Teacher from Rhineland-Palatinate may be removed from office for right-wing agitation
The civil servant has violated her constitutional duty at several demonstrations in 2018 and 2019, as well as through likes on the internet. At a demonstration organized by extremist right-wing groups in Berlin, she explicitly referred to her civil servant status and called on police officers to disobey orders, which was an active engagement against the democratic constitutional order. In another case, she liked an internet post describing the elimination of unwelcome groups as an opportune means to get rid of them.
The offenses of the teacher, according to the OVG, are also "an expression of the personality of the civil servant." Based on her personal statement in court, there is no doubt that the offenses were driven by inner rejection of the constitutional state. The civil servant relentlessly incited against politicians, the state, its organs, the European Union, its organs, and migrants with drastic language.
The case came before the OVG because the civil servant filed an appeal against the judgment of the Administrative Court of Trier. She referred to the right to free speech and demanded, if at all, a minor penalty such as a reprimand.
The OVG saw it differently. Given the gravity of the misconduct, it was not the duty of the employer to continue employing her. A "personality" of this kind has irrevocably lost the trust of the employer and the public in her integrity.
- Despite the teacher's argument for free speech during her appeal at the OVG in Koblenz, her repeated acts of agitation against political figures, the state, its organs, the EU, its organs, and migrants at demonstrations and online were deemed a serious breach of the Basic Law's protection of the constitution.
- The Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate's decision to terminate the teacher's employment was upheld by the OVG, as her actions directly challenged the fundamental principles of Germany's democratic constitutional order.
- The teacher, despite being a teacher in Trier, continually expressed her anti-democratic views, inciting service members against their duties and describing the elimination of certain groups as an opportunity in virulent language on social media.
- Through her actions and controversial statements, the teacher undermined the public's trust in her capacity to fulfill her role as a teacher and a civil servant, and her repeated violations of her constitutional duty further ruined her professional reputation.
- Following her run-ins with the Administrative Court of Trier and the OVG in Berlin, the teacher's pursuit to preserve her civil service position based on the right to free speech failed to receive any leniency from the higher administrative court.
- Regardless of the teacher's appeal entitled to free speech, the OVG found that her aggressive rhetoric and inflammatory engagements at demonstrations and online constituted an unacceptable conduct that undermined the civil service and threatened the country's democracy.
