Distrust in Works Council: your legal questions answered

Questioner

Can a Works Council pass a motion of no confidence against the Supervisory Board?

Lawyer

A dispute about a decision that deviates from advice from the works council or about which the works council was not asked for advice is submitted to the Enterprise Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam. It is possible to request the decision of the subdistrict court judge on the question whether the entrepreneur should have requested the advice pursuant to article 36-5 WOR. Disputes other than those mentioned above are brought before the subdistrict court pursuant to article 36-1 of the Works Councils Act. The interested party may choose to request mediation by the works council, but this is no longer mandatory. If no solution is found despite mediation by the works council, it will issue a report with advice within two months. A party may also submit a request directly to the subdistrict court pursuant to article 36 of the Works Councils Act. If the works council is of the opinion that a director has taken a decision without consent that is subject to consent under Article 27 of the Works Councils Act, this can be annulled by means of a written statement within one month pursuant to Article 27-4 of the Works Councils Act. The period of one month is calculated from the date on which the decision is made known, while if this has not been made known, the month is calculated from the moment that it is known that the decision will be implemented.