Arbeitsrecht_3

Abolition of disciplinary action at federal level since 01.04.2024

Since 01.04.2024, the requirement for disciplinary action against federal civil servants has been dropped. In light of the current relevance, this blog post provides an overview of the new legal situation.

I. Current legal situation

It is well known that federal civil servants enjoy a particularly protected position. In particular, dismissal (Section 30 No. 1 BBG) is not possible without further ado, but is subject to high hurdles. If a civil servant is to be demoted, removed from their civil servant status or deprived of their pension, a disciplinary action must be brought against them (Section 34 para. 1 BDG old version). The service authority must therefore bring an action before the court in order for the court to pronounce the disciplinary measure applied for. In view of the length of court proceedings, these were regularly lengthy matters. However, it was still possible for the service authority itself to issue a ban on conducting official business in accordance with Section 66 BBG.

II Amendment to the law as of 01.04.2024

With the Act to Accelerate Disciplinary Proceedings in the Federal Administration and to Amend Other Provisions of Service Law of 20.12.2023, the Bundestag passed fundamental amendments to the Federal Disciplinary Act. These include in particular

1. the previously necessary disciplinary complaint is replaced by the official disciplinary order, which is regulated in more detail in Section 33 BBG as amended. Pursuant to Section 34 para. 4 BDG (new version), demotion or removal from civil servant status will be pronounced by the highest service authority and the withdrawal of pension by the superior responsible for exercising disciplinary powers pursuant to Section 84 BDG.

2. in order to further accelerate the proceedings, it is possible, in accordance with § 52 sentence 2 BDG (new version), to file an action within six weeks of the objection being raised, in deviation from the provision of § 75 VwGO. The regular waiting period of generally three months for filing an action for failure to act is thus considerably shortened.

3. the assessment of disciplinary measures is now regulated in a more differentiated manner in Section 13 BDG (new version). According to Section 13 para. 4 sentence 1 BDG new version, a civil servant who has definitively lost the trust of the employer or the general public as a result of serious misconduct in the performance of his or her duties is to be removed from the civil service.

The amendments apply to disciplinary proceedings initiated from 01.04.2024 (Section 85 sentence 1 BDG).

III Effects

The legislative amendments present the federal authorities with new challenges. However, nothing will change for state, district and municipal civil servants. It remains to be seen whether the core objective of the legal changes, to speed up disciplinary proceedings, will actually be achieved - longer proceedings are still to be expected in the context of downstream legal protection. In any case, the general legal standards for disciplinary proceedings that have been established in case law to date will continue to have to be taken into account.

Do you have questions about civil service law? We will be happy to advise you!

Dr. Jan-Philipp Redder