4 ms·

The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil

The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States I find it hard to believe these councils don’t have the ability to account for international employees, is this a specifically “outside the EU” issue since the examples given are in the Americas, and not any of the neighboring countries they surely have employees in?

fock 6y ago
I guess, N26 can easily setup a works council in the aforementioned countries and just give them the same standing, the german one gets. Very easy, but apparently not what they want.
sdoering 6y ago
Actually they could include non German employees in their works agreements. But none the less these binding agreements are, as far as I am aware, only binding for German work contracts. So even if these protections were written down, that wouldn't protect the international colleagues.as long as they are not employed in a German legal entity. Our works council for example isn't able to represent our Czech colleagues.
- corty 6y ago
  German law doesn't require equal rights for employees in foreign offices, but doesn't forbid it either. N26 can just create a binding company policy ("Betriebsvereinbarung") extending German-equivalent rights to foreign offices' workers. There are some slight complications regarding voting quora (you still need to obey majorities in Germany separately if the foreigners don't agree), but those are rare. Source: My employer has something like this.
andor 6y ago
The works council is defined in the German works constitution law (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/ https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/) that is applicable to companies in Germany. Anyone who is employed by a German legal entity should be accounted for.
bkor 6y ago
It's bullshit (I'm on a Dutch Works Council). The Works Council decides over matters within that country. So anyone in that country is (more or less) represented. Could be a bit more difficult if there's multiple legal entities, especially if some of those are too small. A German Works Council can hold all of their meetings in German. A Dutch Works Council can hold it in Dutch, though German one can really force more things to be in Dutch. The Dutch Works Council has non-Dutch members, the meetings are in English, etc. If a change is also about something outside of NL we do not deal with it. Similarly, if there's some change in some other country we might not even hear about it (which is totally fine!). If the weird statement is a fake fear about employees in another country: setup a similar Works Council in that country. An employer can easily give additional rights, meaning: setup a Works Council-like thing in a country where you aren't required to have one.

fock 6y ago

I guess, N26 can easily setup a works council in the aforementioned countries and just give them the same standing, the german one gets. Very easy, but apparently not what they want.

sdoering 6y ago

Actually they could include non German employees in their works agreements. But none the less these binding agreements are, as far as I am aware, only binding for German work contracts. So even if these protections were written down, that wouldn't protect the international colleagues.as long as they are not employed in a German legal entity. Our works council for example isn't able to represent our Czech colleagues.

corty 6y ago
German law doesn't require equal rights for employees in foreign offices, but doesn't forbid it either. N26 can just create a binding company policy ("Betriebsvereinbarung") extending German-equivalent rights to foreign offices' workers. There are some slight complications regarding voting quora (you still need to obey majorities in Germany separately if the foreigners don't agree), but those are rare. Source: My employer has something like this.

andor 6y ago

The works council is defined in the German works constitution law (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/ https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betrvg/) that is applicable to companies in Germany. Anyone who is employed by a German legal entity should be accounted for.

bkor 6y ago

It's bullshit (I'm on a Dutch Works Council). The Works Council decides over matters within that country. So anyone in that country is (more or less) represented. Could be a bit more difficult if there's multiple legal entities, especially if some of those are too small. A German Works Council can hold all of their meetings in German. A Dutch Works Council can hold it in Dutch, though German one can really force more things to be in Dutch. The Dutch Works Council has non-Dutch members, the meetings are in English, etc. If a change is also about something outside of NL we do not deal with it. Similarly, if there's some change in some other country we might not even hear about it (which is totally fine!). If the weird statement is a fake fear about employees in another country: setup a similar Works Council in that country. An employer can easily give additional rights, meaning: setup a Works Council-like thing in a country where you aren't required to have one.