Flexi pension

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The term Flexi-Rente is a political catchphrase that was introduced into the political debate during the legislative process for the RV Performance Improvement Act (the so-called “Pension Package”) as a “counterbalance” to pension access without deductions from the age of 63. The associated demands are aimed at the removal of alleged employment hurdles in the continued employment of employees beyond the standard retirement age . The focus is particularly on changes in labor and social law. Some of the intended changes were implemented with the RV Performance Improvement Act. Further discussion points were resolved within the framework of a motion for a resolution by the CDU / CSU and SPD parliamentary groups and a working group made up of representatives from both parliamentary groups and the federal government was entrusted with the processing.

initiative

The idea for the approach and the coining of the term “Flexi-Rente” came from the Bundestag member Carsten Linnemann , the federal chairman of the medium-sized and business association of the CDU / CSU (MIT). Against the background of demographic change and the discussion about the introduction of a “pension at 63”, it was also decided at the federal board meeting of MIT in February 2014 that the board of MIT would draft a concept for flexible retirement. In the course of the political debate, the initiative was expanded to include the question of additional earnings for partial pensions.

Background to the age transition and the initiative

The background to the initiative are various labor and social law regulations, which the initiators see as an obstacle to employment.

Labor and collective bargaining side

In collective bargaining agreements , company agreements or individual employment contracts, it is usually regulated that an open-ended employment relationship ends when the employee has reached his individual standard retirement age in the statutory pension scheme. Without such a regulation, permanent employment relationships would simply continue to exist. This created the problem that jobs would not be free for the next generation of employees, which made it difficult for them to enter the labor market.

However, such a regulation does not (and must not) prohibit people from being employed beyond the standard retirement age or being newly hired afterwards. However, if employment contracts end with the standard retirement age, a problem arises in terms of labor law if a (limited) employment relationship with the same employer is to be continued beyond the standard retirement age. For such an "extension" of the (actually new) employment relationship, the Part-Time and Temporary Employment Act applies , which generally forbids an unlimited fixed-term period following a (more than two years) employment with the same employer. Until July 1, 2014, employers and employees could only conclude a permanent employment relationship with legal certainty, with the problems described above. Should they nevertheless have agreed on a fixed-term employment relationship, the employer bore the risk that the employee could later have sued for a permanent employment relationship with some prospect of success.

Partial pension and additional earnings

Before the regular retirement age, there are additional earnings limits for old-age or disability pensions . Pensions are only paid in fixed proportions. In the case of old-age pensions, these are the full pension or partial pensions in the amount of two thirds, half or one third. With a full pension, the additional earnings are 450 euros per month. In the case of a partial pension, the additional earnings are calculated individually using a complicated formula and the higher the lower the portion of the pension that is still being paid. In the old federal states this was in 2014 for an "average earner"

  • for a ⅔ partial pension: 1,078.35 euros
  • for a ½ partial pension 1,576.05 euros
  • for a ⅓ partial pension at 2,073.75 euros.

The problem arises that "exceeding" an additional income limit by just a few euros already leads to the next lower partial pension being paid (or the pension payment being stopped entirely). This regularly results in a significant drop in income for pensioners.

However, beyond the standard retirement age there are no longer any additional earnings limits; Any amount of additional income can then be earned.

Social law side

The social law side is multi-layered. A distinction must be made between two basic subject areas:

  1. Employment in addition to a full pension
  2. Employment according to the individual standard retirement age

Employment in addition to a full pension

If an insured person draws a full pension (i.e. not a partial pension) due to old age, he is no longer compulsorily insured in the statutory pension insurance. He therefore does not pay any contributions and does not acquire any additional pension entitlements through employment. The employer, on the other hand, continues to pay half the contribution (so-called isolated employer contribution). The isolated contribution is collected so that employers do not have a financial advantage due to the lower social security contributions from employing full pensioners. Due to the additional earnings limit of 450 euros for a full pension before the standard retirement age, this question only actually plays a role after the standard retirement age (i.e. with free additional earnings).

Employment after the regular retirement age

People who are employed beyond the standard retirement age are no longer insured for unemployment . The employees no longer pay unemployment insurance contributions, but also no longer receive any benefits in the event of unemployment. Here, too, the employer continues to pay his share of the unemployment insurance (isolated employer contribution).

The federal government's 2014 pension package

The labor law part of the Flexi pension was implemented as a result of the RV Performance Improvement Act, which was passed on June 23, 2014 and came into force on July 1, 2014. Accordingly, it is now possible for employees and employers to postpone the termination date of the employment relationship , possibly several times , by means of "agreements during the employment relationship ." This had become necessary because collective agreements or employment contracts usually stipulate that the employment relationship should be terminated upon reaching the regular retirement age in the statutory pension insurance ends. According to the previous legal situation, the wish for an individual, later exit from work could not be implemented in a legally secure manner. With the new legal regulation in § 41 SGB VI, sentence 3, employers and employees are now allowed to continue the employment relationship by mutual agreement for a period of time specified in advance, even after reaching the standard retirement age. The standard retirement age, with which many employment relationships automatically end, has thus become less important.

The social law part of the Flexi-Rente was explored in a working group created for this purpose by representatives of parliament and government. This is what the German Bundestag decided on June 23, 2014 through a motion for a resolution by the CDU / CSU and SPD parliamentary groups.

The Flexirentengesetz

In a working group between representatives of the coalition groups in the German Bundestag and the federal government, agreement was reached on a number of points. On December 8, 2016, the Flexirentengesetz was promulgated ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2838 ). Parts of it came into force on January 1, 2017, the remainder on July 1, 2017.

Partial pension model

The basic possibility of receiving the old-age pension not only as a full pension but also as a partial pension was introduced into the statutory pension insurance with the Pension Reform Act 1992 (adopted in 1989). Due to a complicated additional earnings rule before the normal retirement age and because few pensions are based as part of pensions, a change of this regulation has been frequently discussed. For example, a so-called "combined pension" was proposed in the 2009-2013 legislative period . Now, for all early retirement pensions, income up to an annual amount of 6300 euros remains free of credit. Income that exceeds this limit will be offset against the current pension at a flat rate of 40 percent until the additional earnings cap is reached. The additional earnings cap is calculated from the highest earnings points (EP) of the last 15 years multiplied by EUR 2975 (value for 2017, annual adjustment). If the additional earnings + pension - reduction 40% exceeds the additional earnings cap, the excess will reduce the pension by 100%.

The earnings points result from the pension information. The individual calendar years are listed there with the calculated EP (as points with four decimal places). It is important that it is the latest pension information. However, if the employee is already receiving a pension, the EP can be found in the pension notification.

The offset part of the pension is deferred as a partial pension. It increases further up to the standard retirement age by the additional contribution payments and is free of deductions for the duration of the employment.

The social law part of the Flexi pension

Until the law in 2016, people who received a full pension due to old age were no longer compulsorily insured under the pension insurance, regardless of their age. Compulsory unemployment insurance ended after the regular retirement age. In order to avoid cost advantages when employing (full) pensioners, employers (similar to " mini-jobs ") had to continue to pay their share of the regular contribution rate. However, no further benefit claims arose from this for the employed pensioner. This regulation was also criticized in the working group. The employer's pension insurance contributions can now be “activated” through voluntary payments by the employees (opt-in). If the employee also pays his share, the pension contributions also have a pension-increasing effect on the current pension. The isolated employer contributions to unemployment insurance have been completely abolished (initially limited to five years).

Changes in SGB II

The regulation that SGB II beneficiaries are obliged to claim an early retirement pension after reaching the age of 63 (the so-called compulsory retirement ) was also examined in the working group with a view to financial and systematic aspects. It was counteracted with the so-called Inequity Ordinance . This ordinance, which has been amended several times since it was introduced in 2008, specifies the circumstances under which pension benefits do not take precedence over SGB II benefits, which means that in these cases there is no compulsory retirement.

criticism

The initiative is criticized in particular from the camp of the social associations and trade unions, especially since the proposals do not refer to “flexible transitions up to retirement”, but to “continuing to work after retirement”. Instead, the DGB suggested that a partial pension be made possible from the age of 60 in order to aim for a gradual exit from working life.

literature

  • Ariane Domnauer, Rainer Stosberg: The flexible pension law. In: RVaktuell 1/2017, pp. 7-17.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carsten Linnemann: Being able to work longer . In: Handelsblatt . No. 61 , March 27, 2014, ISSN  0017-7296 , p. 15 .
  2. ↑ Federal Government: RV Performance Improvement Act Art. 1a, §41 S. 3 SGB VI. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs , May 23, 2014, p. 16 , archived from the original on August 12, 2014 ; Retrieved September 12, 2014 . 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.rentenpaket.de
  3. ^ A b c German Bundestag: Motion for a resolution by the CDU / CSU and SPD parliamentary groups. May 22, 2014, p. 2 , accessed September 12, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Ralf Schuler: He is the inventor of the "Flexi-Rente". Bild (newspaper) , May 21, 2014, accessed September 12, 2014 .
  5. ↑ German Bundestag plenary proceedings 18/37, German Bundestag, Stenographic report. May 23, 2014, p. 84 , accessed January 19, 2015 .
  6. ^ Stefan von Borstel, Thomas Vitzthum: Union politicians want flexible retirement age. Die Welt , February 19, 2014, accessed September 12, 2014 .
  7. ↑ Medium- sized and business association of the CDU / CSU (MIT): “Decision of the MIT Federal Executive on February 17, 2014”. February 17, 2014, p. 1 , accessed September 12, 2014 .
  8. ↑ Ingo Schäfer: "Combined pension - a socio-political gamble?" Bremen Chamber of Employees, February 2016, accessed January 8, 2017 .
  9. ↑ a b Federal Government: RV Performance Improvement Act Art. 1a, §41 S. 3 SGB VI. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, May 23, 2014, p. 16 , archived from the original on August 12, 2014 ; Retrieved September 12, 2014 . 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.rentenpaket.de
  10. ↑ Bundestag resolves Flexi-Rente , last accessed on November 23, 2016.
  11. ↑ a b c René Braun: The variable transition into retirement as a so-called flexi pension. (PDF) Scientific Services of the German Bundestag , July 7, 2014, p. 2 , accessed on September 12, 2014 .
  12. ↑ [1] Calculate calculator for flexible pension / deductions and reductions
  13. ↑ a b Final report of the coalition working group "Flexible transitions from working life to retirement". (PDF) (No longer available online.) CDU / CSU and SPD parliamentary groups , November 10, 2015, p. 7 , archived from the original on November 19, 2015 ; Retrieved November 18, 2015 . 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.mit-bund.de
  14. ↑ See: Karl Doemens: DGB agrees on a flexible pension model. Frankfurter Rundschau, November 4, 2014, accessed on April 20, 2015 .