Chamber of Labor balance sheet

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When a company becomes insolvent, employees lose their jobs and often have to fight for the money they are entitled to - with the help of the Chamber of Labor. Last year, 1326 Carinthians who were affected by one of the 363 company insolvencies were represented by the Chamber of Labor.

(Bild: Marco2811 - stock.adobe.com)

Difficult economic times, rising unemployment figures, many insolvencies and redundancies mean a sharp rise in the number of free legal protection consultations at the Chamber of Labor; 126,363 were provided last year. And every case means an individual fate.

"An employee at a construction company was wrongly classified. For many years, he had been paid too little: 1,900 euros gross per month. Due to the statute of limitations, we were only able to claim the last few years. The man received 50,000 euros," reports Herbert Diamant, Head of the Insolvency Law Department, about a case in the consultation.

"Every case is a fate. And the numbers are rising. The top three topics discussed by the Chamber of Labor experts were termination of employment, pay/classification/overtime and payroll accounting," says Maximilian Turrini, Head of the Labor and Social Law Department at the Carinthian Chamber of Labor. 

Perennial issue: termination during sick leave
Another problem is dismissal during sick leave. "During a period of sick leave through no fault of her own, an employee was, well, let's say 'brought in' to terminate her contract by mutual agreement. The continued payment of remuneration was stopped, which was legally wrong. After our intervention, she received 3500 euros," says Turrini.

We have been offering free legal protection since 1992. Since then, we have won 688.9 million euros for AK members. In the previous year alone, there were 126,363 consultations and 81 million euros were won in 2024.

Günther Goach, Präsident der Arbeiterkammer Kärnten

"Once again, we are calling for protection against dismissal for employees on sick leave," says AK President Günther Goach, who recalls that the Chamber of Commerce's spokesperson for the hospitality industry had put forward the idea of booking the first three days of sick leave as vacation, thus further reducing the level of protection in the event of incapacity to work. "A woman with cancer is dismissed while on sick leave. That happens too often. It's a social bad habit!"

More insolvencies, more problems for employees
Due to the 363 company insolvencies in the previous year, 1326 Carinthians sought advice from the Chamber of Labor. The "Insolvency Protection Association for Employees" (ISA) steps in. More than ten million euros could be claimed for those affected. "After the early warning notification to the AMS, there can be no dismissal for 30 days. However, the company can apply to shorten the period. If the AMS approves the application, even though there is no social plan yet, the employees lose 30 days to look for new work. This has just affected 130 employees of a Carinthian company," says Turrini, referring to a company bankruptcy.

AK Director Susanne Kißlinger, Maximilian Turrini, Günther Goach, Gerald Prein, AK Deputy Director Irene Hochstetter-Lackner, Herbert Diamant, Michaela Eigner-Pichler at the labor and social law review 2024.

(Bild: AK Thomas Hude)

According to Goach, sufficient funds should be made available for the Public Employment Service, as unemployment figures are likely to rise in the future, and good advice and training are important in order to be able to quickly place people in jobs again. "The AK is therefore calling for a stop to staff cuts and the reduction of the AMS budget," says Goach.

"Insurance policies are getting tougher"
The AK experts are increasingly having to deal with the issue of rehabilitation money. "Many people are having it cut, insurance is getting tougher. In the end, it often turns out that this was a wrong decision," says Turrini. According to Gerald Prein, Head of the Social Law Department, we also know from care allowance proceedings that the care allowance was often set two levels too low. "We have a success rate of 59 percent. That's higher than ever before. So a correction is needed."

It will be necessary to increase the unemployment benefit: to 70 percent. The 55 percent in Austria is in the bottom third across Europe. Unemployment benefit is an insurance benefit that people largely pay themselves. And marginal employment should remain possible.

Günther Goach, AK-Präsident

Pregnancy is treated as a problem
All too often, women seek help from the Chamber of Labor because they are pressured into terminating their employment by mutual agreement after announcing their pregnancy to their employer. "This has consequences: There are differences in childcare allowance depending on whether an employment relationship exists at the time of birth or not," says Michaela Eigner-Pichler, Head of the Department for Career, Family and Equality.