The Government of the Reich has decided to enact the following law which is hereby made public:
SECTION I
The Leader of the enterprise and the board of employee representatives.
Paragraph 1
The entrepreneur works in the factory as leader of the enterprise together with the employees and the workers who constitute his followers for the furtherance of the aims of the enterprise and for the common benefit of people and state.
Paragraph 2
1. The leader of the enterprise makes the decisions for the employees and laborers in all matters concerning the enterprise, as far as they are regulated by this law.
2. He is responsible for the well-being of the employees and laborers. The employees and laborers owe him faithfulness according to the principles of the factory community.
Paragraph 3
1. In the case of legal persons and personal groups the legal representatives will be the leaders of the enterprises.
2. The entrepreneur or in the case of legal persons or personal groups, the legal representatives can appoint a person who participates in the management of the enterprise in a responsible capacity as their deputy. This must be done if they do not direct the enterprise themselves. In matters of lesser importance they can also appoint another person.
3. Should the court of honor legally deprive the leader of the enterprise of his qualifications to be a leader, then a new entrepreneur must be appointed.
Paragraph 4
1. Administrations are also considered as enterprises in the sense of this law.
2. Subordinate enterprises and parts of the enterprise which are connected with the main enterprise through common direction will only be considered as independent enterprises if they are situated far away from the main enterprise.
3. The regulations of this law, with the exception of paragraphs 32 and 33, do not apply to Ships, Inland navigation and Air-transport and their crews.
Paragraph 5
1. Representatives recruited from the employees and laborers act in an advisory capacity to the leader of an enterprise with, in the rule, at least 20 employees. They constitute with the leader and under his direction the board of representatives of the enterprise.
2. To the employees and laborers in the sense of the regulations concerning the board of representatives belong also the persons who do piece work at home, who work mainly for the same enterprise either alone or with their families.
Paragraph 6
1. It is the duty of the board of representatives to increase the mutual confidence within the enterprise-community.
2. It is the task of the board of representatives to discuss all measures concerning the improvement of the output, the form and execution of the general labor conditions, especially the enterprise regulations, the execution and the improvement of enterprise-protection, the strengthening of the ties between the members of the enterprise among themselves and toward the enterprise as well as the welfare of all the members of the community. It is furthermore their task to liquidate all quarrels within the enterprise-community. They must also be heard prior to the determination of punishment for violation of the plant-rules.
3. The board of representatives can charge certain representatives with the execution of certain of its tasks.
Paragraph 7
(1) The number of representatives is as follows:
in enterprises with 20- 49 employees.................... 2(2) These numbers are increased by one representative for each 300 supplementary employees until they reach the maximum of ten representatives.
(3) An equal number of deputies shall be designated.
(4) Employees, workers and those who do piece work at home are to be considered in the choice of trustees.
The Chancellor of the Reich|
Source: Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV Office of the United States Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality Washington, DC : United States Government Printing Office, 1946 |