Treberhilfe Berlin

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The Treberhilfe Berlin was founded in 1988 social enterprise based in Berlin . In its most profitable business year, 2009, it had around 280 employees and generated sales of more than 12 million euros. The name is derived from the term “ Trebegänger” and indicates the company's target group. In 2011, Treberhilfe filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of more than 4.5 million euros.

history

In 1988, the Active Aid Association joined forces . V. and the Association for Advice and Support to Homeless Young People e. V. zur Treberhilfe Berlin e. V. based in Berlin-Schöneberg. Initially, the association only worked with volunteers and ABM workers. In 1991 he had 25 full-time employees, just a few years later he had over 100.

In October 2005, a non-profit GmbH was founded, which is shared in equal parts with the Treberhilfe e. V. and the controversial managing director Hans-Harald Ehlert .

In February 2010, the management consultants of Treberhilfe gGmbH Kienbaum Consultants International presented their clients as a successful example of generating "social profit". Treberhilfe Berlin was the first company in Germany to have this indicator determined. On February 12, 2010, Treberhilfe organized a symposium on the “Social Profit” concept in Berlin-Schöneberg. The concept was very controversial.

On November 30, 2011, the operative business of Treberhilfe was taken over by the Protestant Diakonieverein Berlin-Zehlendorf for 0 euros and transferred to the GmbH Neue Treberhilfe . The company's real estate went into the bankruptcy estate.

Controversy about the business practices of Treberhilfe

In June 2009, the company car of the then managing director Harald Ehlert in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was subjected to a radar check at excessive speed. Since the driver could not be identified, the Treberhilfe received a log book edition. Because Ehlert took legal action against this in the Berlin administrative court, the public noticed that the company car was a Maserati for which a driver was employed full-time at the company's expense. This was already known since an article in the Berlin Tagesspiegel in 2008. Only after the logbook complaint did a public discussion about the question of which vehicle price class (s) are appropriate for social enterprises began. Ehlert initially defended his company car and driver as appropriate. When the public pressure became too great, he announced that the Maserati was no longer his company car, but that it would drive tourists through “Social Berlin” as a “social Maserati”. It was later announced by the Treberhilfe that the Maserati was for sale.

At the same time it became known that Ehlert was receiving an annual salary of EUR 365,000 and that he was privately living in a villa on Schwielowsee acquired by the gGmbH for a rent below the market price. In addition, Ehlert awarded lucrative orders for the creation of software and maintenance of systems to K&L Systemhaus GmbH, in which he was also involved and of which he was temporarily managing director, on account of Treberhilfe. There is also a suspicion that funds were illegally withdrawn from the company and used for private purposes. The surpluses generated by the company flowed into the share capital and thus now half nominally in private ownership by Ehlert. It also turned out that the managing director actively prevented the election of a works council. Later, despite legal opposition from the management, a works council was elected, which, however, continued to be boycotted by the management. The surpluses of the Treberhilfe and thus the luxurious life of its manager were made possible by overcrowding in the facilities. In addition, she paid employees below the standard salary. This was contradicted by the Treberhilfe. The agency granted the employees the statutory minimum vacation of 20 days, which was on average (depending on the age of the employee) 9 days less than the annual vacation agreed in the collective agreement.

Ehlert held in the form of two reports commissioned by him against the public criticism that his monthly salary as managing director of Treberhilfe Berlin and also the rent for part of the sea villa he lived in were appropriate.

Ehlert officially resigned as managing director in March 2010. He was followed by five other managing directors who were repeatedly removed from the board of directors. The press and employees of Treberhilfe used this time and again to suspect that Ehlert was still unofficially running the Treberhilfe business. This assumption was later confirmed.

On April 29, 2010, the Berlin public prosecutor's office and tax investigators searched the offices of the Treberhilfe office on suspicion of tax crimes on a complaint from the Berlin Senator for Social Affairs, Carola Bluhm (left) . The Treberhilfe was excluded from the umbrella organizations Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband and Diakonisches Werk . As a result, the Diakonisches Werk had to accept in the first instance that a court called on the matter had conceded this measure because of some procedural errors in the Diakonie's exclusion process. From 2010 to 2011 the Berlin entrepreneur Gideon Joffe was chairman of the social enterprise Treberhilfe Berlin.

The charitable status of Treberhilfe was revoked by the Berlin tax office due to Ehlert's business conduct. From December 2010, the events in the Treberhilfe were examined by an investigative commission of the Senate Department for Social Affairs. Based on the results of this investigation, Treberhilfe was terminated in May 2011 all contracts for assisted living with which Treberhilfe had generated more than 5 million euros in 2010.

The company recently came under fire because it did not pass on rents paid by the job centers for clients to the landlords. These clients were often threatened with eviction and had to leave their homes.

On November 16, 2011, Treberhilfe filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of more than 4.5 million euros. At this point in time, the Treberhilfe only had around 100 employees who had not received a salary for three months. At the same time it became known through the insolvency administrator that Harald Ehlert had continued to draw his manager's salary of 365,000 euros per year even after his alleged complete withdrawal from Treberhilfe until bankruptcy and that shortly before the bankruptcy he had bought the villa on Schwielowsee from Treberhilfe well below its value. Later Ehlert tried unsuccessfully to file a lawsuit as an employee of the Neue Treberhilfe. In July 2014 Ehlert was sentenced to one year probation and a fine for tax evasion. In February 2015, there was a fine of 32,000 euros for delaying bankruptcy and non-payment of social security contributions for employees amounting to almost 147,000 euros.

Corporate structure

Treberhilfe was divided into three business areas:

  • The residential projects primarily offered supervised individual forms of living for people in crisis situations.
  • The outpatient services were geared towards carrying out youth welfare services.
  • The crisis services worked in acute cases of homelessness.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ paperpress from July 2009
  2. ↑ Far from misery . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 2010 ( online ).
  3. ^ Spiegel Online, March 27, 2010
  4. ↑ Handelsblatt , February 9, 2010
  5. ↑ Introduction to Social Profit
  6. ↑ Criticism of the Social Profit concept ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dbsh.de
  7. ↑ a b c Manuela Heim: Treberhilfe lands in the arms of the Lord. In: the daily newspaper , November 30, 2011; Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  8. ^ Manfred Günther : Dictionary youth - age. Illustrations: Klaus Stuttmann . Verlag RabenStück, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-935607-39-1 , p. 109.
  9. ^ Der Tagesspiegel , December 22, 2008
  10. ^ A b Ralf Schönball: Treberhilfe sells Villa am See to its ex-boss. In: Der Tagesspiegel . December 14, 2011; Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  11. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost , March 13, 2010
  12. ↑ Ehlert continues to hold the reins in his hand . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 22, 2011
  13. ^ Spiegel Online, April 10, 2010
  14. ↑ Treberhilfe announces more transparency . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 23, 2011
  15. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost , December 17, 2010
  16. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost , April 30, 2010
  17. ↑ Tax office recognizes Treberhilfe's non-profit status . In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 15, 2011
  18. ↑ The Senate terminates all contracts without notice . In: Der Tagesspiegel , May 27, 2011
  19. ↑ Potsdam Latest News , June 8, 2011
  20. ^ Spiegel Online, November 16, 2011
  21. ↑ Negotiation of merit unsuccessful, Ehlert wants to sue for new Treberhilfe . In: Der Tagesspiegel , January 24, 2012
  22. ↑ the daily newspaper , September 19, 2012
  23. ^ Treberhilfe: Harald Ehlert condemned again . In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 13, 2015; accessed on February 13, 2017