Criminal proceedings are to clarify whether Volkswagen has been paying works councils for years in excess of remuneration and bonuses. In the pleadings, the prosecution and defense maintained their points of view.
In the infidelity trial against three former Volkswagen personnel managers and one incumbent, the public prosecutor has demanded suspended sentences and monetary conditions.
With regard to the remuneration of leading works councils, the defendants acted contrary to their duties and willful, said public prosecutor Sonja Walther on Monday in the Braunschweig regional court. All defenders of the executives – including the ex-Group HR directors Horst Neumann and Karlheinz Blessing – pleaded for acquittal. (Ref .: 16 KLs 85/19)
On the fifth day of the negotiation, the parties argued again about appropriate payment for senior works councils, if they have been released for many years to do their voluntary work. The public prosecutor is convinced that Volkswagen has paid excessive remuneration and bonuses to the long-standing Group Works Council Chairman Bernd Osterloh and other high-level employee representatives. The prosecution put the damage to the largest European car manufacturer at more than 5 million euros.
Infidelity in a particularly difficult case
The public prosecutor’s office saw itself essentially confirmed by the hearing in the Braunschweig town hall. She accuses the HR managers of infidelity, sometimes even in particularly serious cases. For ex-HR director Neumann – in office from 2005 to 2015 – she therefore demanded a suspended sentence of one year and ten months. In addition, he is supposed to pay a premium of 1.5 million euros for a charitable cause.
For his successor, Blessing, the prosecutor applied for ten months’ probation and payment of 200,000 euros. The other two HR managers are to receive sentences of two years on probation and 750,000 euros and six months on probation and 30,000 euros. All defense lawyers, however, demanded acquittals for their mandates. Subsequently, the defendants also use their closing remarks to firmly reject the allegations of infidelity.
Payments inappropriately lavish?
The court now has to decide whether the influential members of the employee representatives were granted inappropriately lavish remuneration between 2011 and 2016. In years of high profits and bonuses, works council chairman Osterloh, for example, received total remuneration of up to 750,000 euros. The allegations are not directed against him, however, against Osterloh himself there is a separate aid proceedings. As a witness in the process, he had emphasized: “I was not involved in any payment determination that affects my person.”
However, Osterloh’s extraordinary career was often at the center of the negotiations. Again and again the question came up how someone should be paid who was once a so-called complaint handler in vehicle production and later became the works council chief of a global corporation. Since May of this year, Osterloh has been Chief Human Resources Officer at VW commercial vehicle holding Traton in Munich.
According to the prosecutors, the HR managers had deliberately chosen criteria for determining the salaries of the senior works councils in such a way that an increased salary was apparently justified, although this was not correct. The defense denied this and said the audited salaries were in order. The lawyers stated that the works councils concerned had each had “considerable careers” and often negotiated “on an equal footing” with management.
The verdict is due to fall on Tuesday (9:30 a.m.), originally the proceedings were planned to last until the end of October.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
