In addition to the possibility of counseling offered by the members of the Staff Council, there are other counseling and complaint possibilities available. With your consent, we are happy to co-operate with other related units of the UOL.

Service agreement on conflict resolution and prevention at the working place

§ Section 6 Counselling and complaint options

If an employee feels exposed to unfair behaviour and a clarifying discussion between the parties involved is not possible or the person concerned does not feel able to initiate a clarifying discussion, they should contact the director of their unit and ask for clarification.

The director must intervene in accordance with § 5, initiating a resolution of the conflict. It must be ensured that the people involved are not disadvantaged. All employees can apply for counseling and support from the following units any time (appear alphabetically below). All counselors are required to maintain confidentiality:

• Conflict counseling working group (see § 7)
• Company integration management (BEM)
• ConTakt - advice center for issues related to sexualised discrimination and violence
• Equal Opportunities Office/Central Equal Opportunities Officer
• Inclusion officer of the employer
• Ombud persons
• Central administration department
• Staff Council
• Psychological counselling services for employees
• Representative for Employees with Disabilities/representative for severely disabled people

§ 7 Conflict counseling working group

In certain conflict situations, it turned out to be useful to contact the working group on conflict counseling. It consists of two representatives of the Staff Council and two representatives of the psychological counseling service for employees (PEOE/PBSB) and has the following tasks:

• Serve as a contact unit for employees of all status groups in conflict situations
• Process the particular concern and recommend further options for support
• If necessary, initiate and support a conflict resolution procedure (at the university level), including external assistance on a case-by-case basis
• Public relations work at the university for conflict counseling and prevention

Co-operation

On request and after individual consultation, we also work together with other organizations, such as the company integration management (BEM) or individual psychologists or coaches:

• Counseling & coaching for employees: including support with psychological stress.
• Company integration management (BEM): cooperation for the reintegration of employees.

Options for complaints

Reports under the Whistleblower Protection Act (HinSchG), also known as the Whistleblower Act:

• Internal Audit and Anti-Corruption of the UOL
  Reports can currently be submitted to the mail address of the internal reporting office. The confidentiality of the whistleblower's identity is guaranteed in all cases. It is also possible to submit reports via the internal audit mailbox in building V01, 1st floor on the right. Information can be submitted by phone: 0441 798 3710. The Staff Council can act as an intermediary between the whistleblower and Internal Audit (in this case, the whistleblower is known to the Staff Council, but not to the investigating colleagues). A whistleblower portal that enables completely anonymous reporting by electronic means is currently being developed.
• Reporting centers of the state administration 
  It is further possible to submit a report to external reporting centers of the state administration while maintaining anonymity. The LKA is particularly worth mentioning here with its reporting centre. Further external reporting centres in Lower Saxony are currently being set up.

Reports of antisemitismmitism, racism, hatred, violence, exclusion and any kind of discrimination as well as inappropriate comparisons and generalisations on campus:

• If you are personally affected and would like to talk about your situation, please contact the Presidential Board ([email protected]).
• The same applies if you observe incidents on campus: Please write to [email protected] or contact the University Threat Management. There, you will receive further information and assistance.

In addition to the above counseling options, employees have the right to complain, contacting the staff representatives - in accordance with §59 of the Staff Representation Act of Lower Saxony (NPersVG) and the right of civil servants in the sense of §100 of the Civil Service Act of Lower Saxony (NBG) to submit proposals and complaints to the highest service authority and instantiate action for injunctive relief against violations of general personal rights analogous to §1004 of BGB.