Scandal in Ringgau: 3,500 hours of overtime by an employee uncovered!

Scandal in Ringgau: 3,500 hours of overtime by an employee uncovered!

An unusual situation is currently causing a stir in the Hessian municipality of Ringgau: a senior employee of the municipal administration has accumulated around 3,500 hours of overtime in the last five years. That equates to around a year and a half of additional work that she did on weekdays as well as weekends and holidays. This first became public during a meeting on May 22, 2025, after community representative Mirco Lorbach asked. Mayor Mario Hartmann confirmed that the remuneration for these hours should be covered retroactively from the 2025 budget and described the sum as “high”. The exact amount is said to be in the six-figure range, which many consider to be considerable when it comes to an authority.

The background of overtime

The employee was hired in fall 2019 to get the community's chaotic financial affairs under control. At this point, Ringgau was struggling with significant problems, including missing annual financial statements since 2010. This explains why the employee was able to accrue so much overtime. In 2024, Rainer Janisch was also hired on a fee basis to organize the accounting; However, to date only 14 of the required annual financial statements have been completed. The municipality also sees itself in a legal dispute with the former mayor Fissmann and his treasurer, which is pending at the Kassel administrative court.

Dispute over overtime

But the situation is not without controversy. Mayor Hartmann was cautious about the accumulated hours and denied having ordered them. He cites data protection guidelines and points out that the numbers do not correspond to reality. In addition, the community board knew nothing about the amount of overtime worked before the meeting in May. According to the collective agreement for the public sector, overtime must either be paid or compensated for by time off. Overtime expires after three years, which could still be under discussion here if one wonders whether the employee has worked too much.

The working time regulations are clear: employees are not allowed to work more than ten hours a day, and overtime must be paid within a certain framework, which is also part of the current discourse. These regulations make it clear how confusing the matter actually is in this situation.

The termination and further plans

After the direct mayoral election in February 2025, in which Hartmann was unable to win re-election, the employee quit her job. She will start a new employment relationship in the neighboring community of Weißenborn on July 1, 2025, but will continue to work for the community of Ringgau in a mini-job position until the end of August 2025. The course of this situation will remain exciting, especially given how the community's financial matters will develop. The community board could soon face more challenges as the employee heads into a new phase of her life.

This matter shows once again that everything in the administration must be well organized - otherwise a financial storm can quickly arise. It remains to be seen whether Hartmann's fall will have an impact on the resolution of the matter. In any case, the municipality will need to learn from this situation and avoid future mistakes in order to increase transparency in financial matters.