Editing Beamter (section)

==Privileges and restrictions==
Under Art. 33(5) of the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law]], appointment as a {{lang|de|Beamter}} is for life and subject to public law, not private-law employment regulations. There is no contract of employment between the {{lang|de|Beamter}} and the state entity employing him. {{lang|de|Beamte}} possess a range of privileges. These include: 
* a special health plan, the ''{{lang|de|Beihilfe}}'', which covers 50% of most health care expenses for the {{lang|de|Beamter}}, their spouse, and dependent children, with the {{lang|de|Beamter}} being responsible for the remainder of the cover (usually achieved by taking out private health insurance);
* an index-linked pension of at most 71.75% of final salary, paid directly by the state rather than by the usual public pension provider (unlike those who receive a normal pension, {{lang|de|Beamte}} must pay income tax on the entirety of their pension income);
* exemption from all social security contributions, although they are, like all other employees, subject to income tax;
* near-ironclad [[job security]] – the state may transfer {{lang|de|Beamte}} who do not perform well to other, often less desirable (but not less paid), posts, but can only terminate their employment entirely in cases of serious [[felony|felonies]].

There are also a number of restrictions on {{lang|de|Beamte}}:
* unlike all other public or private employees, they have no right to [[Strike action|strike]]
* their salary and working hours are determined by law, rather than by negotiations between employers and [[trade union|unions]]. As a result, the usual working week for ordinary public employees is 38.5 hours, whereas for {{lang|de|Beamte}} it is now between 40 and 42 hours, depending on the entity employing the {{lang|de|Beamter}}.
* if they opt in to Germany's public health insurance services, they face tight restrictions, must cover both the employee's and the employer's contributions, and cannot include their spouses or dependent children;
* if they resign from their post, they receive only the very low basic unemployment benefits, not the unemployment insurance benefits, since they do not pay unemployment insurance;
* if they are removed from active duty due to misconduct, they lose not only their salary, but also all retirement benefits ("pension") and have no coverage of health-care costs because they never have been insured;
* {{lang|de|Beamte}} who commit a crime – whether on or off duty – face [[double jeopardy|double punishment]], since they are subject to both the criminal law and internal disciplinary procedures.
* {{lang|de|Beamte}} can be punished for accepting benefits that are linked to their official role or function and that are provided by third parties.  This punishment for receiving an advantage through the position is reaching much further than the prosecution for bribery because in contrast to bribery no favour has to be granted in return.
* {{lang|de|Beamte}} have fewer rights to engage in political work.

Entities that may employ {{lang|de|Beamte}} include the federal government, the 16 [[States of Germany|state governments]] and all local authorities, certain corporations, agencies and foundations governed by public law, such as the Catholic and Lutheran churches, whose priests have a status similar to that of {{lang|de|Beamte}}. These are not, however, employed by the state but by the churches in their capacity as corporations of public law.