Conciliation committee (works council)

A conciliation committee (Einigungsstelle) is a formal arbitration mechanism defined in German labour law for mediating certain conflicts internally between a works council and an employer. The Works Constitution Act defines the conciliation committee in sections §76–76a.

When a works council and an employer have a difference of opinion or legal dispute, there are usually two ways to legally escalate. The first is through labour court. The second is through an internally established conciliation committee, which is not open to the public.

In the case of enforceable works agreement topics, if the employer and works council cannot agree, the conciliation committee can award a binding works agreement according to §87(2) of the Works Constitution Act. It can also make decisions concerning the works council and individual employee claims.

Structure
The conciliation committee comprises a neutral chair person, usually a labour judge and an equal number of assessors chosen by the employer and the works council, usually two or three each. In more complex cases, a higher number can be necessary. If the employer and works council are unable to agree on a chair person, the labour court appoints one instead per §76(2).

If either the works council or the employer disagrees with the decision of the conciliation committee, they may request a legal review by the respective labour court on the grounds that the conciliation committee exceeded its discretionary authority.

Scope
In cases of disputes between the works council and the employer, the conciliation committees can make binding decisions.

For enforceable co-determination topics, this can be an award as a works agreement or a social compensation plan during mass-layoffs negotiations.

The committee can also make decisions specific to the works council itself, such as the size of the (group/central) works council, which individual works council members can be released from work, the time and place of works council consultation hours.

The conciliation committee can also resolve individual matters including employee complaints, disputes over individual allocation of vacation days. The conciliation committee can be further called in other cases by mutual consent of the employer and works council.

Most information rights of the works council are enforced by the labour court, except for matters under the Finance Committee, which are enforced by the conciliation committee due to the practical sensitivities around business secrets per §109.

In practice
In a 2017 survey by Economic and Social Research Institute (Germany) (WSI) of the Hans Boeckler Foundation, they interviewed 2,000 works councils. Around 15 percent of all companies with a works councils with one or more works agreements, at least one agreement was awarded through a conciliation committee. In larger companies, this likelihood increases to 25 percent.

External

 * § 76 of the Works Constitution Act (official text)
 * Hans Boeckler Foundation – Conciliation Committee (in German)