The top topics in the deliberations at the Chamber of Labor district office in Eferding last year were once again incorrect salary and pay slips, dismissals, pensions and partial retirement.
Last year, AK members seeking advice and help contacted AK Eferding a total of 3,800 times. In a number of cases, the AK lawyers had to take legal action and won a total of 3.2 million euros for employees. A lot of money was involved, especially in the around 60 social law cases, in which 2.6 million euros were won. This primarily concerned pension and care allowance claims. An example from social law is the case of a waitress who turned to the Chamber of Labor after an accident at work. The woman slipped on the way to work and had to have an operation on her foot in the hospital – she was out for some time. Since it was an accident on the way, she applied for a temporary disability pension from her social insurance provider, but this was rejected. A court case ensued. A report clarified that there was a 20 percent reduction in earning capacity and that a provisional disability pension would be granted.
District office manager Werner Wagnest emphasized that it makes no difference whether the cases involve large or small amounts. “The smallest win in a labor law case was 90 euros, the largest amount won was 22,688 euros.” He also pointed out that it makes a difference whether a company has a works council or not. “73 percent of our legal cases concerned employees who work in a company without a works council.”
The AK also supported 71 employees from nine insolvent companies so that they could access their entitlements from the insolvency remuneration fund.
Author
Michaela Krenn-Aichinger
Local editor Wels
Michaela Krenn-Aichinger