How hard is it to fire a FatCrat? That's one of our perennial questions, and we've come up with some excellent examples from inside the beltway. However, by personal experience, I know that Europe still has us beat in the bureaucratic job security department. Maybe we're headed in this direction.
Here's an illustration from one of our faithful expat readers in Germany:
I recently heard of a colleague who was a lecturer in a German University (like a professorship, but lacking some of the rights and responsibilities). The important point is that in the German system this person is a state official, effectively a bureaucrat with a PhD (or the German equivalent). Despite the fact that she refused to offer classes or hold lectures, she continued to receive compensation. She could only be fired for "gross negligence," but gross negligence doesn't include failing to teach classes.
In this instance, the bureaucrat/lecturer was finally fired, showing what it takes to get fired as a German state employee--stop living in Germany.
...not only did this person fail to teach any classes, she wasn't evening living in Germany. She had opted instead to collect her paycheck from the German government while living in Denver with her husband who had an academic post there. Eventually this was her undoing, however. One firm rule in the system is that this sort of state official must reside within the European Union. Had she simply chosen to neglect her responsibilities while living in, say, Spain, as opposed to Colorado, she could have continued to collect a paycheck indefinitely without performing any work at all.
Colorado used to be part of Spain; she's just got bad timing.
Posted by: Keith Carlson | April 27, 2009 at 04:48 PM