Employers May Not Access Works Council Data

According to a decision of the Regional Labour Court of Düsseldorf dated 7 March 2012 (docket no. 4 TaBV 11/12), an employer may not arbitrarily access data stored on the works council's drive of the EDP system.

In the case at hand, the employer had discovered an eight-page opinion on an ongoing unfair dismissal action on the works council's drive. Since it assumed that a member of the works council who was not released from his employment duties had drafted the document during his work hours and had therefore failed to work the contractually specified work hours, the employer sought a judicial declaration to the effect that it could also examine the document history without the works council's consent and thereby determine the time of the processing of the document and its author.