Jochen Brandhoff and Caspar Behme speak out on the TUI Case.

Süddeutsche Zeitung: 23. January 2017. Just one day before the opening of oral arguments at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Detlef Esslinger of the Süddeutsche Zeitung has published an article highlighting the preliminary ruling procedure in Case 566/15, which is being led by BRANDHOF OBERMÜLLER PARTNER (“Weg da!“, SZ Nr. 18 v. 23.10.2017, S. 6 (Politik)). In the piece, our partner, Dr. Jochen Brandhoff, and Of Counsel, Dr. Caspar Behme, attorney and representative of the claimant, explain the origin and purpose of the so-called “TUI Case”.

The question presented to the ECJ is whether the current German corporate co-determination legislation is incompatible with the principles of European Union law. According to the current law, the employees of German corporations working outside of Germany have no right to participate either actively or passively in the election of labor representatives to company supervisory boards.

Jochen Brandhoff and Caspar Behme emphasize that their client’s intent is not to effectuate the abolishment or even the limitation of employee rights to representation in supervisory boards. Rather, with this lawsuit he is seeking to affect the Europeanization of this right to co-determination and thereby broaden its base of legitimacy. His reasoning is that any support for the principle of German co-determination must also encompass support for the inclusion of the company’s workforce abroad in these decisions. The public policy behind the right of co-determination is to ensure the wealth of experience offered by a company’s employees flows into and is reflected in the work of the supervisory board. This policy goal cannot be achieved, however, when a company employs its workforce throughout the Member States of the EU but restricts the right of co-determination to a minority of its employees — that is, giving it exclusively to those employees working within German borders. Companies will often make this restriction even when it employs the vast majority of its workforce abroad.

You can read the full article printed in the Süddeutsche Zeitung here.

We kindly ask members of the media and other interested parties to  address their questions to our attorneys involved in the case: Of  Counsel, Dr. Caspar Behme and our partners Dr. Jochen Brandhoff and Stephan A. Richter, Kaiserstraße 53, D-60329 Frankfurt, info(@)bop.legal, www.bop.legal, Tel: +49 (0)69 34 87 92 00.