Scandal in Ringgau: Employees accumulate 3,500 hours of overtime!

Scandal in Ringgau: Employees accumulate 3,500 hours of overtime!

A current discussion about overtime in the municipality of Ringgau is causing a stir and raising questions about personnel organization. A senior local government employee has amassed a staggering 3,500 hours of overtime over the last five and a half years, which is equivalent to around a year and a half of additional work. This overtime was not only worked on weekdays, but also on weekends and holidays, and now the employee is being retroactively compensated with a six-figure amount for her additional hours. Mayor Mario Hartmann confirmed that all personnel costs will be covered by the 2025 budget.

How did this high number of overtime hours come about? In any case, the community board was not informed about the extent, and the surprising details only became known when asked by community representative Mirco Lorbach at a meeting on May 22, 2025. The employee was hired in the fall of 2019 to manage the municipality's financial affairs, which were characterized by the lack of annual financial statements since 2010 and accounting problems. This urgency also led to a lawsuit against the ex-mayor Fissmann and his treasurer, which is currently pending at the Kassel Administrative Court.

Legal basis and remuneration

According to the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Public Service (TVöD), overtime is work hours that are worked on the employer's orders beyond regular working hours and may not be compensated for by the end of the following calendar week. The collective agreement stipulates that overtime must be paid or compensated with time off, with it expiring after three years. These regulations shed light on the practical challenges faced by local government.

Remuneration for overtime is based on the TVöD pay groups, with specific surcharges for different working hours. For example, employees in pay groups 1 to 9b receive a surcharge of 30% on overtime pay, while overtime in groups 9c to 15 receives a surcharge of 15%. There are also surcharges for night and Sunday work as well as for work on public holidays, with the highest surcharges for work on public holidays without compensatory time off.

A look at the future

In the midst of these developments, the employee announced her employment after the direct mayoral election in February 2025, in which Hartmann was not re-elected. From July 1, 2025, she will take up a new position in the neighboring community of Weißenborn, but will remain working for the community of Ringgau on a mini-job basis until the end of August 2025. Mayor Hartmann explained that he had not given any order for overtime and that the figures mentioned did not correspond to reality. He cites privacy reasons to support his position.

The situation has the potential to question the municipality's human resources policy and could serve as a warning example to other municipalities about the importance of keeping an open eye on employees' working hours and establishing transparent communication structures. Because, as is clearly shown here, proper documentation and planning are the be-all and end-all in order to avoid such grievances.

HNA reports, that the municipality will also have to find other ways to bring the accounting into shape after Rainer Janisch was hired in 2024 to analyze the financial situation. To date, 14 annual accounts have been completed, indicating progress is being made but there is still much work to be done. Actions and structural changes are crucial to avoid such problems in the future.

For more information about the legal requirements for overtime in the public sector, see the article Municipal forum and the details in Public service be read.