Internal Justice Services

You are not forced to request any of the informal services (RWA, Ombuds and Mediation), although you may need to go to just one mediation session when such service has been requested by another staff member. However, you must use one of the formal services (Peer Review and the Tribunal) if you want to get a review of a manager’s decision, action or inaction

The Office of Ethics and Business Conduct responds to questions about potential conflicts of interest.

Due to its Immunities from local labor laws, the World Bank Group must provide its staff with effective internal services to handle all types of problems and conflicts. These include informal services to help staff understand the Bank's policies and get confidential guidance regarding their options –provided by RWAs and Ombuds- as well as confidential spaces for communicating with each other with the objective of resolving them – provided by Mediation.

The World Bank must also to offer its staff formal services to check whether a manager's decisions, actions or inactions was consistent with the staff terms of appointment and/or conditions of employment. Almost all such independent reviews are conducted initially by Peer Review Services, which make recommendations to line VP's. Staff that are not satisfied with the VP's final decision can request a final, binding decision from the World Bank Administrative Tribunal. In addition, the World Bank has two investigative services the review allegations of staff misconduct – Ethics and Business Conduct, or allegations of fraud and corruption – the internal investigations function of the Integrity Vice-presidency. All of these

The Office of Ethics and Business Conduct is the appropriate place to report allegations of staff misconduct, except for allegations of fraud or corruption, which should be reported to the Integrity Vice Presidency.

Not really. If you go first to Peer Review Services or Mediation, the staff there can also explain to you the different options that you have to pursue your concerns. Often, Peer Review Services will refer cases to mediation to see if they can be settled before they go to a hearing. So, CRS personnel can suggest to staff that they might benefit from starting at a different service, at least as a first option. The only place where it is not appropriate to start is the Administrative Tribunal, with a few limited exceptions. Typically, staff are required to file a matter with Peer Review Services before they can take a case to the Administrative Tribunal. But termination cases, misconduct cases, and cases challenging the validity or implementation of a memorandum of understanding may be filed directly with the Administrative Tribunal without going to Peer Review Services first.

Two reasons. First, RWAs and the Ombudsman practice strict confidentiality. You can speak to them and be assured that they will not discuss your case with anyone. It won’t go in your personnel file, they won’t speak with your manager, and they won’t report your concerns to another CRS office. You remain in control of what happens with your concerns. Second, you can obtain advice from an RWA or Ombudsman about all of the other conflict resolution services and then decide whether you want to use one of the other offices, or none at all. Either way, you will have benefitted from the advice of someone who is knowledgeable about the different CRS services and can explain how they work. But note: Confidentiality works both ways. Speaking to an RWA or the Ombudsman does not “put the organization on notice” of your concerns because both the RWA and the Ombudsman are bound to maintain confidentiality and will not discuss your concerns with anyone else unless expressly authorized to do so.

Not all employment conflicts are the same, and therefore they should not all be handled in the same way. This is why the World Bank Group offers staff different types of services to assist in the resolution of their concerns, from the informal (Respectful Workplace Advisors, Ombuds Services and Mediation) to the formal (Peer Review Services and Administrative Tribunal). The Conflict Resolution System has an “open door” policy that gives staff direct access to its units, offering them multiple points of entry without unnecessary restrictions.