Compatibility of family and service in the Bundeswehr

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The concept of the compatibility of family and service in the Bundeswehr is a concretization of the more general concept of the compatibility of family and work for members of the Bundeswehr . At the same time, the term stands for the political objective of increasing the attractiveness of the Bundeswehr as an employer through a better compatibility of family and service, especially for soldiers in the Bundeswehr . In order to cushion or mitigate family burdens, certain regulations and measures are provided for the compatibility of family and service, in particular with regard to parental leave, child care , family-friendly working hours and part-time work .

background

During regular working hours there are on-call duties, additional duties that are possible at any time, frequent and long absences (for business trips, courses, exercises and sea voyages) and frequent transfers to other work locations. Due to the nature of their work, soldiers and officers of the armed forces often live in long-distance relationships , typically weekend relationships . Service requirements, especially requirements of operational readiness or combat readiness, especially with regard to foreign missions , are per se in a tension with family and partnership issues.

Possible personal emotional hardships and fears during military operations as well as any post-traumatic stress disorders that may occur can create additional stress for family members of soldiers.

Statutory and official regulations

The Basic Law obliges the Bundeswehr as the employer to ensure the protection of marriage and the family ; however, according to case law, it does not oblige them to “allow spouses to live together in every respect and in every situation”.

The rights and obligations of soldiers are regulated by the Soldiers Act (SG). According to Section 28, Paragraph 7, Clause 2 of the SG, soldiers are entitled to parental leave with no cash or non-cash benefits, with the exception of free medical care. In addition, professional soldiers and soldiers on time is up to 12 years part-time work permits to the extent of at least half of the frame period of service; According to Section 30a SG, however, this is generally only possible after four years of service, and only provided that the soldier actually looks after or cares for at least one child under the age of 18 or other relatives in need of care according to a medical opinion and that business reasons do not prevent part-time work.

One of the goals of the Soldiers' Equal Opportunities Act (SGleiG) is to enable a better balance between family and military service. Section 3 of the Act contains provisions on the "compatibility of family and service for soldiers":

  • § 12 Family-friendly working hours and framework conditions
  • Section 13 Part-time employment and family-related leave of absence
  • § 14 Change to full-time employment, return to work
  • § 15 Prohibition of discrimination in the case of part-time employment and family-related leave of absence.

The compatibility of family and service is one of the fields of internal guidance . On May 21, 2007 the partial concept "Compatibility of family and service in the armed forces" (TK VebkFamDstSK) was issued. Its aim is to alleviate the burdens that families of soldiers have from serving in the armed forces and that the family spans at least two generations. However, this does not result in a specific legal right of a soldier to certain measures.

Military service does not conflict with the right to maternity protection and parental leave : the Maternity Protection Act and the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act also apply in full to soldiers. In addition, the maternity protection ordinance applies to female soldiers (MuSchSoldV), who u. a. specifies an obligation to report pregnancy. With regard to parental leave, entitlement to the old post expires after six months. A portion of up to 12 months of the total maximum of three years of parental leave can be granted as long as at least one child under 18 is actually cared for, provided that it is coordinated with the interests of the work.

On July 7, 2016, the German Bundesrat approved the law passed by the German Bundestag on July 7, 2016 to improve the reconciliation of family, care and work for federal civil servants and soldiers, as well as to amend other service regulations . This law introduces a legal right to family care leave and care leave, similar to that laid down for other employees in the Care Leave Act. (For general laws affecting the reconciliation and in some cases also applicable to members of the armed forces, see also: Reconciliation of family and work in individual states # Laws ; an exemplary overview of laws and ordinances on the reconciliation of family and service in the armed forces is in the appendix of the "Handbook Reconciliation of Family and Service".)

The Bundeswehr service center provides advice to members of the armed forces and their families on social issues and problems.

Politics and Armed Forces

The "compatibility of family and military profession" was one of the goals pursued by the then Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière in the reform of the Bundeswehr . After this reform, with the suspension of the obligation to perform basic military service on July 1, 2011 and the reduction of the workforce from 250,000 to 185,000, the necessity of the attractiveness of the Bundeswehr as an employer for security reasons became more of a political interest. At the same time, it was important to know that the Bundeswehr was anchored in the middle of society and that the Bundeswehr could not consist primarily of single and divorced people .

The annual report of the Armed Forces Commissioner 2012 (“Defense Report 2012” for short) reported a steady increase in the number of submissions complaining about the incompatibility of family and service.

In June 2013, the final report of a study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Defense and carried out by KPMG was completed. Among other things, the conclusion was drawn that - contrary to a general exemption that has been practiced since 2008 - the EU Working Time Directive is to be applied in principle and directly to the Bundeswehr, with the exception of deployments and U. the required arrival and departure.

In January 2014, Federal Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen formulated the goal of making the Bundeswehr one of the most attractive employers in Germany, and in her first speech as Defense Minister raised this goal - in addition to the question of meaning and the requirement of good equipment - as one of three for the Bundeswehr highlighted crucial points; in order to achieve this goal, she identified the compatibility of work and family as the most important issue. This included part-time work for soldiers, childcare also in the barracks , lifetime working time accounts and fewer transfers.

Social feedback on this political advance was mixed. Sometimes it received criticism and even ridicule, and sometimes the reorganization of the Bundeswehr into a family-friendly employer was seen as “a further step in the right direction towards more gender equality ”. For active soldiers, the reactions to the minister’s initiative were mostly positive. For many members of the armed forces, the compatibility of family and service seems to be a decisive criterion when deciding whether to continue to work as a professional soldier .

A few days after von der Leyen's announcement, the scheduled discussion of the 2012 Defense Report took place in the German Bundestag; Soon afterwards, the Defense Commissioner Hellmut Königshaus presented the next military report in 2013, according to which around ten percent of the 5,095 submissions from the troops concerned the compatibility of family and service. The royal family welcomed von der Leyen's advance and warned that additional financial resources should be made available if necessary.

sociology

Sociology knows the consideration of family and military service from the point of view of " greedy institutions ". From this perspective, it becomes clear that the tension between business and family matters is not just based on the expenditure of time and cannot be resolved by reducing it alone: ​​"That even with halved contingent time (as in the case of soldiers who spend their time with a Split comrades) do not inevitably halve the burdens associated with the separation for the families and soldiers ”, but are usually only experienced in a compressed manner.

There is also talk of an internal “tradition of the ubiquitous demonstration of strength and efficiency [...], which leads, for example, to the acceptance of work assignments with an unrealistic time horizon” and a “norm of an excessive sense of duty, which implies unrestricted availability and service generally via the family represents ".

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c BVerwG 1 WB 63.08. Federal Administrative Court, accessed on April 4, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b c Editoral: Compatibility of family and service as a security and social factor. Federal Ministry of Defense, accessed on April 5, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Overview: maternity leave and parental leave. Bundeswehr, accessed on April 4, 2014 .
  4. ^ A b c Marion Näser-Lather: Family and service: a new professional self-image in the Bundeswehr. Federal Ministry of Defense, accessed on April 5, 2014 .
  5. ↑ a b Handbook Compatibility of Family and Service. (PDF; 2.9 MB) In: General transfer 1/500. Federal Ministry of Defense, accessed on April 5, 2014 .
  6. ^ Resolution of the German Bundestag. (PDF) In: Drucksache 460/16. German Federal Council, September 2, 2016, accessed October 10, 2016 .
  7. ^ Draft of a law to improve the compatibility of family, care and work for civil servants of the federal government and soldiers as well as to amend other service regulations. Recommended resolution and report by the Committee on Internal Affairs (4th committee) on the Federal Government's draft law - printed matter 18/8517 -. In: Drucksache 18/9078. German Bundestag, July 6, 2016, accessed October 10, 2016 .
  8. ^ Entitlement to care leave for federal civil servants and soldiers. German Federal Armed Forces, September 26, 2016, accessed October 10, 2016 .
  9. ^ Bundeswehr service centers. Bundeswehr, accessed on April 4, 2014 .
  10. ^ Bundeswehr: part-time warrior. faz.net, January 13, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Information from the Armed Forces Commissioner: Annual Report 2012. (PDF; 1.3 MB) In: Drucksache 17/12050. January 29, 2013, accessed April 6, 2014 .
  12. ↑ The vision of a family-friendly company. In: bundeswehr journal. February 4, 2014, accessed April 5, 2014 .
  13. ↑ a b Bundeswehr is to become one of the most attractive employers. sueddeutsche.de, January 16, 2014, accessed April 5, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Family-friendliness in the Bundeswehr: Von der Leyen receives backing. sueddeutsche.de, January 12, 2014, accessed April 4, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Antonia Milbert, Cornelia Spachtholz: Family-friendly Bundeswehr: von der Leyen reform to a professional army. Association of Working Mothers , January 13, 2014, accessed April 4, 2014 .
  16. ↑ Marcel Bohnert : Why I remain a soldier, In: loyal magazine for security policy, 10, 2014, pp. 24-26.
  17. ↑ Information from the Armed Forces Commissioner: Annual Report 2013. (PDF; 2.6 MB) In: Drucksache 18/300. January 28, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014 .
  18. ↑ a b Bundestag deliberates on the report of the Commissioner for the Armed Forces. March 17, 2014, accessed April 6, 2014 .
  19. ↑ MW Segal: The Military And the Family As Greedy Institutions , Armed Forces & Society (1986), Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 9–38, doi : 10.1177 / 0095327X8601300101 (summary, in English)
  20. ↑ a b Maren Tomforde: Serving together: To reconcile a soldier's profession, service and family in action. December 4, 2013, accessed March 1, 2014 .