Anti-Discrimination Complaints Office
Designated body to receive and examine employee complaints of discrimination on protected grounds. Confidential intake, documented investigation, and notification of the outcome to the complainant.
AGG § 13
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What is the Anti-Discrimination Complaints Office?
The Anti-Discrimination Complaints Office is the body an employer must designate to receive and examine employee complaints about discrimination. The duty comes from Section 13 of the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG), which gives every employee the right to complain to a competent office in the establishment if they feel disadvantaged, by the employer, superiors, colleagues or third parties, in connection with their employment on a ground protected by the AGG.
The protected grounds are set out in Section 1 AGG: race or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age and sexual identity. Discrimination can be direct, indirect, harassment or sexual harassment as defined in Section 3 AGG. The complaints office is the internal channel through which an affected person can raise such conduct without going straight to court.
Section 13 requires that the complaint be examined and that the result be communicated to the complaining employee. The law does not prescribe a specific organisational form, so the employer decides who runs the office, for example HR, a works-council-linked body, a dedicated equality function or an external ombudsperson, as long as it is competent, reachable and able to handle complaints confidentially.
The office sits within the AGG's broader employer duties: the obligation to prevent discrimination under Section 12 AGG, the protection against victimisation under Section 16 AGG, and the duty to publish the AGG and information about the complaints body in the establishment under Section 12 paragraph 5 AGG. Handling complaints fairly, confidentially and on record is the core of the function.
Core duties of the Complaints Office
- Receive complaints under Section 13 AGG from employees who feel discriminated against on a protected ground.
- Provide a confidential, low-barrier intake channel that staff can actually reach.
- Examine each complaint and establish the relevant facts in a documented process.
- Assess the conduct against the protected grounds and definitions in Sections 1 and 3 AGG.
- Communicate the outcome of the examination to the complaining employee per Section 13.
- Coordinate appropriate measures by the employer where discrimination is found, under Section 12 AGG.
- Protect complainants and witnesses from victimisation under Section 16 AGG.
- Keep confidential records of complaints, steps taken and outcomes.
- Inform staff that the complaints office exists and how to reach it under Section 12 paragraph 5 AGG.
- Report anonymised patterns to management to improve prevention.
When is designation required?
The designation duty is general: under Section 13 AGG every employee must be able to complain to a competent office in the establishment, which means every employer covered by the AGG has to designate such a complaints body. There is no headcount threshold and no industry limit; the right to complain exists in any employment relationship within the scope of the Act, so the practical question is not whether but how the office is set up.
The employer has organisational freedom. The office can be a single named person or a small body, it can sit in HR or be a dedicated equality or compliance function, and it can be supported by an external ombudsperson. What matters is that it is genuinely competent to examine complaints, reachable by all employees, and able to act confidentially and free from conflicts of interest. Where a complaint concerns the very person who would handle it, an alternative route must exist.
The employer must also publicise the office: Section 12 paragraph 5 AGG requires the Act and information about the body to be made known in the establishment, for example by notice or in the intranet. Designation alone is not enough; employees must know the channel exists and trust that using it will not disadvantage them, which the anti-victimisation rule in Section 16 AGG protects.
- Any employment relationship within the scope of the AGG
- A new establishment or entity employing staff
- Restructuring that changes who holds the complaints function
- A conflict of interest requiring an alternative complaints route
- Updating internal policies and the Section 12 paragraph 5 AGG notice
- Introducing or revising a code of conduct or whistleblowing system
Sectors that need this role
- All employers within the scope of the AGG, regardless of size
- Public administration and public-sector bodies
- Healthcare, hospitals and care providers
- Retail, hospitality and services with large workforces
- Manufacturing and industrial employers
- Education and research institutions
- Financial services and professional firms
- Logistics and transport operators
- Non-profits and associations with employees
How CIVAC supports the Complaints Office role
CIVAC gives the Section 13 AGG complaints office a confidential, documented workflow from intake to outcome. Each complaint becomes a tracked case with a responsible owner, the examination steps as tasks and a deadline for communicating the result to the complainant, so the Section 13 duty to inform is never lost. The documentation pillar stores the facts established, measures decided and outcome notifications as access-controlled records, supporting both confidentiality and later evidence. The notice obligation under Section 12 paragraph 5 AGG and recurring anti-discrimination training become scheduled, assignable items. Anonymised case patterns can be surfaced to management so prevention under Section 12 AGG is driven by evidence, not anecdote.
Frequently asked questions
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