participate in designing employer projects, but also to
considerably delaying and sometimes even preventing them. The
Federal Labor Court has now decided how to deal with situations
where the works council abuses the law by putting up blockades,
thus demonstrating clear limits to purely obstructive works
councils.
Federal Labor Court, March 12, 2019, 1 ABR 42/17
The facts of the case
A hospital operator in Lower Saxony drew up monthly work rosters
for medical and nursing staff and submitted them to the works
council with a request for approval. The works council, however,
refused to fully approve the work rosters and rejected them in part
for several months in succession. An agreement before the
conciliation body was not possible either; the works council
– with the exception of a single case – not only
refused the employer's efforts to form a conciliation body by
mutual agreement, but also further delayed its meeting after an
appointment by the labor court,
