Even when on early retirement, civil servants are obliged to undergo reasonable measures to restore their fitness for duty. This has now been ruled by the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Bautzen in the case of an ailing tax officer. If they fail to do so, civil servants breach their duty of service and commit a breach of official duty. The Higher Administrative Court thus upheld the most severe penalty imposed on the civil servant and revoked his retirement pension. A key factor in the decision was that the civil servant repeatedly and persistently refused to undergo inpatient psychotherapy (Ref.: 12 A 109/25.D dated 10 June 2026).

Under the Saxon Civil Service Act (Section 75(2) SächsBG), it constitutes a breach of duty if a civil servant culpably fails to comply with an instruction to undergo appropriate and reasonable measures to restore their fitness for duty. In the court’s view, the breaches of duty in this case were particularly serious, as the sick tax officer acted intentionally and had, as was foreseeable, permanently prevented his return to duty.