Civil Service Law and Remuneration

Clear legal frameworks and competitive remuneration ensure that universities are able to attract and retain qualified staff – including professors, academic personnel, and administrative staff

With the entry into force of the federalism reform on September 1, 2006, the federal states in Germany have been able to independently establish regulations concerning career law, remuneration and pension law, as well as other civil service provisions outside of status law for their civil servants.

This created the need to develop a modern, state-specific civil service law that also fits into the federal framework. Coordination of state-specific regulations and, where necessary, supraregional harmonization takes place within the relevant committees of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK).

Professors are generally remunerated according to the W salary scale, which includes performance-related components (W1, W2, W3). These allowances are based on their achievements in teaching, research, and academic self-administration. In some cases, target agreements are concluded, forming the basis for performance-related remuneration. Academic staff and non-civil servant personnel are often paid according to the collective agreement for the public service of the federal states.

Adjustments in the area of professors’ remuneration were made in light of the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on February 14, 2012 (Case No. 2 BvL 4/10). The Standing Conference (KMK) saw no reason to abandon the existing remuneration system with fixed basic salaries and variable performance-related components. To meet the requirement for an ‘adequate level of remuneration,’ it advocated an increase in professors’ basic salaries.

Against this background, most federal states raised the basic salary, fully or partially offsetting existing performance-related components (consumption). Other states introduced a minimum or basic performance allowance. In the majority of states, judicial review of the consumption rules confirmed their compatibility with constitutional law - also considering the legislature’s broad scope for discretion.