According to § 54 para. 1 Sentence 1 in conjunction with Section 54 Para. 2 BetrVG, a group works council can be set up for a group through resolutions of the central works councils and possibly the works councils. The Works Constitution Act does not itself determine when a group exists and which companies belong to the group. § 54 Abs. 1 BetrVG refers in this regard to Section 18 Para. 1 AktG.
There is no independent concept of a group under works constitution law. By resolution of February 14, 2007 ( 7 ABR 26/06 ), the Seventh Senate decided that the establishment of a group works council in accordance with Section 54 Para. 1 Sentence 1 BetrVG only comes into consideration if not only the companies combined under a single management but also a group parent company have their headquarters in Germany.
In a multi-stage group with a parent company based abroad, a group works council can also be formed for the companies located in Germany if the foreign parent company makes significant use of its management power, but a dependent company based in Germany acts as the head of the domestic subgroup essential management tasks in personnel, social and economic matters remain to be carried out independently by the subordinate companies. About the wording of Section 54 Para. However, beyond 1 sentence 1 of the BetrVG, a group works council cannot be established if the parent company of the group has its headquarters abroad and no other (partial) group management is located in Germany.
The requirements for further legal training are not met. § 54 Abs. 1 BetrVG does not contain any unintentional loophole in the cases of parent companies located abroad. On the one hand, the legislature quite consciously referred to Section 5 Paragraph in the works constitution. 3 MitbestG comparable subgroup regulations. In addition, the headquarters of a dominant company abroad does not lead to the loss of employees’ participation rights when it comes to company co-determination, but only to their relocation to a different level in the affiliated companies. In this case, the participation rights according to the BetrVG are exercised by the central works councils and works councils of the companies belonging to the group.