Civil service law in Germany regulates the special legal relationship of civil servants. Civil service law belongs to public law and is part of special administrative law. Civil service law includes all regulations that govern the legal status of civil servants. This includes not only the general civil service laws, career ordinances or the law on remuneration and pensions. Supplementary regulations, such as provisions on leave, travel expenses or allowances, are also part of civil service law.
The civil service relationship (in particular establishment, termination, rights and duties) is unilaterally structured by the legislature in a sovereign manner, whereby the appointment is an administrative act requiring participation. In this way, civil service law differs decisively from labour law, where an individual employment contract is negotiated by the employer and the employee, or a collective employment contract (collective agreement, works agreement) is negotiated by the parties to the collective agreement.
A distinction is made – depending on the employer – between federal civil servants, Land civil servants and municipal civil servants. Civil servants can also be appointed for life, on probation, for revocation or for a fixed term. Further differentiations are made, for example, according to career groups (intermediate civil service, higher civil service, higher civil service).
The legal basis also differs between the Länder. At the federal level, the Federal Civil Servants Act (Bundesbeamtengesetz, BBG), the Federal Salaries Act (Bundesbesoldungsgesetz, BBesG) and the Civil Servants Pensions Act (Beamtenversorgungsgesetz, BeamtVG) apply, while the Länder have enacted their own respective Land civil servants, Land salaries and Land pensions laws. The Civil Servant Status Act (BeamtStG) is also important, as it contains uniform federal regulations on status and status obligations which must be observed by the Länder. In addition, there are other laws and ordinances issued by the Federation and the Länder, such as the Working Hours Ordinance, the Recreational Leave Ordinance, the Maternity Protection and Parental Leave Ordinance, the Secondary Employment Ordinance, the Career Ordinance and the Federal Disciplinary Act. Special regulations exist for certain groups of civil servants.
The core issue is the “traditional principles of professional civil service” applicable to civil servants under Article 33(5) of the Basic Law (GG). These include, among other things, the civil servant’s duty of loyalty, which is countered by a duty of care on the part of his or her employer. The concepts of the civil servant’s duty of service and loyalty and the employer’s duty of care, as well as the structuring of the civil service relationship as a mutual fiduciary relationship, are of particular importance in civil service law.
The most important duty of care is the duty to pay adequate remuneration, which already follows from Article 33 (5) of the Basic Law. This includes the salary appropriate to the office (cf. Federal Salary Act), a retirement pension (cf. Civil Servants’ Pensions Act), the right to leave (cf. the holiday ordinances), to sickness assistance, to allowance (cf. allowance ordinances), to accident care, to reimbursement of travel and removal expenses. Under service law, the civil servant has the right to inspect the personnel file, to a reference and the right to file an application and a complaint.
The public-law employment relationship of civil servants is thus subject to regulations that differ significantly from labour law. Lawyer Tobias Bastian advises civil servants on their rights and obligations.
For the federal government, section 78 of the Federal Civil Servants Act stipulates that the employer must provide for the welfare of civil servants and their families within the framework of the service and loyalty relationship, also for the time after termination of the civil servant relationship. In addition, he protects the civil servants in their official activities and in their position. An identical provision for the Länder is contained in section 45 of the Civil Servant Status Act. The right to care and protection is available to every civil servant and his or her family regardless of the type of civil service relationship, but not to persons whose appointment was null and void or has been revoked. Numerous claims against the employer are thus derived from the civil servant’s right to care and protection, including a right to fair and benevolent treatment within the framework of the legal provisions, the right to advice and instruction, the right to be heard, the right to promotion and further training in accordance with aptitude and ability, the right to protection of life and health, the right to defence against unjustified attacks on the civil servant’s honour, and the right to protection of freedom of choice.
Besides the recruitment of new staff, transfer, secondment and redeployment are the employer’s most important instruments for staff deployment.
Transfer:
In civil service law, a transfer is the permanent assignment of a civil servant to another department. In this context, a department is an organisationally independent administrative unit with a locally and factually defined area of responsibility; the term is largely congruent with the term “authority”.
Delegation:
A secondment is when the civil servant is only temporarily assigned to another department (authority).
Transfer:
A redeployment means the transfer of another post within the same service (authority).
A transfer is possible upon request or for service-related reasons. It may only be carried out without the official’s consent, for example, if the new post carries at least the same final basic salary and the new activity is reasonable. On the other hand, secondments may also be made to a lower-paid post or to a post that does not correspond to the previous post. However, legal limits must be observed here as well. The civil servant’s consent is required above a certain duration. A transfer may be made for an objective reason. However, the civil servant’s right to employment appropriate to his or her position and the employer’s duty of care must be taken into account.
Transfers and secondments are so-called administrative acts that can be challenged by means of an objection and an action for annulment. The transfer, on the other hand, is merely an instruction, against which legal remedies are also possible.
A prolonged incapacity to work may have considerable consequences for civil servants. If they are no longer fit to perform their duties, they may be forced into early retirement, which can lead to a reduction in their remuneration. If the employer has doubts about a civil servant’s fitness for service, the first step is to obtain an official medical opinion by examining the civil servant. Since the official medical examination often sets the course for further proceedings, it makes sense to seek legal advice and support at this stage of the procedure. The same applies to the further threatened suspension procedure after receipt of the official medical report, which must of course comply with legal requirements. If there are doubts about the correctness of an official medical assessment, it is worthwhile to obtain an alternative private opinion and to review the legality of the employer’s decision (transfer of the civil servant to retirement). The civil servant has legal remedies against the decision (objection and, if the objection is unsuccessful, legal action before the competent administrative court).
If a transfer to retirement cannot be averted, if a service accident has led to the transfer to retirement or if the civil servant has possibly applied for dismissal from civil service himself, the question often arises as to the amount of the retirement pension, the possibility of drawing a retirement pension and the question of increased accident retirement pensions, which are linked to special conditions (for example, an accident to the civil servant during working hours as well as an activity in which the civil servant was exposed to a special danger – classically, this includes activities of police officers).
If a civil servant has been determined to have a degree of disability, the civil servant may have further rights and claims that go beyond the usual rights and duties of care. Legal advice and support also make sense in this context.
As soon as civil servants culpably violate the duties incumbent upon them, they commit an official misconduct. In such cases, disciplinary measures may be taken. If there are factual indications of such an offence, the superior has the duty to initiate disciplinary proceedings and to clarify the facts. After the investigation has been completed, he or she must decide whether the proceedings should be discontinued or whether a disciplinary measure is necessary. Disciplinary measures may be imposed according to the severity of the misconduct (e.g. reprimand, fine, punishment): Reprimand, fine, reduction of remuneration, demotion, removal from civil service). Due to the scope of such procedures, legal assistance should be sought as a matter of urgency.
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Service appraisal, personnel file, references
Applications for upgrading
Salary and grouping under civil service law
Secondary employment
Holiday entitlement
Competitor action
We advise civil servants on all civil service law issues and in all civil service law proceedings, in the formulation of applications, in the filing and formulation of an objection in opposition proceedings and represent them in legal action proceedings before administrative courts and higher administrative courts (Administrative Court) as well as in urgent legal protection. Our clients include teachers, headmasters, professors, members of the police, fire brigade, judiciary and all other civil servants in all areas of public administration (district office, regional council, municipalities).
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