Right on time with a view to the regular works council elections taking place again throughout Germany next year between 1 March and 31 May 2026, the German Federal Labour Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht, BAG) has taken a landmark decision concerning the works council election in matrix structures (BAG, decision of 22 May 2025 - File No. 7 ABR 28/24, only published as press release so far).
Nowadays, many companies have a matrix structure where employees and executives of various units - even across national borders if necessary - cooperate. Often, employees are led by executives, who are at a different location, however, are working in the same company or with another group company. In the IT service company concerned, the work tasks were divided into different areas in which employees from various organisational units cooperated in teams and were led by so-called matrix executives.
But how does such an organisational structure, where an executive leads employees in various units, relate to the eligibility to vote in works council elections?
In the case at hand, the election committee had considered matrix executives to be eligible to vote who were superiors of the employees belonging to the respective unit. Therefore, the matrix executives participated in the works council election which was subsequently contested by the employer.
The BAG now affirmed a voting right of matrix executives and considered the works council election to be effective. In the press release published in this context, the BAG clarified that executives, who lead employees in several units of the same company due to an internal matrix structure and are integrated into the company organisation, have an active voting right in all of these units. Unlike the previous instance (Higher Labour Court (Landesarbeitsgericht, LAG) of Baden-Wuerttemberg, decision of 13 June 2024 - 3 TaBV 1/24), which only provided for an eligibility to vote of matrix executives in their "main unit" assigned to them under their employment agreement and denied it in all other units, the BAG, thus, assumes a multiple eligibility to vote. The eligibility to vote pursuant to section 7 German Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, BetrVG) is linked to the employee's affiliation to the company. This affiliation is founded on the integration into the company organisation. If an employee is already integrated into a unit and, thus, is eligible to vote in this unit, this does not preclude his additional eligibility to vote in another unit. Consequently, it is possible to be eligible to vote in several units. In the opinion of the BAG, multiple integration into different units results in a corresponding multiple eligibility to vote of the executives concerned.
For a final assessment of the judgment and its consequences for the practice, the publication of the grounds of the judgment must be awaited. In the light of the works council elections already taking place next year, however, the considerable relevance of the BAG's current decision should already now be pointed out. The decision is of great practical importance for dealing with matrix executives in works council elections, since it results in a multiplication of the eligibility to vote for matrix executives who lead employees in several units. As a consequence, they must be registered on the electoral rolls of all units in which they lead employees.
For future works council elections, employers are therefore advised to take increased care when verifying eligible voters. Under certain circumstances, a significantly higher number of eligible voters must be expected. This will ultimately also influence the size of the works council committees (section 9 BetrVG): The number of works council members might increase, which will then be accompanied by an increased cost burden for the employer due to the works council work (section 40 BetrVG). The employer will also have to provide considerably more information to the election committee in order that an appropriate classification of the executives can be made by the election committee when preparing the electoral rolls (section 2 (2) sentence 1 First Ordinance on the Implementation of the German Works Constitution Act (Erste Verordnung zur Durchführung des Betriebsverfassungsgesetzes, Wahlordnung, WO).
The BAG has only published a press release so far. As soon as the grounds of the judgment are available, a follow-up article on this topic will appear.
