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Driving school car (symbol image)
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images/Future Image
Actually, he should be sitting at his workplace, instead he taught in a driving school car: because a state official worked as a driving instructor during his working hours, the Trier Administrative Court removed the man from the service.
The court reports that he carried out the part-time job for almost three years while he was on duty and sometimes also on sick leave.
The verdict was therefore already in February.
The official had a basic permit to work as a driving instructor for a maximum of eight hours a week.
However, in 2020, irregularities were found in the bookings he made in a time tracking system.
The suspicion grew that the man had manipulated his working hours by making numerous false entries in the system and that he had been doing his part-time job during this time - "usually several times a month," as the court determined.
As a result, disciplinary proceedings were initiated.
The investigations revealed that the officer had regularly worked as a driving instructor during fake working hours and sometimes also during absences due to illness.
"Particularly serious misconduct"
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate therefore brought a disciplinary action before the administrative court in Trier.
According to the information, the official essentially admitted the allegations made.
The judges therefore upheld the lawsuit and removed the officer from the service.
They justified this with the fact that the exercise of a sideline activity during the period of service “cannot be approved and is therefore always inadmissible”.
The defendant had "repeatedly and persistently" violated, among other things, his civil service obligation to full personal commitment.
In doing so, he committed “a particularly serious disciplinary offense”.
In doing so, he revealed "a personality structure that no longer allows us to expect residual trust in his person and a future dutiful official performance".
him/AFP
