Legal dispute: VW has to pay ex-managers around 300,000 euros

Braunschweig. Volkswagen has to pay a terminated manager around 300,000 euros in back salary for around a year. This was decided by the Braunschweig Labor Court. VW fired the man because the company believed he had passed on internal information to, among others, the State Criminal Police Office (LKA). The legal dispute between VW and a total of two managers concerns labor courts at all levels.

In September, the labor court awarded the second manager an additional payment of around 200,000 euros. In both cases, the car manufacturer should pay the difference between immediate and regular termination. The court had previously decided that the extraordinary termination was not timely, but that the ordinary separation was effective.

In this case, too, the court rejected VW's demand to be reimbursed, among other things, around 380,000 euros in legal fees. After this second decision, Volkswagen will not receive any information about what exactly the two managers reported.

According to VW, the reason for the termination was the accusation that internal audit reports on the Crafter and Grand California models were passed on to the media and public bodies without authorization. From the company's perspective, this was impermissible and represented a massive breach of duty.

The two plaintiffs from the upper management circle rely on the Whistleblower Protection Act. The men felt pressured and disadvantaged after they first reported internally and later externally about alleged grievances.

After the labor court in Braunschweig, her claim for damages worth millions also failed at the state labor court in Hanover. Now the Federal Labor Court has to deal with it. An appeal is possible against the two most recent decisions.