International organizations create independent administrative tribunals to decide employment disputes that jurisdictional immunities place beyond the reach of national courts. The Asian Development Bank Administrative Tribunal's express mandate is to enforce the terms of employment of staff members but, in discharging that function, it has not hesitated to review the validity of those terms and strike down those that contravene the Bank's basic legal documents and “general principles of law”. This paper reviews how this power of judicial review emerged in the case law of the Tribunal, and what it has meant for both the institutional autonomy of international organizations and the fair treatment of staff members.
