Under the Works Constitution Act, the works council has a right to access information regarding the gross salary of employees. Such information is provided to the works council in form of a chart including relevant compensation details. In a case decided by the Higher Regional Labour Court of North Rhine Westphalia – Hamm – (judgment …
Tag Archive: co-determination
Restructuring of a business in Germany – an overview
Where restructuring measures comprising collective redundancies become necessary, the employer must fulfil a number of legal requirements to successfully implement such measures. While it is sometimes tempting to implement the necessary restructuring in a way that ignores the various legal requirements (e.g. co-determination of the works council etc.), there are only exceptional situations in which …
The Works Council’s right of co-determination regarding the Employer’s Facebook presence
The German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) decided on 13 December 2016 that the Works Council has a right of co-determination when the employer’s Facebook page allows other users to post comments, which are related to the behaviour and performance of the employees. The employer operates a blood donor service. The doctors working at the blood …
Co-determination of the works council concerning Facebook presence of the employer
The Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) decided on 13 December 2016 (docket number: 1 ABR 7/15) that the works council has a right of co-determination if an employer launches a Facebook page and allows Facebook users to publish posts on his Facebook page which refer to the behavior or performance of individual employees. The employer …
No right of the works council to remove a managing director
The works council has no right to have the company´s managing director removed, the Higher Labour Court Hamm (Landesarbeitsgericht Hamm, docket number 7 TaBV 11/16) ruled on 2 August 2016. The works council had claimed to remove the managing director of the employer pursuant to sec. 104 of the Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, BetrVG). …
Instructions about phone use require prior consultation of Works Council
On 18 November 2015, the Labour Court (Arbeitsgericht, ArbG) Munich (November 18, 2015 – docket-number: 9 BV-Ga 52/15) decided that an employer must consult the works council prior to establishing and enforcing a ban on private mobile phone use. In this decision the works council (plaintiff) argued that a ban of mobile phones at the …
Fake camera in the workplace – No co – determination right for works council
The works council does not have a co-determination right where the employer installs a fake security camera on the premises. This question was subject to a decision issued by the higher labour court Mecklenburg-Vorpommern dated 12 November 2014, docket number 3 TaBV 5/14. The employer, a clinic, had installed a fake camera at the back …
Gender quota in boardrooms from 2016
At the beginning of this month, German lawmakers passed a law requiring companies to give 30 per cent of seats on a supervisory board to women as of next year. It is intended to increase this quota to 50% from 2018 onwards. The new rules apply to listed companies with a co-determined supervisory board, ie …
Works council election 2014: Election can only be stopped for obvious and gross mistakes
Employers are only allowed to prevent works council elections, if the election is void due to serious and obvious mistakes. In the case at hand, the employer, who runs two facilities with separate work councils, refused to cooperate with the election board prior to the works council election. The two existing works councils planned to …
These boots are made for walking…No right of co-determination when renovations extend the distance to the toilet
A works council does not have the right to prevent reconstruction of the entrance to the works council’s room even if the reconstruction measure increases the distance to the bathroom facilities. The works council of a carrier company filed a lawsuit at the Higher Labour Court (Landesarbeitsgericht, LAG) Hessen (March 3, 2014 – docket number: …