FAQs on secondary employment for civil servants

Any activity that is not part of your main job, or is not within your area of work, is considered a secondary employment activity.

Honorary public offices, e.g. as a lay judge in court, do not count as secondary employment as per § 60 para. 2 no. 1 LBG (Landesbeamtengesetz=state civil service act). Assisting in sports clubs, on the other hand, is considered general volunteer's work and you have to submit an application for authorization / provide notification. It is irrelevant whether you receive something in return for this activity.

Please submit form BN 102: Application for secondary employment via your area of work (department and faculty) to Human Resources at least 4 weeks before taking up secondary employment.

You are required to notify the university of any secondary employment/apply for authorization. For exceptions, please see item: "Is notification and/or authorization required?". Taking up secondary employment without the required authorization is a breach of your official duty.

In addition, civil servants have to submit an annual declaration listing all secondary employment. Please submit this declaration by 1 July of the following year, using form BN 101. It is not necessary to submit a declaration if you did not have any secondary employment activities.

You do not need to submit a travel request. We cannot insure your private secondary employment. It is sufficient if you notify us of your secondary employment using form BN 102.

All secondary employment activities combined may not exceed 20% of the regular weekly working hours.

Exceptions apply to professors and can also be granted to other staff in especially justified individual cases. Please note that you have to work the hours in advance or afterwards.

The publication of your own research results is part of your main job. Income you earn from these publications is irrelevant for secondary employment regulations. The publication of anthologies is a generally authorized secondary employment activity as long as the publication also contains your own research contributions.

Professors are free to arrange their working hours as they wish and to take on secondary employment, even on weekdays, as long as they make sure to fulfil their teaching duties during the lecture period and, if there is a scheduling conflict, either hold lectures at an earlier or later date.

In addition, please observe that splitting is prohibited: In case of assignments with intended use of facilities, staff or material belonging to the university, you have to decide beforehand whether the entire assignment will be carried out in the context of your main employment (process via Research Funding Administration) or as secondary employment (process via the Division of Human Resources) (§ 3 para. 2 Hochschulnebentätigkeitsverordnung (university secondary employment regulations)). If you carry out a secondary employment activity jointly with colleagues, it must be evident in the contract that it is a private secondary employment activity.

Please use our form BN102 for all secondary employment.

§ 62 LBG, defines when you must get authorisation for secondary employment. Secondary employment activities listed in § 63 para. 1LBG only require notification:

You do not have to submit form BN_102 to notify the university of secondary employment as long as all notifiable secondary employment that has not been reported does not exceed 1200 euros per year, and the time required for this work does not exceed 20% of the regular weekly working hours.

To be on the safe side, we recommend that you notify us of any secondary employment. 

If you work for the state of Baden-Württemberg, its municipalities or counties, earnings have to go to your employer when the annual income from these secondary employment activities exceeds the limit stated in § 5 Abs. 3 Landesnebentätigkeitsverordnung LNTVO (state secondary employment regulations), and this employment does not fall under the exceptions as per § 6 LNTVO. Expert opinions, for example, are such an exception.

In principle, unpaid activities only require notification. Expense allowances are only not considered remuneration if you receive them for costs you really had and that are in line with Baden-Württemberg's regulations on travel expenses (e.g. travel, accommodation, daily allowance).

Secondary employment that requires authorization cannot be approved on a permanent basis, but only for a limited period of no more than 5 years; if necessary, subject to requirements or conditions.

If you regularly carry out the same kind of secondary employment activities (e.g. lecturing), it is sufficient to report these once a year using form BN 102.

You can use the Library for free as it is a public library. All other facilities, rooms, materials or staff of the university may only be used upon application and with prior approval.

As soon as you use something for your secondary employment, this secondary employment requires authorization.

This also applies in case you need substitutes, or other persons are involved.

There are many special cases and circumstances. If you are unsure of a matter or have general questions, please contact the person responsible for your department or beamte@uni.kn.

You can find the responsible contact person here: https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/division-of-human-resources/responsibilities/civil-servants/your-contact-persons/.