Serious allegations, invalid dismissal: The ruling on the Berlin dentists' pension fund
- Jul 16
- 2 min read
A professional pension fund accuses its head of portfolio management of a serious conflict of interest and dismisses her without notice and, in the alternative, with notice. Before the Berlin Labour Court, both dismissals fail (judgment of 26 June 2026, case no. 22 Ca 13829/25, not yet final). The case shows that even serious allegations do not release an employer from observing the formal requirements.
1. The case: A private stake in the trustee
The head of portfolio management at the pension fund of the Berlin Chamber of Dentists prepared the investment decisions for the administrative committee and coordinated the fund's transactions. The investment vehicles included stakes in companies that raised money from private retail investors; trust companies were engaged to control the use of those funds, with fees based on the number and volume of the transactions they handled.
The employee had acquired shares in one of these trust companies through a company founded for that purpose. The pension fund saw this as a breach of loyalty and dismissed her in September 2025 without notice and, in the alternative, with notice, and once more in November 2025.
2. The decision: Two formal errors
The Labour Court declared both dismissals invalid. The summary dismissal came too late: the two-week declaration period (section 626(2) of the German Civil Code, BGB) had already expired when the dismissal was issued. The ordinary dismissal failed for lack of proper involvement of the staff council, as the pension fund had not waited for the council's response period to expire before giving notice.
3. The limit: No continued employment during the proceedings
The employee lost one application: the court rejected her request to be provisionally kept in employment until a final decision. Given the gravity of the allegations at issue, continued employment could not reasonably be expected of the pension fund.
The judgment is not yet final; both sides can appeal to the Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labour Court.
4. The takeaway: Formal errors as the real hurdle
In practice, dismissals often fail over deadlines and the involvement of employee representative bodies before a court even examines the allegations on the merits. For employers, such a formal error can decide the case regardless of what actually happened. For employees, checking these formalities is one of the first steps after receiving a dismissal, especially when the allegations are serious.
The rejected continued employment also hints at how such proceedings will often end commercially: with a negotiated settlement rather than an actual return to the workplace.
Unsure whether a dismissal will stand?
Whether a dismissal stands is often decided by the formalities alone.
If you have received a dismissal or are preparing one as an employer, I offer you a short, free initial assessment. In that call, we clarify how your situation is to be assessed and which next steps make sense.
