The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that the sanctioning law for Hartz IV recipients can not remain as it is currently: It is indeed compatible with the Basic Law to cut the rates of assistance to encourage recipients to cooperate in the job search. But among other things, cuts of up to 100 percent, the lump sum duration of individual cuts of three months or the possible cancellation of the rent after the decision can no longer be kept.
The legislature will have to change the regulations and mitigate the harshest penalties. The debate about the reorganization of Hartz IV has just begun.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil announced that he would implement the verdict quickly. Some changes are immediately necessary, it will still be during the day talks with the Federal Employment Agency and the states, said the SPD politician after the announcement in Karlsruhe.
Salvation spoke of a very wise and very balanced judgment. "We have legal certainty, that creates social peace." At the same time, there is a clear mandate to further develop the welfare state. "And we will discuss in the coalition what that means in terms of legislative development."
Heil said he expected the ruling to have an impact on the particularly severe sanctions for young unemployed people under the age of 25. The judges had rejected the complete cancellation of benefits basically. He had always found it politically correct that the cost of accommodation will no longer be sanctioned, the existential uncertainty is disproportionate. "And that applies, I believe, for all those in need of basic security."
"A judgment that corresponds to the reality of life of those affected"
The head of the Federal Employment Agency, Detlef Scheele, welcomes the constitutional judge's decision on the Hartz IV sanctions and wants to talk quickly about the practical consequences. "First of all it is a judgment that corresponds to the reality of life of those affected," says Scheele. "I've always said that we do not need 100 percent or cuts in living and we do not want to use it."
Unions and social organizations push for the judgment on the abolition of sanctions for unemployment benefits II In a joint statement demanded the Arbeiterwohlfahrt, the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), the Diakonie Germany and the Joint Welfare Association, a repeal of the existing sanctions in the Hartz IV system and the introduction of a "decent system of support".
"The judgments of the Federal Constitutional Court are always only constitutional limits, beyond which the legislature can also go," said DGB board member Annelie Buntenbach. "Not everything that our constitution may just allow is also in the interest of jobseekers and employees."
"Cane Pedagogy Long Overcame"
Ulrich Schneider, chief executive of the Joint General Association, emphasized that sanctions caused suffering and "caused people to withdraw". They "spring from a long-overcome caning pedagogy of the past century". Therefore, they would have to be deleted "completely and without substitution".
Reinhold von Eben-Worlée, the president of the association The Family Entrepreneurs, however, sharply criticizes the verdict. It would make "the integration of long-term unemployed in the labor market much more difficult," he said. "The solidarity community can rightly expect those who receive support to make an effort themselves to escape their predicament, but the reality is that unfortunately not all those in need can be motivated to do so without this pressure." The fact that the court has capped the sanctions to 30 percent is because counterproductive.