Removing an extremist civil servant from public service requires a lengthy process - on average it takes nearly four years. Federal Interior Minister Faeser now wants to change that. However, the unions have already criticized the new plans.
The federal government should be able to remove extremist civil servants from public service more quickly in the future. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to change the disciplinary law for this - a corresponding draft law is to be approved in the Federal Cabinet on Wednesday, as the "Handelsblatt" reports.
The law should make it possible to dispense with the often lengthy disciplinary proceedings at administrative courts in future in such cases; the authorities should be allowed to act themselves and should be able to remove extremist officers from the service by means of a disciplinary order.
So far, disciplinary proceedings to terminate a civil service contract have lasted an average of almost four years, the "Handelsblatt" quotes from the draft. "This is difficult to convey, especially in the case of extremist misconduct that particularly affects the trust of citizens in the integrity of the administration," it said.
It is also unacceptable that the officials concerned "continue to receive a significant part of their salary throughout the entire disciplinary process". As the media company Table.Media also reported, citing the draft, dismissed civil servants can even be asked to have their salaries reimbursed.
The proposed change in federal disciplinary law should ensure that the authorities "can act themselves in the event of violations of the civil service's duty of loyalty to the constitution as a particularly serious misdemeanor" and do not have to turn to the administrative court as before, the "Handelsblatt" further quotes from the draft.
According to the report, the draft law says: In the future, the disciplinary authorities should "pronounce all disciplinary measures, including downgrading, removal from civil service and deprivation of pension, through disciplinary orders".
According to the Ministry of the Interior, it is based on a regulation that has been in force in Baden-Württemberg for several years. In the federal state, all disciplinary measures are ordered by an administrative act ("disciplinary order"). The Federal Constitutional Court has already confirmed the admissibility of this regulation.
The unions have criticized the plans. The introduction of a disciplinary order for all disciplinary measures "does not meet the requirements of a formal, impartial procedure that ensures fairness," said Verdi union secretary Christian Hoffmeister to Table.Media. Fundamental principles of officialdom would thus be weakened.
Hoffmeister also criticized the mandatory reduction in salaries. It is unacceptable to expose civil servants to a situation "in which they are deprived of their basic rights by a mere official decision".
