"Wage fraud"

47 million hours of overtime were not compensated in 2023!

According to Statistics Austria, every fourth hour of overtime was not compensated with money or time off in lieu last year (symbolic image).

(Bild: thinkstockphotos.de)

In the previous year, millions of hours of overtime were once again worked without employees seeing anything in return, criticizes the ÖGB, citing figures from Statistics Austria. In total, almost 47 million hours of overtime are said to have been worked without monetary or time compensation. "Every fourth hour of overtime is unpaid free work, meaning that employees are missing out on a total of 1.45 billion euros in gross pay," calculated ÖGB Managing Director Ingrid Reischl.

This corresponds to 28,000 full-time jobs. Around 25 percent of men are not compensated, and 28 percent of women, a significantly higher proportion of whom work part-time. Reischl is calling for a better and fairer distribution of work and penalties for "black sheep". "This is nothing other than systematic wage fraud," says the trade unionist angrily. In addition, the state would lose 430 million euros in social security contributions as a result.

Her tip for all employees who are not paid overtime: Don't wait too long and hope for improvement. Because overtime can expire very quickly. Many employment contracts, for example, stipulate that overtime can no longer be claimed after just three months, says Reischl.

It is incomprehensible that on the one hand people work so much that their health suffers - while others have no work. In order to counteract unfair practices on the part of companies, double pay should be due for the affected hours if overtime pay is withheld.

ÖGB-Geschäftsführerin Ingrid Reischl

The pro-employee Momentum Institute today spoke of a "wage theft". "There is a clear gender gap in unpaid overtime: while women are not paid for more than 28% of their overtime, slightly less than a quarter of men remain unpaid," says Jakob Sturn, economist at the Momentum Institute.

SPÖ: "Legislators must intervene here"
"Legislators must intervene here," emphasized SPÖ social spokesperson Josef Muchitsch. He demands that all overtime and extra hours worked must be reported, extra hours should be paid like overtime with a 50 percent surcharge, and a 100 percent surcharge should be added to the wages owed if wages are withheld. "The time for excuses must be over for the governing parties," said Muchitsch.

The Chamber of Labor also criticized the "wage theft" - and this in times of continuing immense inflation, according to Ines Stilling, AK Head of Social Affairs. Overtime is still too cheap and systematic wage dumping is not sufficiently sanctioned. The AK demands that the overtime bonus should not only be increased to 50 percent, but that part-time employees should also be entitled to it from the first hour. The time compensation period of currently three months should also be abolished.