A work’s council can be elected by company’s employees, if there are 5 or more “company external employees” (i.e. no close relatives of the employer). Which tasks, duties, and responsibilities the work’s council in Austria has can be read here.
The work’s council can be only elected, if there are 5 or more “company external employees” (i.e. no close relatives of the employer). His term of office is 5 years.
Main tasks:
- Work’s council agreements in regards to (by law) defined topics, such as:
- Flexitime
- General regulations in regards to vacation
- Implementation of different control measurements within the company
- Inspection rights in regards to compliance with collective agreement and legal regulations, such as:
- Remuneration according to collective agreement
- Equal treatment
- Employee protection regulations (e.g. working time, protecting clothes, etc.)
- Insight rights into all payroll records
- Real right of co-determination for worsening relocation or contract changes (above 13 weeks) of an employee
- Information rights in regards to
- Start of employment – posteriori information
- Collective agreement classification, probation period, fixed contract end, end of employment, and job tasks
- Information and veto rights in regards to
- 1 week prior to terminating an employee
- A posteriori information about a firing
- Possibility to challenge a termination at court, however, this possibility is given to each individual employee as well
- Information rights on recurring topics of the „operations management“ and economical information (e.g. operating numbers, order situation, etc.)
Duties:
- To maintain absolute silence in regards to personal and company details
- Having all employees’ backs
- Acting as a “connector” between management and the employees
- Showing massive inequalities
The work’s council has no influence on:
- Individual agreements/contracts
- Individual salary raises – agreements made in „target agreements talks“ with employees
- Economic decisions from management
The above mentioned tasks, responsibilities, and duties are only examples and should provide an overview on this topic. In case of questions or doubts, please feel free to contact us.