Electoral chief threatens legal action over firing

The woman had been considered a rising young star at the United Nations.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. electoral chief vowed Tuesday to fight her dismissal, vehemently denying charges she sexually harassed her staff and abused her authority.
Carina Perelli also expressed hope her firing would not affect the critical Iraqi parliamentary election Dec. 15, the referendum in Congo on Dec. 18, elections in the Palestinian territories on Jan. 25 and in Haiti early next year.
The 48-year-old Uruguayan has won wide praise for her work in helping organize elections in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories and had been considered one of the young rising stars at the United Nations.
But in August, the U.N. formally accused her of harassing her staff after a four-month review by a Swiss consulting firm into the claims of an abusive and sexually offensive environment in the Electoral Assistance Division that she headed.
Summarily dismissed
Perelli was handed a letter Tuesday informing her that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had decided to summarily dismiss her "for serious misconduct" based on a subsequent U.N. investigation panel's report that found "you engaged in sexual and professional harassment of your staff and abused your authority as a manager."
The letter from U.N. Undersecretary-General Christopher Burnham, obtained by The Associated Press, said Annan had concluded that Perelli's conduct was "inconsistent with the standards of conduct expected of international civil servants and that the patent nature and the gravity of this misconduct warrant immediate separation from service."
After meeting Burnham and being informed of her rights, Perelli was escorted downstairs by a plainclothes U.N. security officer.
"I've been fired," she told reporters. "My contract has been terminated."
She said she was going to fight the firing "because the charges are false, because there has been no due process in this whole exercise."
Perelli said she would appeal her dismissal through the U.N. system and did not rule out taking further legal action afterward outside the United Nations.
Perelli said "there are a lot of inconsistencies and ironies in this case," noting her nomination as a manager of the year this year -- a contest she did not win.
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