Because of numerous allegations against the management, the RBB feels compelled to disclose the salaries. It is also about controversial bonus payments in the six-digit range. However, the salaries of the ousted director Schlesinger are not listed.
The RBB management responded to internal and public pressure and disclosed their salaries and bonus payments. According to dpa information, the broadcaster published a list of salaries and “performance-related remuneration” for employees on the company’s intranet in the evening. The salaries of the recalled director Patricia Schlesinger are not listed.
According to the information, the post of administrative director will have an annual basic salary of 230,000 euros in 2022. In addition, there is the payment from a variable bonus system in the amount of 30,738 euros for one year 2021/2022. Administrative director Hagen Brandstätter is currently managing director since Schlesinger resigned.
Program director Jan Schulte-Kellinghaus receives a bonus of EUR 215,425 and an additional EUR 30,915. For production and operations director Christoph Augenstein it is 196,000 euros plus an additional 38,144 euros. The position of legal director accounted for 198,900 euros and a bonus of 39,195 euros.
The bonuses thus totaled a six-digit amount. The online medium “Business Insider” and the RBB had previously reported on this. The bonus system is highly controversial because its existence was unknown until recently. It is not known how high Schlesinger’s salary is – apart from the salary increase of 16 percent to 303,000 euros. There is no such bonus system in other ARD houses.
On Tuesday, Brandtäter did not name any figures on salaries and bonuses for top management in the Brandenburg state parliament. He even said that there was no bonus system at all. Rather, they are non-tariff employment contracts – 27 of them are paid variable, including target agreements. The debate about the salary structure in the management team is one of the numerous allegations of nepotism that Schlesinger, who has been director since 2016 and was dismissed by the Broadcasting Council on Monday, sees herself exposed.
Schlesinger rejects the allegations, as does the resigned chief inspector Wolf-Dieter Wolf. The public prosecutor’s office in Berlin is investigating against both of them as well as against the husband and ex-“Spiegel” journalist Gerhard Spörl on suspicion of infidelity and acceptance of benefits. An external law firm is also working on the case, results are not expected for a few weeks.
The allegations include controversial consulting contracts for an RBB construction project that has been put on hold, an expensive company car with massage seats, catering for guests in Schlesinger’s private apartment at RBB’s expense, the renovation of the executive floor for 1.4 million euros, orders for her husband at the Messe Berlin, where Wolf was also chief supervisor. Schlesinger’s trip to London is also being questioned.
It is still unclear exactly how Schlesinger’s contract will be terminated. The question is whether there could be a severance payment and what the pension entitlements are. Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Dorette König said in the state parliament: “I can only tell you that we do not rule out termination without notice.” She added: Everything will be done to ensure that RBB still has the opportunity to “assert claims against Ms. Schlesinger”.
Meanwhile, there are also episodes in other ARD houses under the impression of the crisis at RBB. West German Broadcasting (WDR) is considering expanding its compliance management. Compliance means monitoring a set of rules that an organization has in place to prevent corruption, for example. The broadcaster had planned this before and now wants to take current developments into account. Director Tom Buhrow has taken over the ARD chairmanship because Schlesinger had resigned there because of the allegations.
The Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) wants to treat its procurement more sensitively in the future. Especially if the potential commissioners have personal relationships with broadcaster employees, as the public broadcaster ARD announced. The NDR also added: “The NDR Compliance Board will now check whether the previous regulations are still sufficient.” In principle, however, the commissioning of relatives of NDR employees should remain possible if there are comprehensible and well-documented reasons for this in terms of content and expertise: “Yes, even more transparency, no professional ban.”
The background to the NDR initiative is a “Bild” report on allegations of nepotism. The focus here is on a music consultant who works for the station and at the same time is said to be the partner of a station director. According to the broadcaster, the personal relationship was known.
(This article was first published on Wednesday, August 17, 2022.)
