Termination was legal, entitlement to pension remains

Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) has rightly dismissed its former legal advisor Susann Lange without notice. The termination of the employment contract on December 2, 2022 in the wake of the RBB crisis due to various breaches of duty was effective, the Berlin-Brandenburg State Labor Court ruled in the appeal proceedings on Tuesday. She is therefore not entitled to any transitional allowance. However, the right to a company pension after retirement remains. (AZ: 7 Sa 1125/23)

No immoral employment contract

The state labor court, unlike the Berlin labor court before it, did not find the employment contract to be immoral, the court emphasized. The transitional allowance agreed therein for the period between the termination of the employment relationship and retirement was not fundamentally objectionable. However, due to the effective termination without notice, the entitlement was lost.

According to the information, the employment contract between Lange and the RBB stipulated, among other things, the payment of a monthly transitional allowance. In the event that the five-year limited collaboration was not extended, it was to be paid in the amount of half the previous salary without any consideration until retirement. In the event of an effective termination without notice or a rejection of the extension by the legal advisor, it was to be waived.

The former legal director of the RBB achieved a partial success before the state labor court, as the court granted her company pension. The termination without notice itself, however, was effective, it was said. The legal director had violated her duties on several occasions, including her duty to warn and inform the then RBB director Patricia Schlesinger about legal risks in contract drafting. Therefore, a prior warning was not necessary.

However, the former director is obliged to repay the monthly allowance of 1,700 euros, which she herself had arranged, because the RBB took over the chairmanship of the ARD. This had not been agreed with the RBB’s administrative board.

The director was dismissed in the wake of the scandal surrounding former artistic director Patricia Schlesinger. Schlesinger first resigned in the summer of 2022 and was later dismissed without notice after many allegations were made against her regarding her conduct in office and the waste of membership fees.

With her lawsuit, Lange wanted to enforce the continuation of her employment contract, the continued payment of her salary, the payment of transitional allowance and, after retirement, the agreed company pension scheme.