Dismissed legal director of RBB achieves partial success in court
The employment contract states that the director will receive a severance payment if the collaboration, which is limited to five years, is not extended. This amount is the half of the previous compensation until retirement - without any counterpart.
This is not objectionable in principle, ruled the Labor Court in the appeal proceedings. However, the RBB had the opportunity to extend the contract. The RBB had terminated the contract without notice to the woman at the end of 2022.
The termination itself was effective, according to the Labor Court. The legal director had repeatedly violated her duties, including her warning and notification obligations towards the then RBB Intendant Patricia Schlesinger regarding legal risks in contract design. Therefore, a prior warning was not necessary.
The claim of the plaintiff for occupational pension after retirement remains according to the judgment. However, pension entitlements can only exceptionally lapse. No such exceptional case exists, declared the Labor Court.
However, the former director is obliged to repay the monthly allowance of 1700 Euro, which she received due to her taking over the ARD chairmanship by the RBB, which she herself had initiated. This was not agreed upon with the RBB's administrative council.
The director was dismissed in the context of the affair surrounding the former intendant Schlesinger. Schlesinger had first resigned and later been terminated without notice due to many allegations against her regarding her conduct of office and misappropriation of broadcasting fees in the summer of 2022.
- Despite the dismissal, the Regional Labor Court acknowledged a partial success for the director in Berlin, as she retains her claim for occupational pension after retirement.
- The RBB's Broadcasting in Berlin terminated the director's contract without notice at the end of 2022, citing repeated violations of duties, including towards the former Director Patricia Schlesinger.
- The former director, a woman, will have to repay the 1700 Euro monthly allowance she received following her assuming the ARD chairmanship, an action not agreed upon with the RBB's administrative council.
- The RBB, based in Berlin, had the opportunity to extend the director's contract but chose not to, leading to the termination.
- The legal proceedings involving the director and the RBB's Broadcasting were heard at the Regional Labor Court in Berlin, with the court ruling on various aspects of the case.
