The Federal Ministry of Labor obviously wants to continue to sanction Hartz IV recipients by more than 30 percent of the standard rate if they repeatedly violate rules. This reports the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" with reference to a draft directive, which the ministry has worked out together with the Federal Employment Agency.
Accordingly, higher cuts in the rule set should be possible by adding up various sanctions. For example, a 30 percent reduction due to a declined job offer should be added up with a 10 percent reduction due to missed reporting requirements.
According to "SZ", the Ministry of Labor said that the cited draft was not yet final. He went through an "instruction consultation process" in which the local head organizations and the federal states could comment.
The Federal Constitutional Court had decided in early November that the Hartz IV sanctions are partially unconstitutional. The judges in Karlsruhe had declared it incompatible with the Basic Law, if the reduction "after repeated breaches of duty within a year, the amount exceeds 30% of the relevant regulatory requirements." The proposed directive is intended to regulate the application of the judgment until a new law comes into force.
