Works council

Updated 16 October 2026 Reading time: 3 min

On this page

Who is the area for?
Confidentiality (§ 79 BetrVG)
Sub-areas and legal bases
Notifications
Documents for Download (PDF)
Kai in the Works Council area
What the area deliberately does not do

The Works Council area is a separate, isolated workspace for all works council activities: meetings and resolutions, participation procedures with deadlines, works agreements, employee concerns, committees, training, and company meetings. Each function references its legal basis in the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG).

The employer provides the platform but does not access its content: Even administrators cannot view works council content.

Info

The area is enabled by your company's administration. If it is missing from the navigation, contact the administration.

Who is the area for?#

Who	What
Works Council members (regular and alternate members)	work in the entire area
Chair and Deputy Chair	additionally manage members, release minutes, publish works agreements, and decide on support access
Representatives for Severely Disabled Employees, Youth and Trainee Representatives	participate in meetings in an advisory capacity and only see their meetings, agendas, resolutions, and minutes
All employees	submit concerns and topic suggestions, view office hours, and published works agreements
Platform administration	enables the area and its sub-areas but cannot view any content

Confidentiality (§ 79 BetrVG)#

Access only via membership: Who can work in the area is determined solely by the works council member list. No role or administrator rights can replace it.
Isolated storage: Minutes, drafts, and documents are stored in separate folders. They do not appear in any file list, search, sharing, export function, activity overview, or analysis of other users.
No AI processing in the background: Works council files are not indexed or shared with Kai. Only members can use Kai, and only on documents they open themselves.
Support only with consent: If IT needs access, e.g., for troubleshooting, they request support access with a reason and duration. The chair or deputy must approve or reject it. Access is read-only, expires automatically, and every access is logged for the works council.
No recordings: Meetings are never recorded or transcribed (§ 30 (2) sentence 2 BetrVG).
Notifications without content: Emails and alerts never include a case title, person, or the text of a concern.
Retention (§ 79a BetrVG): The works council determines after how many months the platform automatically deletes personal data.

Sub-areas and legal bases#

The area consists of a base that is always available and eight sub-areas. The administration enables the sub-areas individually. A disabled sub-area is invisible, but its data remains preserved.

Sub-area	What it covers	BetrVG
Members, Overview, Settings (always available)	Seats, alternate members, chair, advisory participants, homepage with everything pending	§§ 9, 25, 26
Meetings and Resolutions	Schedule, invite, conduct meetings, make resolutions, take minutes	§§ 29–36
Participation Procedures	Personnel measures, terminations, social matters, operational changes with deadlines	§§ 87, 99–103, 111
Works Agreements	Draft, final version, publication, subsequent effect	§ 77
Concerns	Complaints, questions, and suggestions from employees	§§ 84, 85
Topic Suggestions	Employee topics with support and quorum	§ 86a
Committees	Works committee, additional committees, working groups, economic committee	§§ 27, 28, 28a, 106–108
Training	Training per member, entitlement, notification to the employer	§ 37 (6) and (7), § 40
Assemblies and Office Hours	Company and department meetings, activity reports, office hours	§§ 39, 42–46

Each area, every procedure, and many fields reference the relevant section with a link to gesetze-im-internet.de and an explanatory sentence.

Notifications#

Alerts appear in the platform and via email, never with confidential content:

Occasion	Who is notified
Meeting invitation	all invitees
Alternate member added	the alternate member
Deadline approaching / last day	Chair, Deputy, responsible person
New case from employer (workflow)	Chair, Deputy
Information marked as incomplete	whoever submitted the case via workflow
New concern	Chair, Deputy
Response to a concern	whoever submitted it (not for anonymous concerns)
Support access requested	Chair, Deputy
Support access decided, revoked	the requesting person

Warnung

Invitations, deadlines, and new cases are sent by email even in "Do Not Disturb" mode and outside working hours, as a missed deadline may be considered consent.

Documents for Download (PDF)#

Statement to the employer
Minutes (draft with watermark; archived version after signature)
Excerpt for the employer
Resolution excerpt
Resolution register
Directory of works agreements
Training notification
Activity report of a meeting

Kai in the Works Council area#

Members use Kai to work on their documents, e.g., minutes or a draft agreement.
Works council content is not stored in any Kai knowledge base accessible to others.
Published works agreements are known to Kai for all employees via the legal catalog.

What the area deliberately does not do#

No recording or transcription of meetings.
No access for administration or employer without works council consent.
No content in notifications, calendar entries, or workflow results.
No legal advice.

Wichtig

No legal advice: The platform reflects legal rules and cites the sections. The decision remains with the works council.