Reckonability of concurrent benefits from public funds (Members of the Bundestag Act)

Last Updated on May 29, 2021 by LawEuro

Members of the Bundestag Act (Laws / Regulations of Germany)

Part Seven
Reckonability of concurrent benefits from public funds

Section 29
Reckonability of concurrent benefits from public funds

(1) If a Member of the Bundestag, in addition to the remuneration referred to in section 11 of this Act, is also entitled to receive income in respect of the tenure of public office or from employment in the public service, the remuneration payable under section 11 shall be reduced by fifty per cent; the amount of the reduction may not, however, exceed thirty per cent of the said income. The same shall apply to income from the tenure of public office or from employment in the public service with an intergovernmental or international institution. The Member’s remuneration shall be suspended in full where there is a concurrent entitlement to remuneration under the act of a Land concerning the legal status of Members of its Parliament. The payments referred to in the second and third sentences above shall not be reckonable if the legislation of the relevant Land or the rules of the relevant intergovernmental or international institution already provide for deduction in respect of the income or suspension of remuneration payable for exercising a mandate in the Land Parliament.

(2) Where there is a concurrent entitlement to Members’ remuneration under section 11(1) of the present Act, pension benefits to which a Member is entitled by virtue of the tenure of public office or employment in the public service shall be partially suspended, the suspended entitlement corresponding to eighty per cent of the said pension benefits or the amount of remuneration payable under section 11(1) and (3), whichever is the lesser. The same shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to fifty per cent of the amount of pensions within the meaning of the second sentence of section 55(1) of the Civil Service Benefits Act (Beamtenversorgungsgesetz), with the exception of pensions from a compulsory insurance scheme if payable to an exempted person who opted into the scheme on application pursuant to section 4(2) of Book Six of the Social Code; section 55(3) and (4) of the Civil Service Benefits Act shall be applied, mutatis mutandis. The transitional emoluments payable under the Federal Ministers Act (Gesetz über die Rechtsverhältnisse der Mitglieder der Bundesregierung) and the Parliamentary State Secretaries Act (Gesetz über die Rechtsverhältnisse der Parlamentarischen Staatssekretäre) which remain after the application of the other provisions on the reckonability and suspension of benefits shall be suspended from the second month after departure from office if there is a concurrent entitlement to Members’ remuneration under section 11. If entitlement to a pension as defined in the first or second sentences above is founded on the law of a Land, the suspension of the pension entitlement shall be superseded by the suspension of an amount of Members’ remuneration to be determined on the basis of the first or second sentence above. The same shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to pension entitlements deriving from the tenure of office or from employment in the public service with an intergovernmental or international institution.

(3) Where there is a concurrent entitlement to income from the tenure of public office or from employment in the public service, entitlement to pension benefits under this Act shall be partially suspended, the suspended entitlement corresponding to fifty per cent of the amount by which the pension entitlements plus the income exceed the amount of Members’ remuneration payable under section 11(1) of this Act. The same shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to income from the tenure of public office or employment in the public service with an intergovernmental or international institution.

(4) Where there is a concurrent entitlement to pension benefits arising from the tenure of public office or from employment in the public service, entitlement to pension benefits under the present Act shall be partially suspended, the suspended entitlement corresponding to fifty per cent of the amount by which the pension benefits under the present Act plus those arising from the tenure of public office or from employment in the public service exceed the amount of Members’ remuneration payable under Section 11(1) of the present Act. The same shall apply, mutatis mutandis, in the case of the receipt of a pension arising from the tenure of public office or employment in the public service with an intergovernmental or international institution. Pensions within the meaning of the second sentence of section 55(1) of the Civil Service Benefits Act (Beamtenversorgungsgesetz) shall be set off in the same way, with the exception of pensions from a compulsory insurance scheme if payable to an exempted person who opted into the scheme on application pursuant to section 4(2) of Book Six of the Social Code; the fourth and fifth sentences of section 55(1), as well as subsections (3), (4) and (8), of the Civil Service Benefits Act shall apply, mutatis mutandis.

(5) Where there is a concurrent entitlement to remuneration arising from membership of the Bundestag, of the European Parliament or of the Parliament of a Land, entitlement to pension benefits under this Act shall be partially suspended, the suspended entitlement corresponding to the amount by which this remuneration exceeds the Members’ remuneration payable under Section 11(1) of this Act.

(6) Where there is a concurrent entitlement to pension benefits arising from membership of the Bundestag or of the Parliament of a Land, entitlement to pension benefits under this Act shall be partially suspended, the suspended entitlement corresponding to the amount by which the latter benefits exceed the maximum pension benefits payable under this Act. Where there is a concurrent entitlement to pension benefits arising from membership of the European Parliament, entitlement to pension benefits under this Act shall be partially suspended, the suspended entitlement corresponding to the amount of the European Parliament pension, unless the European Parliament has already specified that the pension benefits payable under this Act are to be set off against its own pensions.

(7) Except in the case of the pensions referred to in the third sentence of subsection (4) above, only the non-contributory element of pension benefits shall be reckonable. Subsections (1) to (4) shall not apply to payments made under the Special Payments (Bundessonderzahlungsgesetz) or to equivalent benefits based on the legislation of a Land or on collective agreements. In the application of subsections (1) to (4) above, expense allowances, accident compensation, holiday pay and non-recurring payments shall be disregarded.

(8) In the assessment of the reckonability ceilings defined in subsections (3) to (6) above, due account shall be taken of the supplementary allowance referred to in section 11(2) of this Act.

(9) Employment in the public service and the intergovernmental or international institutions referred to in the present provision shall be defined in accordance with section 53(8) of the Civil Service Benefits Act and the provisions enacted in connection therewith.

(Members of the Bundestag Act)

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