Ms. P. and Mr. Q. work in a company and share an office. Both are members of the works council, of which Mr. Q. is the chairman. To facilitate communication and improve organization, a WhatsApp group is set up for the members of the works council.

Mr. Q. seizes this opportunity to send Ms. P. funny clips and pictures via WhatsApp by doing so directly to Ms. P., not through the group. Although she never signals her consent, his messages soon contain ambiguous content until they are clearly sexual in nature and pornographic. Ms. P. deletes and ignores the messages.

In time as the messages increase in obscenity, she first contacts the company's employee advisory hotline. Upon their advice, she asks Mr. Q. to stop immediately. As he tries to talk his way out of it, Ms. P. calls in a witness for the discussion with Mr. Q. Further, she contacts the HR department, to whom she describes the instances and shows the videos.

On the basis of these facts, the employer finally applies to the works council for approval of the extraordinary termination and immediate dismissal of Mr. Q. The works council refuses to give its consent. This leads to a legal dispute and the case is taken to the Regional Labor Court.