SAP: Second works council resigns, suspected wage fraud

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SAP headquarters in Walldorf: unrest in the works council

Photo: Ralph Orlowski / REUTERS

The affair of alleged irregularities in the SAP works council is entering the next round.

A works council member, who was also a member of the supervisory board until the end, resigned his office with immediate effect, said the software company based in Walldorf.

At the same time, SAP and the man mutually agreed to terminate the employment relationship.

Both sides had agreed not to disclose further details.

The "Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung" and "Business Insider" had previously reported on the resignation.

The dismissal follows an internal investigation that cost the works council and another employee his job: The company's former works council chairman only had to vacate his post in June.

He has since been fired from the company.

Investigations into wage fraud

SAP has investigated internally against the employee who has now been terminated on suspicion of wage fraud.

The trigger was a whistleblower's tip.

The works council is alleged to have taken vacation without accounting for it correctly and thus accumulated hundreds of vacation days over the years.

The former head of the works council is said to have manipulated emails in order to protect his colleague.

In internal documents, SAP accused the employee of "making clarification difficult in several ways, suppressing circumstantial facts" and trying to "prevent the truth from being ascertained".

Now both defendants no longer work for the company.

Investigations by the public prosecutor's office

The Heidelberg public prosecutor is also examining the allegation of attempted fraud in the context of an allegedly manipulated supervisory board election.

The authority is investigating the suspicion that a SAP employee should receive 500,000 euros to help the works council in electing employee representatives to the supervisory board.

The case became known after the Heidelberg Regional Court had classified the underlying contract as immoral in a legal dispute.

rai / dpa