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Bernd Osterloh (left) as a witness in the process: focus on payment and bonuses for works councils
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
It was about the question of whether HR managers at Volkswagen had for years caused works councils to be paid far too well.
Now the regional court in Braunschweig has acquitted the four defendants of the allegation of infidelity.
The competent chamber ruled that no criminal behavior could be proven.
You did not follow the line of the public prosecutor's office, which had called for suspended sentences and monetary conditions for the executives in their plea.
The process was intended to clarify whether three former managers and one manager who is still in office between 2011 and 2016 approved inappropriately high salaries for particularly influential members of the VW workforce representatives
From a legal point of view, the accusation was of breach of trust, sometimes in a particularly serious case.
The prosecutor argued that part of the profit was reduced by the excessive salaries, which means that VW also paid less taxes.
The prosecution put the damage to the largest European car manufacturer at more than five million euros.
Critics of the group also suspected that the management might have tried to secure the works council's discretion through financial donations before making difficult decisions.
Among the defendants were the ex-corporate personnel managers Horst Neumann and Karlheinz Blessing.
The prosecutor had argued that all four managers had acted in breach of duty and deliberately with regard to the remuneration of senior works councils.
All defense lawyers, however, had pleaded for acquittal.
Defense attorney Hanns Feigen called the judgment "a gratifying decision, which makes it clear that contrary to the opinion of the public prosecutor's office, the remuneration of the works councils at VW is not objectionable under criminal law."
The main negotiation also dealt with the remuneration of the long-time ex-head of the workforce representation, Bernd Osterloh.
In years with high bonuses he achieved total remuneration of up to three quarters of a million euros.
As a witness in the process, he had emphasized: "I was not involved in any payment determination that affects my person."
The main issue was whether there are any binding and sufficiently precise regulations for determining salaries for employee representatives.
It is always important to weigh up at which career level the respective person would be today if he or she had decided instead for a position in management.
In the opinion of some labor law experts, the current Works Constitution Act does not contain any clear guidelines on corresponding remuneration corridors or on which professional comparison groups are to be used when classifying a senior works council.
(File number: 16 KLs 85/19)
mmq / dpa
