New operating system at work? No right of co-determination for employees!

An interesting decision from an area that is not really considered a major IT issue was announced today by the Berlin Administrative Court.

Key Facts

The Berlin Administrative Court ruled on the co-determination obligation for software launches.
The introduction of Windows 10 and Office 2016 is not a measure subject to co-determination.
Objective evidence of data monitoring must be available in order to demand co-determination.
The software changes do not affect any monitoring options if they are used without objection.
The court emphasized that changes to the software do not automatically activate co-determination rights.
The decision is based on existing and frequently used PC applications.
Lack of staff council involvement did not lead to a breach of co-determination rights.

The latter ruled that the introduction and application of a new program version (in this case Windows 10 and Office 2016) does not constitute an infringement under Section 85 para. 1 No. 13 b) PersVG Berlin is a measure subject to co-determination which is intended to monitor the behavior or performance of the employees.

In addition, the court ruled that for the objective possibility of monitoring data access on the PC or on the server beyond that there must be concrete evidence that justifies the assumption of the risk of possible surveillance.

The introduction of Windows 10, combined with the switch to Office 2016, therefore did not violate the right of co-determination of the staff council even without its involvement. Interesting also the following statement in the judgment:

It is added that these are only new programs of already existing and used PCs. According to the above-mentioned case law of the Federal Administrative Court, each subsequent change in the operating system or in the programs is again subject to co-determination as a new case of application. In the opinion of the Board, however, this does not mean that a new program or a new version of a program alone can trigger a new instance of codetermination if the previously used application has been used without objection for years.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.