Whether employer inquiry into waiver of travel expense reimbursement for mandatory school training violates the civil service duty of care

The Federal Administrative Court allowed the plaintiff-teacher’s appeal and ordered that the appeal to the full court be admitted due to the fundamental significance of the legal issue, overturning the lower court’s refusal. The dispute concerned a civil servant’s challenge to the employer’s practice of inquiring whether teachers intend to waive all or part of the reimbursement of travel expenses when submitting a travel request for mandatory school training events. The decisive legal basis is Section 132(2) No. 1 of the Administrative Court Procedure Act, which permits admission of an appeal where a question of general importance requires clarification, specifically the compatibility of such cost-waiver inquiries with the constitutional principle of care (*Fürsorgegrundsatz*) in German civil service law.