A Berufsverbot disqualifies the recipient from engaging in certain professions or activities on the grounds of their criminal record, political convictions or membership in a particular group.
Under this decree, people who were considered to be a member or aligned to an extremist organization, were banned from work as civil servants (Beamter), which includes a variety of public sector occupations such as teaching.
Berufsverbot is the common name for the decree by people who opposed it, because they claim it contradicts the freedom of occupational choice guaranteed by the Basic Law of Germany.
[citation needed] The law was applied unevenly after 1979, and many of the states of Germany repealed the relevant legislation.
The government subsequently settled with her, providing compensation for her time without full earnings, topping up her pension rights for that period, as well as other modest damages and costs.