Trade association

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Logo of the trade associations

The commercial employers' liability insurance associations are responsible for statutory accident insurance for companies in the German private sector and their employees. There is also the Agricultural Employer's Liability Insurance Association as part of the SVLFG .

Employer's liability insurance associations have the task of preventing occupational accidents and diseases as well as work-related health hazards. Employees who have had an accident at work or who suffer from an occupational disease are medically, professionally and socially rehabilitated by the employers' liability insurance association. In addition, it is incumbent upon the employers' liability insurance association to financially compensate for the consequences of accidents and illness through cash payments. In 2005 around 46.2 million people were insured with the commercial and agricultural trade associations.

The professional associations are social insurance carriers . They are organized as corporations under public law with self-administration and are financed mainly from contributions from the companies assigned to them through compulsory membership (the agricultural trade association (SVLFG) receives federal subsidies from tax revenues). In 2005 around 3.2 million companies were members of a trade association.

There are currently nine commercial and, up to December 31, 2012, nine agricultural professional associations, which have been incorporated into the SVLFG since January 1, 2013. The commercial trade associations are structured according to economic sectors , the offices of the agricultural trade association according to regions.

tasks

The employers' liability insurance association and the accident insurance institutions (UVT) of the public sector have the legal mandate to prevent work and school accidents as well as occupational diseases and work-related health hazards § 14 SGB ​​VII . After an insured event occurs, they compensate the insured or their surviving dependents. Both service components follow the principle of using all suitable means. The UVT fulfill this prevention mandate according to § 17 SGB ​​VII in particular by advising and monitoring companies on issues of occupational health and safety. The accident insurance institutions (UV-carriers) issue accident prevention regulations (UVV), compliance with which is checked by the supervisory services of the UV-carriers. Below this level of regulation, the UV carriers have also drawn up a comprehensive set of rules (rules, information and principles) to support entrepreneurs and insured persons in fulfilling their obligations in the area of ​​safety and health. The departments and subject areas of the DGUV develop the rules and regulations.

Supervision and advice are provided by supervisors (previously: technical supervisory officers) who have sovereign powers. The measures ordered by the supervisors, e.g. B. the shutdown of a machine operated in breach of safety, can be enforced by means of coercion if necessary ( § 18 , § 19 SGB ​​VII).

In addition, the employers' liability insurance associations train operational actors for safety and health at work in accordance with Section 23 SGB ​​VII, i.e. in particular managers , safety officers and occupational safety specialists . For this purpose, the employers' liability insurance associations operate their own educational institutions.

Entrance area of ​​the "Bergmannsheil"
BGU Frankfurt am Main

If an accident at work / commuting occurs or if an insured person falls ill with an occupational disease, the employers' liability insurance association must eliminate or at least improve the damage to health according to Section 26 (1) No. 1 SGB VII, prevent it from worsening and mitigate its consequences, according to the wording of the law "by all appropriate means". There are no co-payments or deductibles as they are known from statutory health insurance. The employers' liability insurance association works closely with resident doctors and hospitals. The injured and sick are often treated in special rehabilitation facilities , for example in the Bergmannsheil University Clinic . There are then no claims to benefits from health or long-term care insurance.

In addition to this medical rehabilitation , the professional and social rehabilitation have equal rights : According to Section 26 (1) No. 2 SGB VII and Section 26 (1) No. 3 SGB VII, the insured person must secure a place in working life that corresponds to his inclinations and abilities and provide help to cope with the demands of daily life and to participate in life in the community as well as to lead a life that is as independent as possible. If the insured person is in need of care as a result of the accident or the occupational disease, the professional association provides the same benefits as the long-term care insurance in accordance with Section 26 (1) No. 5 SGB VII .

During the phase of inability to work due to an accident or illness, the employers' liability insurance associations support the insured financially by paying them injury benefits after any claim to continued remuneration has expired ( Section 45 SGB ​​VII). Are insured damaged due to the accident or occupational disease permanently and significantly in their health, they receive from the trade association a measured according to the degree of disability income generated on the basis of the foregoing the insured event year from the insured activity calculated pension ( § 56 SGB VII) . The principle of “rehabilitation before retirement” applies ( Section 26 (3) SGB VII). The professional association may only pay a pension if further medical treatment does not promise success.

If an insured person dies as a result of an accident or an occupational disease, the employers' liability insurance association will pay pensions , death grants and, if applicable , transportation costs to his or her surviving dependents ( Section 64 , Section 65 , Section 67 of Book VII of the Social Code).

organization

legal form

The professional associations are institutions of the statutory accident insurance and thus social insurance carriers . Their organization - the law speaks of a “constitution” - is given in its essential elements by the fourth book of the social code and the seventh book of the social code. Despite the term “ cooperative ”, professional associations have their own legal form.

According to Section 29 SGB ​​IV, the employers' liability insurance associations are organized as public corporations with self-administration . As such, they are organized as members. Members are the companies of the respective branch of industry.

organs

The employers' liability insurance association has three organs . Two of these organs, the representative assembly and the board , are self-governing organs according to § 31 SGB ​​IV.

The Assembly of Representatives is responsible for legislation: it draws up the statutes , the accident prevention regulations , the service regulations , the hazard tariff and the budget . In terms of its function, it is comparable to a parliament. The meeting of representatives is made up of equal numbers of company representatives (employer representatives) and representatives of the insured employees (employee representatives). Employer and employee representatives perform their duties in the meeting of representatives on an honorary basis . They are usually representatives of employers' associations and trade unions . Real social elections , as stipulated by the law in Section 46 of Book IV of the Social Code for the representative assembly, practically do not take place at the professional associations. Instead, the members of the representative assemblies are determined by so-called peace elections: employers and insured parties submit lists of election proposals. The persons named there are considered elected.

The representative assembly elects the board. The board of directors is the top management - the "government" - of the employers' liability insurance association. According to Section 35 SGB ​​IV , it issues guidelines for the conduct of administrative business and represents the trade association externally. Like the meeting of representatives, it is also made up of equal numbers of employer and employee representatives.

Outside agency, any professional association is to § 36 a full-time active SGB IV Managing Director , at the professional trade association chief executive called. He manages the current administrative business under the supervision and according to the instructions of the Board of Directors. The entire administrative apparatus is directly subordinate to him. At some professional associations, the current administrative business is carried out by a three-person management team with a chairman elected from among their number (see Section 118 of Book VII of the Social Code).

Employees

The commercial trade associations employ around 19,000 people, of which around 2,200 are field supervisors (as of 2005).

For the employees of the employers' liability insurance association, a separate collective agreement applies with the employers liability insurance association employee collective agreement (BG-AT) . The BG-AT is based on the collective agreement for the public service . In addition to the collective bargaining employees, more than 7,000 so-called service order employees work for the trade associations . These are employees with a civil servant-like status .

At sight

The professional associations are subject to state supervision. The supervisory authorities - the Federal Social Security Office and the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs - ensure that the employers' liability insurance associations comply with the law, properly fulfill their statutory tasks and do not exceed their competencies.

In the area of ​​accident prevention, the supervisory law according to Section 87 (2) SGB IV is designed as technical supervision , i. In other words, the Federal Ministry not only checks whether the accident prevention measures of the employers' liability insurance association are lawful, but also whether they are appropriate. The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs therefore has ultimate responsibility for all preventive measures taken by the employers' liability insurance association.

financing

principle

The employers' liability insurance associations finance themselves - with the exception of the agricultural employers liability insurance association; see below - exclusively from the contributions of the entrepreneurs. The insured do not pay any contribution. This is an essential difference to the other four branches of German social insurance, in which the contributions are collected from employers and employees. A change in the BG contribution has no effect on the employees ' net wages, but it does have an impact on the employers' non-wage costs .

In return, the entrepreneurs are basically from any responsibility towards their workers exempted . In the event of accidents at work or work-related illnesses, the insured persons affected have no claims for damages against the entrepreneurs. You have to contact the professional association.

This principle has existed since the first Accident Insurance Act came into force in 1885. It is characteristic of statutory accident insurance in Germany.

Collection and calculation of contributions

The employers' liability insurance association levy the contributions in a pay-as-you-go system for the subsequent coverage of needs. The entrepreneurs are called upon at the beginning of each year for the costs incurred in the previous year. However, it is customary for the employers' liability insurance association to raise contribution advances for bridging financing.

The amount of the contributions depends, among other things, on the average risk of accidents in the respective industry in which an entrepreneur is mainly active. For this purpose, the employers' liability insurance associations set hazard tariffs in which the individual branches of industry are assigned to so-called hazard classes . The hazard classes reflect the insurance risk that exists in the respective branch of industry. For example, the hazard class for roofers is higher than that for office workers.

Another factor in calculating the contribution is the so-called total wages, that is, the sum of the wages paid by the employer to his employees. Sectors with low wages also pay lower BG contributions, while wage-intensive branches of industry have to pay higher contributions.

Some employers' liability insurance associations also levy premium surcharges or grant discounts, depending on the development of the damage. These measures are intended to encourage entrepreneurs to improve work safety in their company.

Special trade associations

Agricultural trade association

Logo of the SVLFG
Headquarters in Kassel

The agricultural trade associations differ in their organization, their responsibilities and the type of contribution calculation from the commercial trade associations:

Organizationally and personally, they were connected to the three other social insurance agencies responsible for agriculture until December 31, 2012. Agricultural professional associations, old-age insurance funds , health insurance funds and long-term care insurance funds together formed the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (LSV) . The four LSV carriers were legally independent corporations, but according to Section 32 (1) SGB IV they had common organs and were thus under a uniform management. According to Section 44 (1) No. 2 SGB IV, the self -governing bodies - the board of directors and the representatives' assembly - each consisted of one third representatives of the insured employees, the self-employed without external workers and the agricultural entrepreneurs.

A ministerial draft had been available since September 28, 2011 and the government draft of a law on the reorganization of the organization of agricultural social insurance (LSV-NOG) , which provided for the formation of a federal corporation under public law, in which the individual Carriers - thus also the agricultural professional associations - as well as the umbrella association were incorporated from January 1, 2013. This was implemented with the dissolution of the previous bodies and the umbrella association and the associated integration in a transition period until December 31, 2017. The new social insurance agency bears the name Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG).

Since 1 January 2013, the carrier of the Agricultural Social Insurance are including their central association thus operation of law in the nationwide competent composite beams have been merged (SVLFG) and the tasks take all previous regional support by the head office in Kassel , by the previous carrier as offices and on other locations true.

According to Section 123 (1) SGB VII, the objective responsibility of the agricultural trade association extends not only to "classic" agriculture , but also to forestry , fish farming and inland fishing companies as well as cattle keepers and beekeepers . In addition, the agricultural BG is responsible for agricultural and forestry contractors and hunts .

From 2013 onwards, the agricultural trade association will also be responsible for certain regions. This distinguishes them from the commercial professional associations, which are responsible for the entire federal territory. This is due to the regionally different character of agriculture ("from the Alm to the Hallig"). The decentralized responsibility enables the BG to provide preventive as well as support services in accordance with local requirements.

In contrast to commercial accident insurance, according to Section 2 (1) No. 5 SGB VII, not only the employees are insured in the agricultural sector, but also the entrepreneurs themselves, i.e. the farmers , as well as their spouses and family members, insofar as they work in the company. This means that the agricultural trade association is responsible for all people working in agriculture - around 3.7 million people in total.

The contribution to the agricultural trade association is calculated from different factors depending on the type of company. In the case of agricultural and forestry use, the size of the areas used, the type of plants grown there and the risk of accidents are important. For example, the contribution for an asparagus field is higher than for a rapeseed field of the same size. In animal breeding companies, the number and type of animals are decisive. The contribution for a cow is higher than the contribution for a chicken. Details on the calculation of contributions can be found in § 182 , § 183 SGB ​​VII and the SVLFG statutes.

The agricultural trade association spends around € 865 million annually on prevention, rehabilitation and compensation services as well as on administrative costs. The federal government supports them with subsidies amounting to € 200 million.

Horticultural trade association

Administration building in Kassel

The horticultural trade association was the only agricultural trade association active nationwide. She was responsible for companies in the market gardening and horticulture , the garden, landscape and sports field construction , the park and garden care and cemeteries . Together with the old-age, health and nursing care fund as well as the non-profit liability insurance institution, it formed the social insurance for horticulture . It was also affected by the aforementioned LSV-NOG and has been incorporated into the SVLFG since January 1, 2013.

See-Berufsgenossenschaft

The See-Berufsgenossenschaft, which existed from 1887 to 2010, was traditionally counted among the commercial professional associations. A special feature existed insofar as the See-BG worked closely with the Seekasse . These institutions formed a separate branch of social insurance, the maritime social insurance . The seafarers' social security system was thus similar to that of the farmers.

In addition, the See-BG had been assigned certain tasks over the years that were not directly related to accident insurance: The See-Berufsgenossenschaft was also responsible for ship safety , marine environmental protection and port state control.

On January 1, 2010, the See-Berufsgenossenschaft merged with the professional association for vehicle maintenance to form the professional association for transport and traffic management .

history

On November 17, 1881, Kaiser Wilhelm I urged the introduction of social insurance in the Imperial Embassy addressed to the German Reichstag and edited by Bismarck , in particular insurance for workers against "industrial accidents". The social insurance was supposed to solve the so-called social question and thus secure the inner peace which the emperor saw endangered by the social democratic movement .

The "healing of the social damage", so Wilhelm I., is to be sought not only through the "path of repression of social democratic excesses, but equally through the [path] of positive promotion of the welfare of the workers". To this end, the “real forces” of “Christian popular life” should be summarized in the form of “cooperative cooperatives under state protection and state support”.

According to Otto von Bismarck's intention, the cooperative cooperatives should not only serve the welfare of the workers, but also become the basis for future popular representation. This representation of the people should stand next to the Reichstag or even replace it and thus become a decisive factor in the legislative process - at most through a coup d'état .

Accident Insurance Act , in the Reich Law Gazette of July 9, 1884

It took three years before Chancellor Bismarck was able to implement the Kaiser's ideas. With the Accident Insurance Act of July 6, 1884, the legal prerequisites for “corporate cooperatives” were created. These cooperatives were intended as self-governing associations of entrepreneurs, the so-called professional cooperatives, and were therefore referred to in the law as professional cooperatives (in an earlier draft law there was still talk of “company cooperatives”). The employers' liability insurance associations were and remained exclusively accident insurance carriers. Bismarck's more far-reaching plans for a class organization as a counterweight to the Reichstag were not implemented.

The Accident Insurance Act came into force on October 1, 1885 after a transition period of almost one and a half years. The first fifty-seven employers' liability insurance associations began their work on the same day. The establishment of these professional associations had previously been confirmed by a resolution of the Federal Council of May 21, 1885. As early as 1886, the employers' liability insurance association issued accident prevention regulations (today: employers liability insurance association regulations ).

A short time later, accident insurance was expanded to include other types of business: two laws, the law on accident and health insurance for people employed in agriculture and forestry, of May 5, 1886, and the law on accident insurance for those employed in buildings Persons from July 11, 1887 led to the establishment of agricultural trade associations and of trade associations for the building trade.

In 1887, there were already sixty-two professional associations and 366 sections (regional administrative offices) with 319,453 companies and 3,861,560 insured persons. The largest trade association was the Knappschafts-BG with 1,658 member companies and 343,707 insured persons, the second largest was the brickwork trade association, with which 174,995 people were insured. The trade association for chimney sweepers of the German Reich was the smallest trade association with 5,452 insured persons.

In 1929, the sixty-ninth commercial trade association was established with the professional association for health and welfare services (BGW). With the establishment of BGW, the employers' liability insurance association reached a high point in terms of both numbers and diversity. Never before had there been so many different professional associations. ( See also: List of commercial professional associations .)

In the 1930s, a number of regional employers' liability insurance associations merged to form larger accident insurance institutions that operate throughout Germany, including the employers liability insurance associations for inland shipping and textiles.

The Second World War and the subsequent division of Germany marked a turning point in the work of the employers' liability insurance associations: the Soviets dissolved all employers liability insurance associations in the areas they occupied. Some of them, including the trade association for the retail trade, were then re-established in the western part of Germany. Others, such as the Northeastern Iron and Steel Employer's Liability Insurance Association, which only operates regionally, disappeared without replacement. The work of the employers' liability insurance association was limited to the area of ​​western Germany until reunification in 1990.

In the 1950s, the West German legislature organized the autonomy of the trade associations new: The Cooperative Assembly, which until then only consisted of entrepreneurs, was ever occupied half with representatives of employers and workers representative assembly replaced. The parity principle also applied to the board of directors.

Logo of the trade associations in 1962

In the following forty years the legislature gradually expanded the area of ​​responsibility of the professional associations. Irrespective of this, however, the employers' liability insurance associations themselves also tried to perfect their system of accident prevention and to encourage companies to achieve more work safety through a large number of new, ever more detailed accident prevention regulations.

In addition, the professional associations were also entrusted with non-insurance tasks, such as paying out the child benefit introduced in 1954 . For this purpose, so-called family compensation funds were founded and settled with the employers' liability insurance associations. This was consistent insofar as the contributions for child benefit were borne by the employers at that time (and not by the state as it is today) and the employers' liability insurance association levied contributions for accident insurance from the companies anyway. In 1964 this task was transferred to the Federal Agency for Employment and Unemployment Insurance (today: Federal Employment Agency ).

The reunification in 1990 brought changes for the employers' liability insurance association: The employers liability insurance association, which has only been active in West Germany since the Second World War, extended its competence to the territory of the former German Democratic Republic. However, this transfer of the GDR accident insurance to the structured system of the West German social insurance carriers led to considerable financial burdens. The unexpectedly high costs were reflected in a sharp increase in BG contributions. The employers' liability insurance associations have therefore been under criticism since the mid-1990s at the latest. They are accused of having created a bureaucratic, sometimes inefficient and no longer affordable accident insurance system at the expense of the company.

While some of the critics are calling for the employers' liability insurance association to be abolished without replacement, others are content with encouraging the associations to reduce their personnel and administrative costs. The cost reduction should take place in particular through mergers of smaller professional associations, whereby one promises synergy effects .

Reform of the employers' liability insurance association

Accident Insurance Modernization Act

On June 26, 2008, the German Bundestag passed the law to modernize statutory accident insurance (UVMG). It was announced in the Federal Law Gazette on November 4, 2008 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2130 ) and - with a few exceptions - came into force on November 5, 2008. Section 222 (1), which was inserted into Book VII of the Social Code by the UVMG, stipulates that the number of commercial trade associations should be reduced from twenty-three to nine by December 31, 2009.

Mergers

The statutory reduction to nine employers' liability insurance associations was not achieved as of December 31, 2009. Only the following professional associations had come together by then:

  • Trade Association of the Construction Industry (BG BAU): On May 1, 2005, the seven regional construction trade associations and the nationwide civil engineering trade association merged to form a uniform trade association for the construction industry.
  • BG Handel und Warenlogistik (BGHW): The trade association for trade and goods logistics was created on January 1, 2008 through the merger of the trade association for retailers (BGE) and the wholesale and storage trade association (GroLa BG).
  • BG Energie Textil Elektro Medienprodukte (BG ETEM): The BG ETEM, which was created on January 1, 2010, is the result of three mergers: On January 1, 2008, the BG Feinmechanik und Elektrotechnik (BG FE) and the Textile and Clothing BG were merged BG Elektro Textil Feinmechanik (BG ETF); This merged on April 1, 2009 with the BG for gas, district heating and water management to form BG Energie Textil Elektro (BG ETE), which in turn merged on January 1, 2010 with BG Printing and Paper Processing.
  • Administrative BG (VBG): The merger of the Verwaltungsberufsgenossenschaft (VBG) and the professional association for the ceramic and glass industry (BGGK) on January 1, 2009 was joined by the professional association for trams, underground trains and railways (BG Bahnen). This merged on January 1, 2010 with the VBG and the BGGK.
  • New BG Raw Materials and Chemical Industry (BG RCI): The professional associations for mining, chemistry, leather industry, paper makers, quarries and sugar have signed their merger agreement. The new trade association for raw materials and chemical industry (BG RCI) has been performing its duties since January 1st, 2010.
  • New trade association for transport and traffic management (BG Verkehr): The two trade associations See BG and BG for vehicle maintenance signed their merger agreement on September 29, 2009. The new trade association for transport and traffic management (BG Verkehr) started its work on January 1st, 2010.

Due to the slow progress in the unification process, the legislature had legally stipulated further mergers as of January 1, 2011 in August 2010 and obliged the following professional associations to unite to form a professional association by January 1, 2011 at the latest and to the Federal Insurance Office by October 1, 2010 at the latest to submit a statute, a proposal for the appointment of the members of the bodies and an agreement on the legal relationship with third parties as well as an agreement on the risk tariff and contribution structure:

  • Professional Association for Food and Restaurants, butchers' liability insurance association.
  • Professional association Metall Nord Süd, the mechanical engineering and metal professional association, the metallurgical and rolling mill professional association, wood professional association.

The self-administrations of the affected professional associations anticipated the threatened forced merger:

  • New professional association for food and hospitality: The meeting of representatives of the professional association for food and restaurants and the butchers' liability insurance association decided in June 2010 to merge to form the professional association for food and hospitality on January 1st, 2011.
  • New professional association for wood and metal: The meeting of representatives of the metallurgical and rolling mill trade association, mechanical engineering and metal trade association, trade association for metal north south and the wood trade association decided in their September meetings to merge these four bodies to form the trade association for wood and metal. The new trade association will look after more than 4 million employees in around 200,000 companies.

As of January 1, 2011, there are nine trade associations:

  • Trade Association of the Construction Industry (BG BAU)
  • Trade Association for Trade and Goods Logistics (BGHW):
  • Employer's Liability Insurance Association for Energy, Textile, and Electrical Media Products (BG ETEM)
  • Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft - professional association for banks, insurance companies, administrations, liberal professions, special companies, companies in the ceramic and glass industry as well as companies in the trams, underground trains and railways (VBG)
  • Trade Association Raw Materials and Chemical Industry (BG RCI)
  • Trade Association for Transport and Traffic Management (BG Verkehr)
  • Professional Association for Food and Hospitality (BGN)
  • Trade Association for Wood and Metal (BGHM)
  • Professional Association for Health Services and Welfare Care (BGW)

European Court of Justice: monopoly compatible with EU law

The right of jurisdiction of the commercial trade associations is compatible with European Community law. This was decided by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on March 5, 2009 in the Kattner Stahlbau GmbH (C-350/07) case against the mechanical engineering trade association. With the judgment, the campaign by some entrepreneurs against the monopoly of the statutory accident insurance, which had occupied the social courts throughout Germany for around seven years, also failed under European law. A total of around 100 entrepreneurs had sued against compulsory membership in the professional associations. They justified the complaints with the fact that the monopoly constitutes a violation of the freedom to provide services and European competition law. The State Social Court of Saxony finally submitted the question to the ECJ for assessment after all other courts, including the Federal Social Court, had already dismissed pending claims in previous proceedings without submitting them to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling . The judges in Luxembourg ruled that the statutory accident insurance providers are not companies within the meaning of European law. The compulsory membership of the employers' liability insurance association therefore does not violate the legal norms of the internal market and the competition regulations. However, the ECJ has given the LSG judges to examine whether the statutory accident insurance does not go beyond the aim of solidarity-based financing of social security and whether it only fulfills social security tasks.

criticism

The employers' liability insurance associations are occasionally criticized by business circles as well as by the insured. While the entrepreneurs 'criticism is primarily directed against the monopoly of the employers' liability insurance association and the contributions that are perceived as being too high, some of the insured people criticize the behavior of the employers liability insurance association in the event of an insurance claim. It should be noted, however, that the employers' liability insurance association, as statutory accident insurance, is not allowed to make a profit. In a pay-as-you-go system, the contributions are essentially based on the accident costs incurred in the past financial year, which would otherwise have to be borne individually by each company. This means that your administrative costs are lower than with private accident insurance.

Criticism of the social benefits applied for and granted comes from the insured. Surveys that are not representative indicate that the majority of insured persons are satisfied with the work of the employers' liability insurance association - for example, a survey by BG Metall Süd showed that the insured persons generally rate the service and performance of the employers liability insurance association positively - but it was also determined that satisfaction drops significantly if the employers' liability insurance association does not grant the requested benefits. This applies in particular if the BG does not recognize an illness as an occupational illness or if the insured person considers the reduced earning capacity and thus the pension amount to be too low. In these cases, the employers' liability insurance associations are sometimes accused of an allegedly illegal refusal or reduction of pension benefits. The employers' liability insurance association counter this accusation that a good 90% of their pension notices would be confirmed as legal by the social courts. In addition, a large part of the pension notices is checked by a pension committee, which consists of representatives from employers and employees.

The criticism of the compensation practice of the employers' liability insurance association is not new. As early as 1888, the Deutsche Metall-Arbeiter-Zeitung described the cooperatives as "capitalist guilds". They would do everything “to take that little bit of accident insurance from the proletarians or to shorten it or withhold it for as long as possible”.

In all discussions about statutory accident insurance, it must be taken into account that this system will replace corporate liability in Germany. That means: no entrepreneur has to fear claims for damages from sick or injured employees. This is not the case in many private systems, such as Denmark or the USA. Although the entrepreneur pays premiums to the insurance company and the occupational disease fund, an injured employee can be sued in court for damages. If it is possible to prove negligence on the part of the employer in the process, it can quickly become expensive for him and in severe cases, for example in the case of many occupational illnesses (such as asbestos diseases), the company can even go bankrupt.

Another problem with a possible privatization is the exclusion of insurance risks. In the UK it has happened that employers have not found an accident insurer. Anyone who does not have insurance coverage there can be fined up to £ 2,500 (approx. € 2,900) per day.

Other accident insurance carriers

For the public service sector , personal accident insurance institutions (of the federal states and municipalities, mostly in the form of municipal accident insurance associations , state accident funds or fire department accident funds ) take on the tasks of the employers' liability insurance association. Volunteers and students are also insured there.

Accident insurance for all federal authorities is the Federal and Railway Accident Insurance . It is primarily responsible for federal employees, but also for special groups of people (e.g. voluntary helpers at the DRK and THW , development workers ) and in the area of ​​occupational safety also for federal officials and for Deutsche Bahn .

Persons who were in contact with the professional associations

  • The entrepreneur Julius Römheld (1823–1904) was a co-founder of the South German Iron and Steel Professional Association, a predecessor of the Wood and Metal Professional Association .
  • The lawyer and politician Gustav Adolf Vodel (1831–1908) held managerial positions for the Knappschafts Berufsgenossenschaft, the professional association for gas and waterworks, the Saxon textile trade association and the Saxon wood trade association.
  • Gustav Brauer (1830–1917), a member of the Reichstag, was a board member of the North German Textile Trade Association.
  • The national liberal politician Theodor Schröder (1860–1951) worked for the Hessen-Nassau agricultural trade association for more than forty years.
  • The Reichstag representative Jacob Astor (1867-1938) was from 1912 to 1934 chairman of the trade association for the retail trade.
  • The writer Franz Kafka was employed in the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia (AUVA) in Prague from 1908 to 1922 .
  • The SPD member of the Bundestag Ernst Schellenberg (1907-1984) completed his apprenticeship with a trade association.

literature

  • Wolfgang Ayaß : Regulated self-regulation in the professional associations of the statutory accident insurance. In: Peter Collin u. a. (Ed.): Regulated self-regulation in the early intervention and welfare state. Frankfurt am Main 2012, pp. 123-143.
  • Heinrich Dörner, Dirk Ehlers , Petra Pohlmann, Heinz-Dietrich Steinmeyer, Martin Schulze Schwienhorst (eds.): 12th Münster Social Law Conference. Reforms in the statutory accident insurance. December 8th in Neumünster (=  Münsteraner series. Vol. 106). Verlag Versicherungswirtschaft, Karlsruhe 2007, ISBN 978-3-89952-349-2 .
  • Volker Eckhoff: Incentive systems for structuring contributions in statutory accident insurance (= social law and social policy in Europe. Vol. 15). Lit, Münster et al. 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10582-0 (also: Kiel, University, dissertation, 2009).
  • Jürgen Fenn: Constitutional issues of contribution structure in commercial accident insurance. Hazardous tariff and GDR contaminated sites as a problem of equality (= Frankfurt treatises on social law. Vol. 9). Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2006, ISBN 3-631-54536-3 (also: Frankfurt am Main, University, dissertation, 2005).
  • Main association of commercial trade associations u. a. (Ed.): 100 years of statutory accident insurance. 1885-1985. Universum Verlags-Anstalt, Wiesbaden 1985.
  • David Heldmann: The contributions to the statutory accident insurance. Solidarity and equivalence in the financing system of the commercial professional associations (= Nomos Universitätsschriften. Law. Vol. 492). Nomos-Verlags-Gesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2006, ISBN 3-8329-2184-2 (also: Münster, Universität, Dissertation, 2006).
  • Lüder Gerken , Guido Raddatz, Richard Giesen , Volker Rieble , Dominik Jochums: Professional associations and competition (= Frankfurt Institute - Market Economy Foundation. Small reference library. Vol. 35). Market Economy Foundation, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-8901-5094-2 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Berufsgenossenschaft  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal government report on the status of safety and health at work and on accident and occupational diseases in the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. ZDB -ID 2073260-0 , p. 160.
  2. ↑ Main association of commercial professional associations: business and accounting results of the commercial professional associations. 2004, ISSN  1862-5541 , p. 8.
  3. ↑ Employer's liability insurance association / Accident Insurance Fund of the German Statutory Accident Insurance, accessed on August 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ ZEIT Online of April 29, 2005: A “farce” for 46 million eligible voters?
  5. ↑ Report of the Federal Government on the state of safety and health at work and on the accident and occupational diseases in the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. p. 212.
  6. ↑ Main association of commercial professional associations: business and accounting results of the commercial professional associations. 2004, pp. 60-61.
  7. ↑ Otfried Seewald : Is there still self-administration in accident insurance? In: The social justice. 54th vol., No. 10, 2006, ISSN  0943-1462 , pp. 569-580, Smartlink .
  8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iva.de
  9. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from November 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ http://www.bmas.de/DE/Themen/Soziale-Sicherung/Mektiven/gesetzentwurf-landwirtschaftliche-sozialversicherung.html
  11. ^ Federal government report on the state of safety and health at work and on accident and occupational diseases in the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. S. 160, online .
  12. ↑ Press release of the Federal Association of Agricultural Employers' Liability Insurance Associations from January 23, 2007. Download as PDF file
  13. ^ "Very Highest Message" from Kaiser Wilhelm I to the German Reichstag on November 17, 1881.
  14. ^ Letter from the Secret Upper Government Councilor Theodor Lohmann dated October 5, 1883, printed in: Collection of sources for the history of German social policy. 1867 to 1914, Department II: From the Imperial Social Message to the February decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890). Volume 2, Part 1: From the second accident insurance submission to the Accident Insurance Act of July 6, 1884, edited by Florian Tennstedt et al., Wiesbaden et al. 1995, ISBN 3-437-50389-8 , pp. 380–383.
  15. ↑ See collection of sources on the history of German social policy. 1867 to 1914. Section II: From the Imperial Social Message to the February decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890), Volume 2, Part 2: The extension legislation and the practice of accident insurance, edited by Wolfgang Ayaß , Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2001 , ISBN 3-534-13439-7 ; see. Collection of sources on the history of German social policy. 1867 to 1914. III. Department: Development and differentiation of social policy since the beginning of the new course (1890–1904). 2. Volume 2: The revision of the accident insurance laws and the practice of accident insurance, edited by Wolfgang Ayaß, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2009, ISBN 978-3-534-13450-2 .
  16. ^ A b c Professional Association for Health Services and Welfare Care (Ed.): For a healthy professional life. Employers' liability insurance association for health and welfare services for 75 years. Professional association for health services and welfare, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-00-013443-3 .
  17. ↑ accident insurance . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 15, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 994.
  18. ↑ Main Association of Commercial Employers' Liability Insurance Associations: Working sustainably. The accident insurance of the future (= HVBG yearbook. 2004/2005, ZDB -ID 2195636-4 ). HVBG, Sankt Augustin 2005, digital version (PDF; 1.25 MB) .
  19. ↑ Law on self-administration and on changes to regulations in the field of social insurance of February 22, 1951, Federal Law Gazette I p. 124.
  20. ^ Information from the DGUV on the UVMG ( Memento from December 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ↑ Press release December 17, 2008 Statutory accident insurance: This will change in the coming year: notification procedures, insolvency payments, balancing of contaminated sites and voluntary insurance affected by accident insurance reform ( Memento of December 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ More efficiency through the merger from 2005. Trade Association of the Construction Industry, August 19, 2004, archived from the original on December 11, 2007 ; Retrieved January 5, 2009 .
  23. ↑ Joint press release of December 31, 2007 ( Memento of January 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  24. ↑ Together for more security: The new BG Energie Textil Elektro Medienprodukte ( Memento from January 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ): BG ETEM website
  25. ↑ Press release VBG ( Memento of December 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ↑ Press release BG Chemie
  27. ↑ Press release of the BG for vehicle maintenance ( Memento of November 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ↑ Third law amending the fourth book of the Social Security Code and other laws ( Federal Law Gazette 2010 I pp. 1127, 1130 )
  29. ↑ Employer's liability insurance association. Professional association for food and hospitality. (No longer available online.) German statutory accident insurance, archived from the original on February 18, 2011 ; Retrieved January 23, 2011 .
  30. ↑ Association of the Metall-Berufsgenossenschaften (VMBG): The portal of the Metall-Berufsgenossenschaften Berufsgenossenschaft Metall Nord Süd, Maschinenbau- und Metall-Berufsgenossenschaft, Hütten- und Walzwerk-Berufsgenossenschaft closes with the dissolution of the VMBG on December 31, 2010. (No longer available online .) Archived from the original on July 30, 2010 ; Retrieved on August 30, 2010 : “The meeting of representatives of the metallurgical and rolling mill trade association, mechanical engineering and metal trade association, trade association Metall Nord Süd and the wood trade association merged these four bodies into the trade association for wood and metal decided. This merger will create the largest statutory accident insurance provider in Germany on January 1, 2011. The new trade association will look after more than 4 million employees in around 200,000 companies. In addition to the use of synergy effects, the merger brings numerous advantages for companies and insured persons. So not only the tried and tested, such as the extensive range of training courses and our consulting services, are retained. In addition, the overarching expertise in the fields of wood and metal will be used to improve occupational safety. Our support will be even closer to the location at 36 locations in the future. The usual contact persons are still available; new offers are added. "
  31. ↑ So also the plaintiff in the present case decided by the ECJ, the Kattner GmbH: ECJ: judgment, case C-350/07 - Kattner Stahlbau. May 1, 2009, accessed on September 18, 2010 (Rn. 13ff.).
  32. ^ Judgment, B 2 U 16/03 R. BSG, November 11, 2003, accessed on September 18, 2010 .
  33. ↑ Long-term consequences are to be expected - The forgotten asbestos scandal at the Bremer Vulkanwerft ( Memento from November 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) at www.dradio.de
  34. ↑ What is the Pension Committee actually doing? at www.bge.de
  35. ↑ Deutsche Metall-Arbeiter-Zeitung No. 15 of September 15, 1888, printed in: Collection of sources for the history of German social policy 1867 to 1914 , Section II: From the Imperial Social Message to the February decrees of Wilhelm II (1881–1890), Volume 2, part 2: The extension legislation and the practice of accident insurance, edited by Wolfgang Ayaß . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 3-534-13439-7 , pp. 1246-1248.
  36. ↑ Asbestos - the bankruptcy trap for companies in the USA ( Memento of September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ↑ Information from Health & Safety Executive on accident liability insurance (PDF; 312 kB)
  38. ↑ British Government Report on Problems with Accident Liability Insurance ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )