As of: February 19, 2024, 12:00 p.m
By: Carina Blumenroth
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At Kununu you can evaluate your former employer both positively and negatively.
A company sued the platform and won.
How it goes on.
Before applying, some people check various review portals, such as Kununu, to see how other employees rated their time there.
You get a rough insight into what leadership mentality, benefits and salary can be.
Bad reviews can potentially be detrimental to companies.
A company sued and the Hamburg Higher Regional Court ruled that companies can request the real name of the author from Kununu in the event of bad reviews.
Kununu wants to take action against this.
Kununu: Mention the real name or delete the rating
According to the judgment of the Hamburg Higher Regional Court, Kununu must name or delete names if necessary.
Kununu is seeking legal clarification.
© Kerstin Kokoska/Funke Photo Service/Imago
If employers doubt a negative review, Kununu must give them their real name.
The author has no right to anonymity, the
lawyers Wilde Beuger Solmecke
inform on their website.
The experts are relying on urgent proceedings by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Hamburg.
This means that this is a temporary regulation.
Kununu officials have already written in a press release that they want to have the decision reviewed in order to obtain a “legally binding and final decision”.
For this purpose, main proceedings are sought.
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Current case: “Be careful when choosing a company” – rating at Kununu
Two current (autumn 2023) assessments that the company, which is not known in detail, could not understand, are the background to the OLG ruling.
The reviews, which are publicly available, say, among other things, “be careful when choosing a company” or “put six” on the company.
The company questioned its authenticity and asked Kununu to delete the reviews.
WBS Legal
reports that Kununu demanded evidence of possible infringement that justified deletion.
This proof was not provided.
Kununu asked the authors of the reviews for evidence that could prove the authenticity of the reviews, such as proof of activity.
The Hamburg Regional Court rejected the application to delete the reviews.
The judges there were of the opinion that the anonymized evidence was sufficient.
The company filed a complaint.
Review at Kununu: How does it actually work?
If you as an employee want to create a review, first select the company and then indicate what connection you have to it.
So “current job”, “ex-job” or “application process”.
Optionally, you can add the department and position.
Then rate in the text field or with star ratings.
Finally, enter your email address.
This is used by Kununu for questions and will not be published.
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OLG HH upholds the complaint: Don't be at the mercy of bad reviews
The Higher Regional Court agreed with the company that they could receive the real names of the authors and have their review deleted, Wirtschaftswoche
informs
.
The reason for this is that companies have to be able to understand whether the authors are really known to them.
This is intended to exclude false allegations.
Evidence in the form of pay slips or certificates sent to Kununu is not enough to check the legality, the
wiwo.de
portal reports .
Kununu ruling: “Protect the identity of our users”
Kununu announced a review of the urgent judgment and informed in a press release that they saw a “clear contradiction to the established jurisprudence of the Federal Court of Justice”.
It will probably result in a main proceedings.
We make it clear that we will continue to protect the identities of our users and that this decision does not oblige us to release our users' real names.
Nina Zimmermann, CEO Kununu, according to the press release
Those responsible also rely on the views of the Federal Court of Justice that anonymous assessments are in order and that documents can be forwarded in anonymized form if necessary and are sufficient as evidence.
According to Kununu, there is currently no “necessity to introduce a real name requirement or to issue one as part of the review of a review”.
A new, pending judgment will result in the pending review of the decision.
This could change the way Kununu and other review portals work to protect the anonymity of their users.
They are currently obliged to do this.