Supreme Court decision: Company must collect works council levy

Works council decision valid despite voting irregularities

A company objected to the collection and payment of the works council levy, whereupon the works council filed a lawsuit and prevailed at the Supreme Court

To introduce a works council levy, a works council held a works council meeting. The resolution was passed by a secret vote by ballot in partial meetings at several locations of the company. The majority voted in favour of the introduction.

The company opposed the collection and payment of the works council levy, for this reason the works council filed a lawsuit. The company claimed that the resolution had not been adopted correctly, since the works meeting had violated mandatory substantive principles of the law governing works council meetings, including the verification of the attendance and the presence of at least half of the employees.

The court of first instance dismissed the action of the works council. The court of appeal changed the verdict and granted the suit. Although irregularities had occurred, no mandatory principles had been violated and the will of the workforce had been clearly expressed. The entirety of the votes cast was decisive for the valid resolution. The company is thus obligated to the collection and the payment of the work council levy.

The Supreme Court confirmed this decision and cites further reasons. As the basic organ of the workforce within the company, the works council meeting is crucial. The collection of a works council levy is an exclusive right of the employees. The Labour Constitution Act does not contain any provisions on appeals against decisions of the works meeting. As an employer, the company is neither entitled nor obliged to conduct investigations into the internal decision-making of the works meeting. Only in exceptional cases is a company entitled to challenge the result. In the present case, the most elementary principles of an election were not violated. An impairment of the interests of the company by the passing of the resolution did not occur.

If the works council decision were invalid, the individual employee would not be able to sue the employer, but would have to file a direct complaint against the works council fund to obtain pay-back of the works council levy.

The complete decision can be found in German language in the Legal Information System RIS.

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