interfere in the exercise of such discretion. So there is another issue that it will not entertain, namely whether [...] the complainants' duties were permanent or temporary. Whether duties are permanent or not will depend not just on the sort of work to be done but also on the organisation's own shifting requirements."
Keywords:
contract; discretion; duration of appointment; fixed-term; judicial review; organisation's interest; post description;
Consideration 25
Extract:
The complainants "quite wittingly consented [...] to the contracts of service they were offered and were aware that, being for a fixed term ,the contracts could not run beyond the period of two years they set. [They may not] object a posteriori to an essential term of the contract, viz. its duration, in an attempt to have it converted to a permanent appointment. They have adduced not a jot of evidence to suggest that the organisation acted in any but its own legitimate interests either when the contracts were made out or when they came to an end."
Keywords:
abuse of power; acceptance; contract; duration of appointment; evidence; fixed-term; lack of evidence; misuse of authority; permanent appointment; terms of appointment;
Judgment 1385
78th Session, 1995
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 12-13
Extract:
The complainant had his short-term appointment extended after a break during which he had an external collaboration contract. Under Rule 3.5 of the short-term rules whenever the appointment of a short-term official is extended by a period of less than one year so that the total continuous contractual service amounts to one year or more, the terms and conditions of a fixed-term appointment - with certain exceptions - apply. "The interruption of the complainant's appointment by the external collaboration contract was merely a device to deny him the protection of Rule 3.5 without forfeiting the benefit of his services. There being no change in the actual conditions of employment, the real intention was that he should continue to do the same work as before. [...] The external collaboration contract must be treated like any other of his short-term contracts that ensured continuity of service. So his 'total continuous contractual service' [exceeded one year] and he thus became entitled [...] to 'the terms and conditions of a fixed-term appointment'."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ILO SHORT-TERM RULE 3.5
Keywords:
contract; duration of appointment; enforcement; extension of contract; external collaborator; fixed-term; intention of parties; interpretation; non-renewal of contract; short-term; staff regulations and rules; successive contracts;
Judgment 1383
78th Session, 1995
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations 7-10
Extract:
The organization contends that the Tribunal lacks competence to hear a complaint from a "temporary adviser", whose status does not imply the right of appeal. But the Tribunal finds that the organization has described her "as holding an appointment as [a] short-term consultant. [...] Her contract was for a total of over ninety days, she was therefore not a 'temporary advisory' whithin the meaning of [WHO Manual paragraph] II.12.590." holding a "temporary short-term appointment as a consultant [...] she therefore qualified as a 'staff member'" with the right to appeal. "The rules draw no distinction between 'regular' staff members and the holders of temporary appointments."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: WHO MANUAL PARAGRAPH II.12.590
Keywords:
duration of appointment; external collaborator; internal appeal; locus standi; ratione personae; receivability of the complaint; right of appeal; short-term; staff member; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 1349
77th Session, 1994
European Southern Observatory
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 11
Extract:
"An organisation enjoys wide discretion in deciding whether or not to renew a fixed-term appointment and a fortiori whether to convert it into an indefinite one. The exercise of such discretion is subject to review, but only to limited review, the Tribunal respecting the organisation's freedom to determine its own requirements and the career prospects of staff."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; discretion; duration of appointment; fixed-term; judicial review; limits; non-renewal of contract; organisation's interest; permanent appointment;
Judgment 1213
74th Session, 1993
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The complainant submits that the decision to offer him an assignment to a lower grade than he wished and without the benefit of an indefinite appointment discriminated against him insofar as four officials appointed to the same post got the higher grade. "But none of the four is in like case. Either they have served longer than he or have different qualifications or have won a competition or have a much better record of performance. He adduces no evidence to show unlawful discrimination, and his plea is dismissed because it is devoid of merit."
Keywords:
assignment; decision; definition; duration of appointment; equal treatment; grade; refusal;
Judgment 1151
72nd Session, 1992
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
After many years in CERN's employ under fixed-term appointments, the complainants applied for indefinite appointments. Their cases having been reviewed according to a new procedure for the grant of such appointments. CERN told them it would neither grant them indefinite appointments or renew their fixed-term ones on expiry. "But there is no obvious logical connection between the refusal to grant an indefinite appointment and the refusal to renew a fixed-term one."
Keywords:
contract; duration of appointment; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; permanent appointment;
Judgment 1116
71st Session, 1991
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
The complainant, whose post was abolished, alleges that the organization committed a mistake of law by keeping him in its employ under a long string of short-term appointments. He relies on what he says was UNESCO's established practice of extending fixed-term appointments for never less than one year. The Tribunal observes that there is no rule binding the organization to a minimum or maximum period of extension and that the complainant does not offer a shred of evidence of the practice he says it followed.
Keywords:
burden of proof; contract; duration of appointment; evidence; extension of contract; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; organisation's duties; practice; short-term; successive contracts;
Consideration 2
Extract:
"According to consistent precedent the Director-General has discretion to extend a fixed-term appointment or convert it into an indeterminate one and his decision will be set aside only if taken without authority [etc]".
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; discretion; duration of appointment; fixed-term; judicial review; non-renewal of contract; permanent appointment;
Judgment 974
66th Session, 1989
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"In the absence of a specific provision in the Rules, the Tribunal holds that, for the reasons it stated in Judgments 470 [...] and 891 [...], the right to the application of the reduction-in-force procedure arises on the abolition of a post of indefinite duration even though the official may have only a fixed-term appointment."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 1050.2 OF THE PAHO STAFF RULES
ILOAT Judgment(s): 470, 891
Keywords:
abolition of post; contract; duration of appointment; fixed-term; no provision; non-renewal of contract; permanent appointment; post; procedure before the tribunal; right; staff reduction;
Judgment 891
64th Session, 1988
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"In the absence of a definition in the Rules the post, though it began as a post of limited duration, became one of indefinite duration when prolonged after the period for which it had been created."
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: ARTICLE 1050.2 OF WHO STAFF RULES
Keywords:
consequence; contract; definition; duration of appointment; extension of contract; fixed-term; no provision; permanent appointment; post; successive contracts;
Judgment 592
51st Session, 1983
International Telecommunication Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Summary
Extract:
The complainant has no right to conversion of his fixed-term contract into a permanent one. There is no provision in the Staff Regulations and Staff Rules which says that the incumbent of a permanent post should perforce have a permanent appointment.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; duration of appointment; fixed-term; no provision; permanent appointment; right;
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complainant was appointed for a fixed term. "It is immaterial that he received assurances about the possibility of confirmation, that he holds a permanent post. That his predecessor had a permanent appointment and that other staff members have been granted permanent appointments after fixed-term ones. None of these facts warrants the grant of the permanent appointment. In particular there is no provision in the Staff Regulations and Staff Rules which says that the incumbent of a permanent post should perforce have a permanent appointment."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; contract; duration of appointment; fixed-term; non-renewal of contract; permanent appointment; post; right;
