Unauthorized correspondence in the form of cease and desist orders from staff members at the Free University of Berlin is prohibited - Freie Universität Berlin employees' additional warnings not legally validated by court
In a series of recent rulings by the German labor court, Freie Universität Berlin has found itself embroiled in a legal dispute over an employee's appeal and allegations of co-determination rights violations.
The court's decisions have been varied, with the boundary of impermissible defamation not being exceeded in the employee's statements, as stated in a ruling from December. However, the court also determined that further warnings to employees of Freie Universität Berlin are not lawful, as per a more recent ruling.
The university has filed an appeal against these new rulings, following an initial appeal in May, where a warning issued to an employee was deemed unlawful. The court's findings revealed that the university had outsourced cleaning work under worse tariff conditions and had not paid or delayed paying tariff surcharges.
The statements in the appeal were deemed to be value judgments that did not exceed the boundary of defamation. They were also found to be polemical but not unfounded and not directed at personal insult. This has led to criticism of the university for promoting a shift to the right, as stated in the court's recent ruling.
In response to the university's actions, the Verdi works group has called for participation in an action day. The call is not only in response to the university's handling of the employee's appeal but also against the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland). However, no further information about the Verdi works group's call for participation was provided.
The court's recent rulings are all related to the university's handling of the employee's appeal. The date for the oral hearing of the university's appeal has been set for January. The name of the judge who made the decision in the revision procedure in the case of the complaint letter from the employee of the Free University of Berlin is Judge Jürgen Schäfer, who chaired the 3rd Criminal Senate at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe during a similar revision proceeding on February 6, 2025.
As the legal proceedings continue, the future of Freie Universität Berlin's handling of employee appeals and co-determination rights remains uncertain. The university's actions and the subsequent reactions from employees and labour groups are likely to shape the university's approach moving forward.
