INTERVIEW WITH AN APPELLANT
The article below first appeared in the UN Special in March 2002. The message therein is as relevant today as it was more than seven years ago. At a time of reform of the justice system and of the UNAT and ILO administrative tribunals, it is worthwhile reading for both staff, staff representatives, legal advisers, HR staff, and all persons who come in contact with staff who are considering challenging an administrative decision they feel is unjust.
MARIA DWEGGAH, WHO
First of all, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. To safeguard confidentiality your name will not be used.
In the January 2002 issue of the UN Special, there was a somewhat critical article on the appeal process at the ILOAT (International Labour Organization Administrative Tribunal) level. It painted a bleak picture of the kind of justice the international civil servant can expect to receive from this court. I was reminded of a line in Dante’s Inferno, something about all those who enter should abandon all hope.
Your organization is one of those that subscribe to the jurisdiction of the ILOAT. With a few exceptions, appeals have to go through an internal appeal process before reaching the ILOAT. Such is the case where you work. In January of this year, the ILOAT made public the results of its decisions.
There were quite a few, 43 I believe. I noticed that true to form most decisions were not in favour of staff – 8 out of 43.Quite a record.
I understand that you have filed an appeal in your organization. We would like to learn more about this internal process and its impact on staff who appeal or who are thinking of appealing, the human angle.
What is the status of your appeal?
The Board of Appeals in its Solomonic approach
split its decision. The Director General
who has the ultimate authority did not
accept the Board’s recommendation. The
status? None at the moment. I can either
pursue the appeal at the ILO or stop.
Would you do it again?
In spite of it all – the impact on your health,
your emotions, your work, yes, I would do
it all over again.
Can you elaborate?
Well, first of all, the decision to appeal is a
difficult one. You ask yourself, “Do I have
a legitimate cause? What do I want from
the appeal? How will it impact my life, my
work, my career? Will I be seen as a trouble-
maker? Will I be targeted for retribution?”
and most important, “Will I win?” and
then, “What happens if I lose.” Then there
is the anger and emotional stress that you
experience at being forced into concluding
that you cannot get redress through regular
internal negotiations with your supervisors
and the administration. This is where the
feeling of injustice comes in, and puzzlement
at and frustration with the Organization
– that it is not capable of managing
properly its business and its staff, in spite of
all the hype about, and seminars on, leadership
and conflict management skills.
Would it not be better to just forget
the whole thing and get on with your
life?
From the moment you are informed of the
administrative decision, be it a non extension
of your contract, non confirmation of
a classification, a non selection, a reassignment
you consider prejudicial, etc., you feel a
deep hurt. You feel you have been wronged,
you feel a sense of betrayal, intense anger, a
sense of powerlessness and you want justice
to be done. These emotions are with you almost
24 hours a day. You eat them, you sleep
with them, you are enveloped by them. It
cannot help but adversely affect your day to
day work. It depends on the individual. Forgetting
the whole thing is easy to do if you
are someone who can do that, who takes life
as it comes, who feels nothing is really worth
fighting for. On the other hand if you believe
there is a very important difference between
right and wrong, if you believe in due process,
and if you care about your organization
and your own self-respect, then you are the
type of individual who cannot “just forget.”
Once you are convinced and can substantiate
that a wrong has been done, AND you
are willing to pay the price, you feel you
have the duty to make the wrongdoers account
for their actions which hurt not only
the individual appellant but the organization
as well (and not just in terms of the signifi-
cant costs of an appeal to the organization).
Price, what price?
I’m not referring to monetary values, although
it could get expensive if you hire an
attorney. What I am referring to is the cost
to you in terms of time spent thinking about
the procedure, writing the appeal, responding
to the Administration’s statement, and
then again responding to their response to
your response. It never seems to end. Don’t
forget, they have a group of people who
do nothing but work on appeals. You, on
the other hand, have to do it in your spare time. And also, they have access to files,
reports, correspondence, which you don’t
(talk about inequality of arms!). So you as
the appellant are greatly disadvantaged.
And it is a very emotional process.
Emotional?
What I mean is that by deciding to appeal,
you seem to be going against your colleagues,
your employer. You keep repeating
the same questions over and over. “Why
can’t they understand that this is unjust,
unreasonable and unacceptable behaviour?
Why can’t management see that this is killing
their credibility and the staff’s trust and loyalty
to them and eventually to the Organization?”
When you receive the Administration’s
responses, you cannot believe some of the
lies they throw at you, some of the distortions,
the concoctions. And you get angrier
and angrier, as you try to maintain your arguments
and prove them wrong. You relive the
injury, the injustice over and over. You really
need to believe in what you are doing, so as
not to let those emotions overtake you.
Do you know other people who have
appealed?
Quite a few. And the reactions are basically
the same. They are expressed in loss of confidence and mistrust in the system, in physical
and emotional manifestations such as depression,
and insomnia. And they ask a simple
question, “Why do I have to go through
this, I’ve been a good, loyal staff member, it
could have been so easily prevented?”
Prevented, how?
Most actions stem from people with poor
management style, actually, no management
style at all. People who disregard the
rules, who act with impunity and who are
not held accountable for their actions. Simple
respect for staff and the Rules would be
all that is needed.
What advice would you give
to someone who was thinking
of appealing?
The first thing I would ask is “What rules do
you think were broken?” Then I would take
a closer look at the action they are thinking
of appealing. If they have an apparently
valid claim, then I would tell them to first try
and negotiate through internal mechanisms,
while keeping a careful watch on the time
limits for filing an appeal. I would then inform
them of the time involved in the whole
process, which includes delaying tactics, the
frustrations that will follow, the character
slander, the fabricated arguments, and the
very real possibility that they will lose. I also
tell them that there is no gain without a fight.
Are there staff who have legitimate
claims but who are afraid to appeal?
Some people imagine that things will
change without any effort. They don’t want
to rock the boat. Others are scared of retaliation.
Quite a few actually believe that
the appeal documentation will be put in
their personnel file and that it will stop them
from getting a promotion or having their
contracts renewed. I remind them that due
process is their right; the Rules are there to
ensure equitable and fair treatment to all
staff. You know, the sad thing is that people
don’t seem to believe this any more... they
are worried that even though it may not be
officially recorded, it will still be very much
in the minds of the supervisors. One point
that I would like to make to those who accept
to be trampled, is to warn them that the more they just give in and give up their selfrespect,
the more they’ll be taken advantage
of and treated as disposable quantities.
That, people should understand and believe.
They should also realize that, as staff
members, they share with the administration
responsibility for ensuring that the decisions
made respect the Rules. That is why the
appeal process is provided for in the Staff
Rules. They have a right to challenge decisions
they feel have been taken unjustly. If
every staff member who has been wrongly
treated stood up and made the administrations
account for their actions through an
appeal, the administration would be forced
to change their practices – and their attitude.
What has been hardest on you as an
appellant?
The solitude. It is so difficult not to talk
about your appeal as it consumes you.
Friends, colleagues are not so receptive or
empathic as you would hope. It sometimes
seems that the only ones who can understand
are those who are also going through
an appeal process. It is painful to come to
terms with the fact that people are not always
going to be there for you. The other
hard part is when people try to discourage
you and tell you that you don’t have a
chance and that you are wasting your time.
Is the appeal process accessible to all
staff in your organization?
Yes, it is. But in reality, if your contract situation
is precarious, that is if you do not have
a fixed-term contract, you’re not likely to go
down that road.
Has it all been negative?
Just standing up for what you believe makes
you feel good. If you win, it makes you feel
damn good. If you lose, well, just having
stood up for your rights is enough.
In view of recent decisions that have
come out of the ILO which are, in the
majority, not in favour of staff, why
do they still appeal? Is it for personal
gain?
No, I don’t think personal gain is the main
reason. And most monetary awards are
minimal and hardly compensate for time,
effort and energy spent in the appeal process.
People for the most part appeal to right
a wrong and to maintain the integrity of the
working environment for themselves and
others and to preserve their self- respect.
You can’t work in the UN, strongly believing
in justice, equal respect for all individuals,
and human rights, and accept that these
very values should be denied and flouted
by your own administration in its everyday
dealings with its staff.