Procedure descriptions

Lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority

The supervisory complaint criticises the alleged personal misconduct of civil servants

  • Civil servants,
  • Public service employees or judges
  • Judges.

The aim of the complaint is to initiate supervisory measures against this person.

Note: You cannot obtain a different decision on the merits by lodging an official supervisory complaint.
If you wish to obtain a different decision on the matter, you can lodge a professional supervisory complaint.
You state what you are complaining about and what you want to achieve with the complaint. The administration will then categorise the complaint as an official or specialist supervisory complaint.

As an informal legal remedy, the official supervisory complaint cannot replace formal legal remedies (appeals). It does not postpone or prevent the implementation of decisions or measures. Possible deadlines continue to run. If you wish to stop the implementation or deadlines, you must lodge an objection or a complaint or apply for summary proceedings in court.

The following groups of people do not have a superior but are subject to political responsibility:

  • Ministers,
  • District administrators and
  • Mayors.

In principle, you cannot lodge a complaint against these persons. This does not apply to district councillors if the complaint concerns state tasks of the district administration.

In certain cases, complaints may be lodged against mayors and district councillors, which will be examined by the legal supervisory authority.

Responsible department

The superior or the head of the authority of the person whose behaviour you are complaining about.

Note: The supervisor is usually the head of the respective authority. If they are not responsible, they will forward the complaint to the competent body, usually by issuing a notification of charge.

The management of the next higher authority is usually responsible for complaints against the head of the authority itself.

Details

Prerequisite

A public official has personally behaved improperly.

Procedure

You can submit a complaint to the supervisory authority informally.

It is best to submit it in writing.

Name the person concerned in the complaint. Describe the personal misconduct that you are accusing as precisely as possible.

The line manager or the employee responsible for processing the complaint will process and decide on the complaint and inform you of the outcome.

It is not necessary to give detailed reasons for the decision.

Deadlines

You do not have to observe any deadlines. However, you should submit the complaint to the supervisory authority promptly after the criticised behaviour.

Required documents

none

Tip: Documents (as copies) can be helpful to make the facts of the complaint understandable or to provide evidence.

Costs

none

Processing time

The duration of a supervisory complaint procedure depends on the circumstances presented in the complaint procedure. There are no fixed decision deadlines.

Miscellaneous

If your supervisory complaint is rejected, you can submit another supervisory complaint to your superior. However, the behaviour of the person concerned that was originally challenged will no longer be examined independently. The higher-level department will only check whether the superior behaved correctly when dealing with the original complaint.

Legal basis

Grundgesetz (GG)

  • Artikel 17 - Petitionsrecht

Release note

machine generated, based on the German release by: Innenministerium Baden-Württemberg, 20.08.2024