Preparing for the possible payment of the Capital City Allowance requires your involvement.

As we have communicated to you previously, Freie Universität Berlin is currently exploring its legal options with regard to the Capital City Allowance and the resulting payments that would have to be made to its employees. For that reason, it is preparing for further negotiations with the Berlin Senate concerning how these payments will be financed. The Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Labor Court has postponed the hearing on the applicability of the “Capital City Allowance” collective agreement—originally scheduled for October 13, 2026—to January 5, 2027.

Should the Regional Labor Court affirm the first-instance ruling, the Executive Board will stick to its resolution to waive the limitation period stipulated by Section 37 TV-L (the collective agreement for the German federal states) as well as the statute of limitations. Therefore, you will receive the Capital City Allowance retroactively, effective as of the date the Collective Agreement on the Capital City Allowance takes effect on April 1, 2025, or as of the start of your employment if that date is after April 1, 2025, without having to submit a separate claim.

Because part of the Capital City Allowance could also be paid out as a tax-free subsidy for your employee public transportation pass (“Firmenticket”), the Personnel Division needs to know in advance how you would prefer to have your payment transferred.

Please download the relevant declaration form, fill it out in full, and sign it. Then send the completed form via email to hauptstadtzulage@personal.fu-berlin.de or by mail to the Personnel Division. All completed forms must be received by November 30, 2026. The postal address is as follows:

Freie Universität Berlin
Zentrale Universitätsverwaltung
Abteilung I – Personal
Rudeloffweg 25/27
14195 Berlin

Please only use one of the two aforementioned means of communication. This will make the task of processing the payments much more straightforward.

You can find the cover letter, the relevant form you will need to complete (depending on whether you are an employee or an apprentice), and a summary with background information and explanations in the download area.