12.06.2023 | Fachbeitrag
Every day, over 1.7 million volunteers in the ASB, DLRG, DRK, JUH and MHD aid organizations, fire departments and the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief make a significant contribution to ensuring civil protection and disaster relief in Germany. For this fundamentally important work, however, they do not receive a salary in the traditional sense, but are committed to their voluntary work over and above their regular job. The majority of this commitment takes place during non-working hours. However, if a real commitment falls within working hours, there are different regulations regarding time off work, compensation entitlements and social security, depending on the federal state and field of activity. But why do these differences exist? And what can be done about them?
While civil protection is in the hands of the federal government, disaster control is the responsibility of the federal states and is located at the municipal level (districts and independent cities). Due to these federal structures, there is as yet no uniform specification at federal level for all units with a voluntary structure that regulates the time and financial compensation in the event of work absences due to the voluntary deployment of personnel. Rather, these regulations vary from state to state. This compensation varies depending on the state and the field of work. This means that there are sometimes very unequal conditions for volunteers when it comes to volunteering during working hours. This inequality can become particularly clear when such missions take place across federal states or when volunteers are active in another federal state and work in another federal state.
One example of unequal conditions is the joint deployment of units from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) with helpers from aid organizations and volunteer fire departments. While THW emergency services can rely on the THW Act, which applies nationwide, the legal framework for the other units varies depending on where they are deployed and where they come from. According to the THW Act, employees may not suffer any disadvantages in their employment relationship, social and unemployment insurance or company pension scheme as a result of their obligation to serve. If employees are deployed to THW operations or training events during their working hours, they are released from work for the duration of the deployment and are generally entitled to continued remuneration from their employer. Employers, in turn, are comprehensively compensated for absences due to THW service obligations. Volunteers in fire departments and, above all, aid organizations are generally not able to rely on these far-reaching privileges. This creates unequal treatment in the volunteer community in the fulfillment of an indispensable social task.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland (BMI) and the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) are committed to regulating the issue of equal treatment of volunteers on a nationwide basis. This would make the legally differing handling of possible compensation more transparent. As the issue of equal opportunities for helpers is essential for strengthening civil protection, it was included in the coalition agreement, not least at the request of the BMI and the BBK. In the agreement, the governing parties agreed to strengthen volunteers in civil protection through uniform nationwide exemption and insurance cover rules. The aim is to achieve nationwide equality and to establish fairness in the performance of helpers in order to ensure motivation and operational capability.
The federal states have also signalled their intention to synchronize the equal treatment of helpers and thus achieve the same compensation entitlements and social security for volunteers throughout Germany. The BBK plays a mediating role here in the constructive exchange between the BMI, state governments and organizations with volunteers. Concrete proposals currently conceivable include model legislation on the part of the federal government or a state treaty. In addition, adjustments could be made to employment law, but this would only be possible as a joint initiative between the BMI and the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS). The federal states are currently preparing a report on the legal status of volunteer helpers and a proposal to harmonize existing regulations for the autumn 2023 meeting of the Standing Conference of Interior Ministers and Senators of the Federal States (Conference of Interior Ministers). It is to be expected that this report will finally set the course for further development.