Max Planck Society - Discrimination Controversy

Discrimination Controversy

A controversial point regarding the Max Planck Society is the case of discrimination against foreign workers. Until the year 2004, it was explicitly stated in internal documents of the Max Planck Society that Foreign researchers should not be granted the same type of contract as German workers. German researchers were to have contracts with social benefits (i.e. unemployment benefits, health inssurance, retirement pensions, etc.), while foreigners were to have a grant (internally called stipendium) which does not include social benefits. While the net monthly salary of both types of contracts is comparable, the tax benefits amount to a significant portion of the salary.

The case of discrimination was brought to the European Parliament by Giorgio Calo among others, and then to the Europan civil Court by Andrea Raccanelli in the year 2004. Further allegations were made, such as the possibly illegal termination of tax benefits to about 20 foreigners once the MPI for Colloids and Interfaces discovered that giving foreigners tax benefits was against Max Planck Society's regulations. The European Court found in favour of Raccanelli, stating that giving German research workers a different type of contract than other citizens from the European Union is considered a violation of the Article 39 EC. As a result, the European Court addressed the Max Planck Society to change such regulations, which they did.

In the first months after the resolution opposing data were presented: Raccanelli addressed the European Union civil court again stating that, although formally regulations had changed, Max Planck Institutes continued to de facto proceed in the same way, for which he provided data. He requested that data were provided by the MPG to verify that their change in policy was being implemented. The civil court replied that the Max Planck Society had provided data stating that, while there still were inequalities between foreign and local workers, these had been diminished. Whether this change of policy has been consolidated and expanded over time has not been systematically studied.

High charges of the Max Planck Society have justified the previous internal regulations. For instance, the Head of Dpt. of Personnel and Legal affairs (Ruediger Willems) alleged to historical reasons as the basis of this discrimination, he furthermore stated that foreign students having a Stipendium were asked to work much less. Although a Stipendium indeed has weaker contractual bounds, the students were treated as if having a regular contract. Also, the director of the Max Planck Society (Peter Gruss) as well as the director of the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces (Reinhard Lipowsky) alleged that regulations of the Bund-Länder-Kommission forced them to discriminate foreign workers.