UNAT Held or UNDT Pronouncements
The UNAT held that the staff member’s application was not receivable, as he did not file a timely request for management evaluation of the contested decision.
The UNAT observed that the staff member was notified of the contested decision on 9 November 2023. Accordingly, he had until 8 January 2024 to file his request for management evaluation, but instead filed it on 12 August 2024, more than 270 days after being notified of the contested decision. It further found that, even assuming that he was notified of the contested decision in February 2024, his request was still submitted well beyond 60 calendar days from the notification date identified by him.
The UNAT also held that the UNDT had no competence and jurisdiction to make any factual findings and reach any legal conclusions on the merits of the staff member’s claims regarding the implementation of the national judgment on child support. As such, the UNAT considered the UNDT’s comments on those issues to be obiter dicta and concluded that the correctness of such findings and conclusions could not form the basis of the appeal.
The UNAT dismissed the appeal and affirmed Judgment No. UNDT/2025/010.
Decision Contested or Judgment/Order Appealed
A staff member of the 麻豆APP Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), contested the decision of the Administration to implement a national judgment on child support, which resulted in deductions from his monthly salary from February through July 2024.
In its Judgment No. UNDT/2025/010, the UNDT dismissed the staff member’s application as not receivable ratione materiae, as he had not requested management evaluation of the contested decision in a timely manner.
Staff member appealed.
Legal Principle(s)
A timely request for management evaluation is a mandatory first step in order for an application to the UNDT to be receivable (except in disciplinary matters).
A management evaluation request is not receivable unless it is sent within 60 calendar days from the date on which the staff member received notification of the administrative decision to be contested.
It is well settled that the UNDT is competent to review its own competence or jurisdiction, even if the parties or the administrative authorities do not raise the issue, because it constitutes a matter of law and the UNDT Statute precludes the UNDT from receiving a case that is not receivable.