The long-term effects of the pandemic and short-time work, inflation and above all problems with care allowances occupied the employment and social law experts of the Perg Chamber of Labor in the past year. A total of 5,428 consultations were carried out in 2022. Of these, 3,797 by phone, 1,400 on site at the district office and 231 in writing.
“The majority of our assistance related to questions on the topics of pay, disability pensions, special pensions, maternity protection and parental leave, employee and employer termination and partial retirement,” says AK district office manager Kurt Punzenberger. A large part of the inquiries could be clarified with a consultation. Sometimes, however, it was necessary to take legal action to help workers recover their claims. The lawyers at AK Perg were able to settle 126 labor law cases – broken down into 91 legal assistance cases in which intervention by the AK was sufficient, and 35 legal representations in which the AK went to court on behalf of its members. A total of 227,965 euros was fought for – 189,434 euros out of court and 38,531 euros in court.
Of course, the amount in dispute in the 85 processed social law cases was significantly larger, namely almost 3.4 million euros. “Our experts in the departments make no difference whether the amounts involved are large or small. It is important to help the law succeed. The smallest success in a labor law case was 77 euros for an employee. The largest sum fought for was 19,560 euros,” said AK President Andreas Stangl on Wednesday at a press conference in Perg.
One employee was particularly successful with the support of the AK, for whom the payment for 635 hours of overtime, night bonuses for 741 working hours and 35 days of vacation compensation were withheld for the time being after the end of the employment relationship. The Chamber of Labor intervened with the employer for the trained baker. Initially without success: the employer did not react. Therefore, the AK went to court and was able to achieve a payment of 7,695 euros in a settlement.
A tricky social law case involved a 27-year-old man from the district of Perg who suffered from narcolepsy – a neurological disorder that often causes uncontrollable sleep attacks several times a day. The man applied for rehabilitation benefits from the pension insurance company. In the first instance, the judge ruled that several sleep breaks are tolerated in the labor market. The Chamber of Labor appealed for the man. Successful: Because in the second instance, the court of first instance was commissioned to obtain an occupational expertise and to clarify to what extent the breaks required by the employee (30 minutes every one to two hours) are actually tolerated by the economy. The court concluded that this is not the case. The 27-year-old now got his rights and receives the rehab money.
