Code of Conduct - Green faction decides new conduct rules for deputies
German deputy Petra Hinz was known in her faction for her harsh treatment of employees in the SPD. For years, rumors circulated within the party that the politician from Essen maltreated her staff, forced them to work overtime, and made them document every conversation, including bathroom breaks. The faction leadership was aware of this, but since Hinz denied the allegations, no action was taken.
Years later, journalist Pascal Hesse made the accusations public. It also came to light that Hinz had falsified her official resume. As a result, she was forced to resign from her Bundestag mandate under pressure from the SPD and eventually left the party in the summer of 2016.
To this day, there is no code of conduct for MPs in the SPD's Bundestag faction regarding their interaction with their staff. However, another faction has recently passed such a code. At their faction meeting on June 25, the MPs agreed on "guiding principles for good interaction with Green Bundestag staff."
The introduction states, "We have a duty of care and are responsible for the well-being of our staff." The following are the key points:
- The relationship between MPs and staff should be "based on mutual respect," with green values also serving as "guiding principles" internally: "We MPs practice diverse and discrimination-critical leadership behavior." This includes the possibility of independent work, regular office hours, clear agreements, and regular employee talks about cooperation and development.
- Job tasks should be clear and unambiguous, and regularly checked to ensure they are realistic.
- Staff should be "fairly and performance-based" paid, i.e., tariffed. A wage table with comparable positions in the public sector (TVoD) is included in the code of conduct for reference.
- Working hours must be documented. The document advises against working more than 10 hours a day and warns against assuming overtime without prior agreement. Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays should generally be free from work.
- At least three months before a Bundestag election, staff should be informed about the possibility of continued employment.
- Vacation is for rest: "Staff must be inaccessible during vacation."
- Mobile work or home office should be allowed "as far as the business interests permit": "As a rule, a combination of presence in the office and mobile work is desired." It is "expressly desired" that staff be able to take parental leave and return to the same conditions afterwards.
- In case of conflicts, written agreements should be reached to improve the situation. If this fails, MPs are encouraged to involve the staff representative and/or the so-called "trustee MPs."
The paper is not the first Code of Conduct for the Greens: They had already passed rules over ten years ago, which they have now updated. In the previous version, there was no mention of a wage payment or Home Office regulations. The guidelines for conduct in conflict situations were also tightened.
"As Greens, we have a high standard for how employers treat employees. We want to uphold this standard ourselves, which is why the fraction recommended the Code of Conduct to its members," said Anja Reinalter, one of the parliamentary leaders of the Greens and significantly involved in the new regulations, to the stern.
Rules are unique in the Bundestag
This is unique in the Bundestag. A query by the stern to the other factions revealed: None of them have a similar catalog of rules for how deputies deal with their employees.
The FDP has a Code of Conduct for dealing with employees who are employed by the faction, but not for parliamentarians. This is explained by the fact that the latter are private employment relationships that are negotiated between the respective deputies and their employees. The catalog of the Greens is also only a recommendation, not legally binding.
In practice, this often means that politicians without significant leadership experience suddenly have to manage two offices (in the constituency and in the Bundestag) with several employees, in addition to their political work. This leads to frequent cases of overburdening.
However, the factions find it difficult to impose behavior rules on their members. One reason for this is that, according to Article 38 of the Basic Law, politicians are free and not bound by any instructions in their mandate. Conversely, this means that there is little to no control over how they treat their employees.
Even the SPD did not create a Code of Conduct after the Hinz Affair. However, the fraction refers to the fact that employees of deputies have a collective bargaining agreement with Verdi, which was only negotiated for them. However, only those Bundestag deputies are bound by this provision who are themselves members of Verdi or another trade union. The majority of Social Democrats in the Bundestag are bound by this provision. In contrast to the unenforceable Code of Conduct of the Greens, the collective bargaining agreement is binding.
The Social Democrats appeal to the goodwill of their deputies. "Bundestag deputies have employer responsibility. This includes employee rights, good working conditions, and good salaries," it says from the fraction.
The Left also reported that they have their own works council for the employees and employees of deputies.
The Group of Sahra Wagenknecht did not answer the stern's inquiry.
The SPD, despite the public scandal involving Petra Hinz and her alleged mistreatment of staff, has yet to establish a behavior codex specifically for MPs interacting with their staff in the Bundestag faction. Contrarily, the Greens have passed such a code, which emphasizes mutual respect and fair treatment of employees, as well as clear job tasks, documentation of working hours, and provisions for vacation and conflicts.
