Patricia Schlesinger picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Britta Pedersen
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) fired its director Patricia Schlesinger a year ago. Now the broadcaster’s lawyers want to add further reasons for termination in order to throw off Schlesinger’s financial demands.
According to information from Business Insider, the RBB now wants to cancel Schlesinger’s company pension simply because of the amount of alleged misconduct. However, the legal hurdles for such a step are high.
The ex-director’s media lawyer did not respond to a request. In the past, however, he always rejected all allegations against his client. “None of this will hold up in court,” said the lawyer.
The legal exchange between Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) and its former director Patricia Schlesinger is gaining momentum behind the scenes. While the fired media manager is insisting on her post-contractual “retirement allowance” of around 18,384.54 euros per month before the Berlin district court (ref.: 105 O 6/23), the broadcaster is now responding with a constant barrage of claims for damages and new reasons for termination. According to information from Business Insider, the station’s resolute approach pursues a specific goal: The RBB not only wants to cut off Schlesinger’s pension until she reaches retirement age – but also her generous company pension.
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The company pension scheme is legally protected even in the event of termination without notice. However, the RBB lawyers assume that they will be able to revoke Schlesinger’s claims due to the allegedly high number of misconducts and the seriousness of the breaches of duty. In a confidential document, the RBB has now summarized all the allegations against the ex-director, which were first brought to light by Business Insider and later by internal and external lawyers over the past twelve months. “These are each suitable for justifying the elimination or revocation of the contractual pension promise and, in their entirety, possibly also the revocation of any claims to Ms Schlesinger’s company pension scheme,” it says.
If the broadcaster goes through with the plan, Schlesinger would have to forego her RBB pension and thus almost 220,000 euros per year. In total, the RBB has set aside a mid-single-digit million amount for the company pension scheme for its ex-director. Money that the cash-strapped broadcaster could really use.
Schlesinger’s side believes the allegations are baseless
From the lawyers’ perspective, the key is an internal list of Schlesinger’s collected breaches of duty. The RBB has combined them into several complexes. “I have never experienced this extent before,” says a labor lawyer familiar with the process. Schlesinger’s media lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. In the past, he always rejected the allegations against his client and spoke of baseless accusations.
Complex company car: According to RBB, the then station manager concealed damage to her company car that she caused during private trips. RBB employees tell Business Insider about collisions in the garage. However, Schlesinger is said not to have reimbursed the deductible for private accidents. In several cases, no notification was made to the insurer at all.
Schlesinger’s company car sparked a discussion at the beginning of the RBB affair. The ex-director drove, among other things, an Audi A8 equipped with massage seats worth almost 150,000 euros. The leasing deal was only possible because the RBB received a 70 percent “government discount” for the director’s car. And according to her service contract, Schlesinger was also allowed to use the vehicle and her RBB chauffeurs privately.
The broadcaster’s lawyers claim that Schlesinger was responsible for the “economic decline of RBB”.
Complex waste: According to the RBB documents, Schlesinger committed “serious violations of the principles of thrift and economy.” Under her leadership there was an “economic decline of the RBB”. The budget management was catastrophic; in the 2020 financial year, the station posted a loss of 79 million euros. In the 2021 financial year, the deficit was 68 million euros. An “expected insolvency” of RBB in 2024 was only averted by Schlesinger’s successor.
The RBB lawyers write that the savings measures that were decided upon were invalidated by additional expenditure. Additional income from contributions was illegally used for the standard budget. Schlesinger did not fulfill her reporting obligations to the supervisory bodies or concealed truths. In this context, the lawyers also accuse the ex-director of “misleading information” regarding the project costs for the planned new RBB building.
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Complex compensation: According to the internal statement, Schlesinger deceived the board of directors when introducing a “variable compensation system”. The concept developed by the service provider Kienbaum has been changed. Schlesinger and the members of the management team in particular benefited from the controversial bonus system. The Board of Directors was not properly involved in concluding the relevant service contracts with the then four directors and the editor-in-chief in 2018. This constitutes a “serious breach of duty”.
As reported, the broadcaster also complains about the conclusion of ARD allowance agreements with members of the management team. They stipulated that the beneficiaries would receive an additional around 1,700 euros per month six months before taking over the ARD chairmanship on January 1, 2022. However, this was done without involving the entire board of directors.
In the case of the fired chief lawyer Susann Lange, the Berlin regional court even decided that the ex-RBB director must repay 8,500 euros plus interest. “Money was simply wasted,” said the judge.
Schlesinger is said to have given her chief controller gifts at the station’s expense
Complex dinner: The RBB accuses Schlesinger of expense fraud and breach of trust. In July 2022, Business Insider revealed, among other things, that Schlesinger had apparently billed the broadcaster for private dinner evenings in her apartment. The broadcaster also used a dinner as an opportunity to announce the immediate termination in August 2022. According to the investigation report by the law firm Lutz & Abel, other guests have now confirmed the private nature of the event. According to reports, corresponding statements have also been made by the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has been investigating Schlesinger, her husband and the former RBB board chairman Wolf-Dieter Wolf since August 2022. It is the presumption of innocence.
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Complex business trips: In eight cases, Schlesinger is said to have billed private trips for business purposes. Including trips to San Francisco, Tel Aviv, London, Oslo, Paris, Tokyo and Switzerland. Schlesinger was sometimes accompanied on trips by her husband and daughter. A lawyer for Schlesinger said: “The allegations are without exception false and sometimes constructed in an almost bizarre and embarrassing way in order to somehow justify the unjustified dismissal of the client after the fact.” After almost all of RBB’s original allegations “collapsed,” will now be pushed back. “None of this will hold up in court,” said the lawyer.
Complex Wolf: Schlesinger is said to have invited the former chairman of the board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf, to lavish meals on several occasions. They would have dined together for up to 360 euros – at the expense of the contributor. The RBB also sees the fact that Schlesinger gave her chief controller birthday presents at the broadcaster’s expense (up to 157.90 euros) as a benefit.
In a 106-page document dated May 2, 2023 and another document dated May 10, 2023, Schlesinger’s lawyers rejected all of the allegations. They also replied that adding important reasons for termination would require further resolutions by the Board of Directors and the Broadcasting Council. According to information from Business Insider, the board of directors voted unanimously in favor of it at a meeting on September 7th. A vote from the Broadcasting Council is still pending.
Judges consider post-contractual retirement benefits for directors and directors to be immoral
Spicy: While Schlesinger wants to enforce her post-contractual pension claims in court, in recent weeks judges have declared this questionable performance in the service contracts of the RBB top people to be immoral. The contracts are therefore void. In the case of ex-chief lawyer Lange, the judge at the Berlin labor court spoke of a “usury-like legal transaction” and said that the broadcaster’s services were grossly disproportionate to the consideration. Because: With the retirement benefit clause, managers are entitled to high and almost unconditional payments immediately after leaving the company until they reach retirement age. Such payments could run into the millions for young directors who left early. The Berlin labor judges ruled that the regulations were “too cheap for the plaintiff and too expensive” for the RBB.
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But Schlesinger doesn’t just have to worry about her post-contractual pension and her subsequent company pension. The RBB has already sued them for damages. In the first step, the broadcaster demanded a bonus payment of almost 30,000 euros back. However, at the beginning of the year, the board of directors had already decided to sue for damages of a further 240,000 euros. And this may not be the end yet. As can be seen from a confidential investigation report by Lutz Abel, there are clear indications that public procurement law was not adhered to or was even deliberately broken when the contract for the new building project was awarded. In this case, the former station boss could receive significantly higher sums.