When it comes to dismissals without notice at the rental car company Sixt, the Verdi union is alarmed. She suspects that the reason for termination was ultimately just an excuse to prevent the election of a works council. The Düsseldorf Regional Labor Court (LAG) had recently accepted such dismissals, but Sixt had nevertheless rejected the allegations. The situation appeared to be similar on Wednesday before the Stuttgart labor court. It was about an employee at the Sixt branch at Stuttgart Airport who, according to Verdi, was fired under employee terms and conditions because of an accusation that she had made a false rental car booking after she wanted to set up a works council. According to the court, she rented a vehicle for herself and deliberately set a cheaper price. The employee, who worked at Sixt for eight and a half years, denies the accusation. However, according to its own information, the court dismissed the lawsuit against the immediate termination. The chamber assumes that the plaintiff attempted fraud. Verdi union secretary Özay Tarim believes the allegations are completely out of thin air and the plaintiff will appeal.
According to the union, the employee tried to initiate a works council together with two colleagues in September last year. After a meeting at which she tried in vain to set up an electoral committee, the main initiator was dismissed without notice. A second initiator has now also been terminated; according to Verdi, she is said to have kept a customer waiting too long. Verdi has already filed a lawsuit for protection against dismissal. “The right to co-determination is being fought with all means and tricks, inconvenient employees are being thrown out the door with contrived reasons,” criticized Verdi man Tarim in advance. Sixt, on the other hand, sees itself confirmed by the Stuttgart judgment. “Verdi’s accusation is simply false,” commented a Sixt spokesman. “The court decided that the termination is effective.” Otherwise he does not want to comment on ongoing proceedings.
So now it looks as if there will still be no works council at Sixt. There have been several similar cases at Sixt in recent years, always following the same pattern, at least to outsiders. A coincidence of events can be seen, which begins with one or more employees wanting to set up a works council. Various people affected report attempts at intimidation by superiors. Before the works council election can take place, they receive notice of termination for various reasons.
In 2021, for example, this happened to three employees at the Sixt branch at Düsseldorf Airport. Just when they wanted to install an employee representative body, Sixt terminated them without notice for, among other things, tardiness and trespassing. The Düsseldorf Regional Labor Court declared the terminations invalid in November 2022 and an appeal was not possible. The judge had previously offered the employees a severance payment of 90,000 euros, which they rejected because, as they said, it was not about money. Sixt had to employ the three employees again.
However, a works council was not founded. According to information from Verdi, they unexpectedly left the company a few weeks later. Although they were about to set up the first works council at Sixt, which would have been historic. They also let Verdi know via a lawyer that further contact was not desired. Verdi union secretary Özay Tarim still suspects that the women may have reached an agreement with Sixt after all. “Why should they suddenly give up after 14 months of fighting for a works council?” he asked himself at the time. They probably didn’t go for free and even paid for a lawyer.
“It’s about democracy in a company.”
Sixt always rejects such speculations, including a year ago. “The three employees left the company at their own request,” it said in a statement at the time. “We don’t know the real motives for this step.” Sixt also expressed the suspicion that the three women were “not interested in setting up a works council, but rather in high severance payments.” Sixt “did not comply” with these demands. In principle, Sixt welcomes “any form of constructive dialogue with the workforce,” it said.
“It is solely the decision of our workforce whether they want a works council,” said a Sixt spokesman on Wednesday. “So far she has decided against it several times in secret elections with almost all votes.” Tarim remains skeptical: “Unfortunately, the employees cannot act as freely as Sixt likes to portray when it comes to the topic of the works council,” he says. The competitor Europcar, which has a works council, proves “that employee representation does not pose a threat to a company,” he says. “It’s about democracy in a company.”