The Appellant challenged UNRWA DT’s finding that his application was not receivable ratione materiae. UNAT held that the appeal was not receivable ratione materiae as he did not make a timely request for management evaluation. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNRWA DT judgment.
UNAT considered appeals from both Mr. Sirhan and the Commissioner-General. UNAT held that UNRWA DT exceeded its competence and erred in fact and law by rescinding the decision to terminate Mr. Sirhan on medical grounds. UNAT held that the decision to convene a Medical Board more than one month after Mr. Sirhan’s service-incurred injury in order to examine his fitness for continued service with UNRWA was reasonable. UNAT held that UNRWA DT erred in law in interpreting the Area Staff Rules as requiring UNRWA to provide injured staff members adequate time for recovery before deciding to appoint a...
UNRWA DT did not exceed its competence when assessing whether the decision to convene a medical board was lawful. The decision to convene a Medical Board five months after the service-incurred-injury in order to examine his fitness for continued service was reasonable. UNRWA DT erred in deciding that the decision to convene a medical board less than five months after the Appellant’s service-incurred injury was unlawful. UNRWA DT erred in law and exceeded its competence by challenging the authority of the Medical Board’s conclusion without clear and convincing medical evidence, by placing...
UNAT considered an appeal by Mr. Mezyed. As a preliminary matter, UNAT denied Mr. Mezyed’s request for an oral hearing. Turning to the merits of the appeal, UNAT found that the UNRWA DT had applied correctly the first four conditions in Area Staff Rule 109.4 precedent to possible severance from service for abandonment of post. As to the fifth condition, Mr. Mezyed’s failure to submit an acceptable written explanation for his failure to report, UNAT found that the Agency had failed to properly address the grounds advanced by Mr. Mezyed for his non-return, and as such, the UNRWA DT could not...
UNAT considered an appeal by the Commissioner-General and a cross-appeal by Ms. Kaddoura. UNAT affirmed the UNRWA DT Judgment in part. It only vacated the referral of the former Commissioner-General for accountability, finding that it was not adequate to rely on hearsay to refer a former staff member, be it the former Commissioner-General or any other, to accountability. UNAT further held that there was no possibility of imposing a disciplinary measure on a former staff member, and as such any such referral would be ineffectual.
UNAT agreed with the UNRWA DT that the contested decision was a lawful exercise of discretion. Regarding the Appellant’s claim that the process was tainted because of the lapse of time since the complained of behavior occurred (ten years) and because of the hearsay nature of the evidence, UNAT explained that these same arguments were made both to the DT and to the Administration during the investigation phase. The Tribunal agreed with the UNRWA DT that there was sufficient corroborating evidence to back the allegations. The Tribunal also noted that it is within the UNRWA DT’s role to review...
UNAT held that there were no errors in the decision of the UNRWA DT that the Appellant’s application was irreceivable. UNAT held the Appellant was notified of the decision not to shortlist him by e-mail of 14 November 2019. UNAT held that the Appellant’s allegations regarding the abolishment of his post had no legal relevance for the appeal, which dealt only with issues of receivability. UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed the UNRWA DT Judgment.
The UNRWA DT acknowledged that the imposed disciplinary measure of separation from service without termination indemnity is one of the most severe disciplinary measures that the Agency can impose on a staff member. Nevertheless, it decided that, given the Appellant’s misconduct in committing corporal punishment to a disabled and highly vulnerable child, and the Agency’s clear zero-tolerance policy towards corporal punishment, the disciplinary measure imposed on the Appellant appeared to be neither absurd nor arbitrary; nor was there any evidence that the measure taken had been tainted by...
It was a reasonable exercise of the Commissioner-General’s discretion to determine that intentionally abusing a position of power and trust against a beneficiary of UNRWA in a vulnerable situation rendered Mr. Al Khatib unfit for further service with the Agency, and separation from service without termination indemnity was neither unfair nor disproportionate to the seriousness of the offence.
UNAT considered an application for revision of Judgment No. 2020-UNAT-1055. UNAT found that none of the three new facts sought to be relied on by the applicant could have changed the outcome in any decisions entered against him in the UNRWA DT, and this test being one of four, all of which must exist for a judgment to be revised, Mr. Zaqqout’s application was dismissed.
