Failed to inform Arbeit Agentur about employment on-time

I completely forgot to inform Jobcenter that I have signed a contract and as a result, they transferred me benefits for an extra month. I have sent the money back since, but they sent me a letter titled "Ermittelungsverfhren wegen Verdachts einer Ordnungswidrigkeit". What happens now? Do I have to court? Should I pay a huge fine?

13 Comments

Reply (13)

Faire__Integration_BB

Hello Sara, Thank you for your inquiry. I will try to explain the situation and the procedure to you. Not informing the job center about employment is a "Ordnungswidrigkeit" (irregularitie). A little bit like wrong parking. The job center can impose a fine or a warning for this. However, this depends on the severity of the case and the amount of damage. Both are quiet small in your case, so you shouldn't worry too much. In the letter you received, you can explain your situation and state that you have already remitted the benefits you received wrongly. Try to explain that it was a misunderstanding and that you tried to clear things up as quickly as possible. The job center has the option of issuing a warning or a fine of 55 euros or more. You don't have to go to court now. After a certain time you will receive a notification from the job center. This may inform you the amount of the fine (or just a warning). If you do not agree to this, you can object to the decision. Feel free to write again if you have any more questions. Best regards Jens Leuner

Sarah

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Jens! The only correction I have to make is that I am dealing with Arbeit Agentur, not Jobcenter. The benefits mentioned above is, in fact, Arbeitslosengeld I. Does that change anything? Is it true that the fine could be as large as €5000? And are there going to be any other consequences?

Yara__Community_Manager

Updated:

Hi @Sarah , I think the procedure is not that different at the Agentur für Arbeit. The only difference is that the fine might be slightly higher because you receive higher benefits from the Agentur für Arbeit than from the JobCenter. Please correct me if I am wrong @Faire__Integration_BB .

Faire__Integration_BB

Hi Sara, I agree with Yara. The procedure is not different. What might be different are the individual instructions that the authorities have in dealing with such cases. I've experienced already almost everything here, from "nothing happened" to a fine of between 200 and 300 euros. Unfortunately, this cannot be reliably predicted. I would suggest you let us know when you get the next reply from the employment agency. Then we can see in which direction things are going and what to do.

Sarah

Dear Yara and Jens, thank you both very much! I will let you know how things proceed.

Faire__Integration_BB

OK. I keep my fingers crossed.

Sarah

So a little update here: I filled the form the Employment Agency sent me (in which I accepted my fault of not informing them on-time) and sent it back to them along with a letter in which I explained my personal situation and why I have completely forgotten to react on time due to some personal issues. After a few weeks, they wrote back and said they only issue me a "warning" (so, no fines) and urged me to keep in mind that I need to inform them in similar situations in future. Thank you both very much for your help! :)

Yara__Community_Manager

Hi @Sarah , great news! I am glad they just issued you a warning. In case you have any further questions, we are always happy to help. Best wishes Yara

dreamer11

Hello Sarah,
Thanks for your update here. Actually I also faced same situation now and would like to know how you handle and what did you mentioned to the Employment agency? Kindly let me know.
Your response will be highly appreciated.

Sarah

Hey, I’m really sorry you have to deal with this—I remember how stressful it was when it happened to me, and I worried about it for weeks. As I mentioned in my post above, I simply filled out the form they sent me and accepted responsibility. Along with it, I wrote a short letter explaining, in all honesty, that it was never intentional. I shared that I had a lot going on in both my personal and professional life and reassured them that I never meant to misuse the support system that helped me during the one month I wasn’t working. I also assured them it wouldn’t happen again.

Nothing too complicated, really. In my case, it was only a single month’s benefits that were overpaid, which might have contributed to their leniency. If you’re still relatively new to Germany, it might also help to mention that navigating the bureaucracy here isn’t always straightforward. Remember that there is a deadline you must keep for sending back the filled form (and the letter, if you wish to compose one).

Fingers crossed for you!

dreamer11

Hello @sarah @Yara__Community_Manager
Thank you both of you for your response on my query. As in such situation it gives enough courage to tackle the situation. I have fill the form and submitted to the office. Lets hope that they will understand my situation and forgive me.
Thanks again for your wishes and prayers.
May god bless us all..!

Best Regards,

your friend

dreamer11

Updated:

Hello All,
Need your suggestions on my problem.
As I started new job and completely forgot to inform BundesAgentur fur Arbeit that I have signed a contract and as a result, they transferred me benefits for 3 extra month. I have already sent the money back since, but they sent me a letter titled "Ermittelungsverfhren wegen Verdachts einer Ordnungswidrigkeit". What happens now? Do I have to court? Should I pay a huge fine?
I saw some of you already faced this @Sarah
It will be great if you can let me know how did you tackle the situation @Yara__Community_Manager
Your response is highly appreciated!

regards

Yara__Community_Manager

Updated:

Hi @dreamer11 , thanks for posting on this thread. I understand this situation can be stressful.
Sarah and our experts from Faire Integration BB have a wonderful thread here explaining the next steps. I hope you found it useful.
Are there any open questions this thread doesn't mention?
As mentioned in the thread the next steps are:

1. Inform the Bundes Agentur für Arbeit as soon as possible that this was a misunderstanding on your part and that you have transferred the money back already.

2.You do not have to go to court now. They might issue just a warning or a fine. You can appeal the decision of the fine. It is hard to judge how large the fine will be. But since you have already paid the money back I am assuming it will not be so high, no need to worry too much.

3.Let us know when you receive a reply from them and we can help you with the next steps.

Please let me know if you have any further questions. I hope this gets resolved soon!
Best wishes

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