ARD and ZDF: Generous pension for station bosses

Many executives from ARD and ZDF are entitled to six-figure pension payments before they retire. They cost broadcasters millions. Some have therefore already abolished them, but by no means all, like one NDR-Research revealed.

With six-figure sums per year, some public broadcasters protect their directors and directors in the event that their contracts are not renewed before retirement age. In some cases this is lifelong. Some receive benefits before retirement age, some even after just one day’s work as a director.

For example in rbb. A research team from NDR could the service contract of rbb-View Program Director. With a base salary of 215,000 euros, the following is regulated: “The pension amounts to 45 percent of the base salary on the day the contract actually begins and increases by one percentage point with each additional year of service completed, up to a maximum of 60 percent of the last contractually agreed base salary.”

After just one day as a director, there are already 8,000 euros a month – and that for life. This also applies if the rbb does not want to offer his current director another contract after the expiry of one contract. The 53-year-old would then be entitled to an annual six-figure pension for life. They are even allowed to earn extra money rbb-Sharpen. And if they get sick, they get their full salary for six months, which is very different to freelancers, who sometimes have to accept losses after just a few days, or employees who fall into sick pay after six weeks.

Of the rbb said on request that pension regulations had been part of management contracts since 2003. Four contracts currently contain such regulations, including the contract of the Legal Director, who has since been released. Lawyers are now also interested in this, since the legal department was responsible for drawing up the service contracts themselves. In addition, there is the contract of the former director Patricia Schlesinger, which will probably soon be disputed in court. In addition, seven former employees are currently receiving a pension. Five of them are already retired.

Lavish regulation also at Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

Similarly generous secures the Central German Broadcasting his management team. decides MDRto part with his artistic director or one of his eight directors, they will continue to receive their salary for the remainder of their contract. Then there is pension, no matter how old someone is then.

The pension is there even if a contract is simply not renewed. Other income would then be taken into account, should it be the statutory pension, but only at 50 percent. He has more than 15 million euros MDR currently deferred for the care of his top management.

Up to 100 percent pension at hr

Also at Hessian radio the demands of management are comfortable: Dignity of Mr-Intendant to end his work for the station today, he would be entitled to at least 220,000 euros a year. For the program director it is more than 122,000 euros, for the operations director more than 108,000 euros and for the legal director there are currently more than 48,000 euros in annual pension entitlements in the books.

The longer the four work for the station, the higher their pension claims: between 93 percent and 100 percent of the original remuneration could come together at most. In the case of the legal director, the statutory pension would not count towards this, but it would in the case of the other three.

Also in Mr management can be ill for a full six months with full pay. Even if suspended, most of the salary would continue to be paid until the original end of the contract.

Generous regulations at ZDF

Also in ZDF the director and all five directors receive a pension if their contract ends or is not renewed and retirement is still a long way off – even for life. The broadcaster does not share the details with reference to data protection. In order to be able to service the pension commitments to his six executives, ZDF but not less than 20 million euros in provisions.

Northern German Radio

At the NDR there is also a pension regulation – in the event of premature termination of the contract or after the regular end of the contract: but only for the director and the deputy director. This applies until you reach retirement age. Once you have reached retirement age, your pension payments cease and the statutory and company pension regulations apply.

Should the NDR want to separate from the current deputy director, the 57-year-old would be entitled to a pension for another ten years. He shared exactly how high the pension claim is NDR not with.

For the other directors and other executives in the NDR There are no provisions for pension schemes before retirement age, which does not mean, however, that they are not covered: After their contracts have expired (usually after five years), these contracts are either renewed. If that doesn’t happen, the NDR obliged to continue employing the former directors as permanent employees until they retire.

Radio Bremen

at Radio Bremen Currently, three senior executives are eligible to receive retirement benefits regardless of age if they are available for re-election but are not re-elected.

The exact amount of the pension then depends on the length of service. How long it is paid depends on age and retirement age. at Radio Bremen the pension ends upon retirement. However, the regulation no longer applies to new contracts: Since 2019, pension agreements have no longer been provided, the broadcaster said.

SWR, BR, WDR: Farewell to generous regulations

Of the SWR shares NDR-Inquiry with, in a current service contract and in a service contract of a former member of the management there are commitments before retirement age. However, such commitments would SWR has not existed for several years.

At the Bavarian radio according to their own statements, they have already said goodbye to pension payments for 15 years. Also the WDR explained on NDR-Request that pension regulations were customary in the past. But that changed ten years ago. Since then he has been leading WDR also makes contributions to a pension fund for its executives if they have not previously worked in public service broadcasting, or forms pension provisions if this is the case. Currently are in WDR Reserved around 14 million euros for pensions for four executives.

No pension at SR and Deutschlandradio

Of the Saarland radio has no such regulations for its top management, just as little as this Deutschlandradio. As far as the supply of their top management is concerned, the public broadcasters in Germany deal with the topic with varying degrees of transparency. Many give specific names and amounts in their annual reports or on their websites, while others disclose the claims only in very subtle ways or not at all.

The broadcasters justify the regulations with the fact that there are often no positions available for members of their management teams after their contracts have expired, to which they can then fall back as planned. Therefore, the agreements are based on regulations for temporary retirement in the public sector.

The evaluation of NDRresearch teams, however, shows that some institutions protect their executives much more generously. They often get more money, sooner and longer than top officials. For example, federal political officials receive a maximum of three years’ retirement benefits when they are placed on temporary retirement.

Whether the buzz at ARD and ZDF Appropriate or excessive in individual cases cannot always be answered in general terms. It is true that managers in public broadcasting often look back on decades of careers and have already acquired high pension claims as department heads, studio managers or editors-in-chief. As a rule, however, these entitlements do not exist until retirement.

The “NDR Research Team” is a cross-editorial investigative unit made up of freelance and permanent staff from the ZAPP, STRG_F, Panorama and NDR Investigation departments.