Numerous opposition motions postponed
Vienna (PK) – The Social Affairs Committee today launched a series of changes to labor laws proposed by the coalition to implement an EU directive on transparent and predictable working conditions. Among other things, the provisions regarding the service note are to be changed and a right to multiple employment is to be created.
Numerous opposition initiatives, such as child influencers, access to the labor market for migrants or the determination of the inability to work of people with disabilities, were postponed. There was criticism from the opposition parties. Dagmar Belakowitsch (FPÖ) spoke of an “adjournment orgy”, committee chairman Josef Muchitsch (SPÖ) spoke of an “adjournment marathon”. For Gerald Loacker (NEOS) it is “no way” for new applications to be “wiped off the table” in the same breath.
In the future, service notes will have to contain more information
With the votes of the ÖVP and the Greens, the Social Committee sent changes to the rules for rosters, multiple employment and further training to the plenary session (3871/A). In the future, the company’s headquarters, a brief description of the activity, the remuneration for overtime, the method of payment of wages, the duration and conditions of the probationary period and a reference to the termination procedure should also be stated on the duty sheet. In accordance with the EU directive, it is also stipulated that the service note must be handed out immediately after the start of the employment relationship and that employees can also choose an electronic form. The regulations should also apply to freelance employment relationships, to the area of temporary employment, to domestic help and domestic workers, and to home workers.
In implementing the EU directive, a right to multiple employment should also be enshrined. Training, further education and further training should also be counted as working time and must be paid for by the employer if they are a prerequisite for the performance of the agreed activity of an employee due to legal regulations. Penalties for not handing over a service note, a ban on discrimination and protection against dismissal should also be standardized.
A numbering was corrected in committee by means of an amendment. The ÖVP and the Greens also used the debate to submit a committee proposal to align a provision in the Family Burden Equalization Act regarding the accompaniment of a seriously ill child with the current legal situation. All parliamentary groups except the NEOS agreed to the committee proposal.
The new regulations should apply to all employment contracts concluded after the provisions come into force. MP Tanja Graf (ÖVP) justified this in the committee by saying that no additional bureaucratic effort should be caused by reissuing all service notes. Graf also explained that many areas of the directive had already been implemented in Austria. The EU therefore did not initiate any infringement proceedings, even though implementation took longer. Markus Koza (Greens) was happy that the directive was finally being implemented. Ultimately, this would give employees more rights.
Christian Drobits (SPÖ), on the other hand, not only criticized Austria’s tardiness, but also that the social partners were not involved. In his view, the implementation of the directive would have been an opportunity to change a few things. But this was wasted. It lacks effective sanctions and an application to existing employment relationships. Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek (SPÖ) saw the guidelines on part-time employment not being implemented. Gerald Loacker (NEOS) particularly criticized the fact that the implementation was carried out by initiative application and therefore no assessment process took place. He also identified a form of “gold plating”. The newly introduced right to justify a termination by the employer is being introduced “without necessity” and is making the employment relationship more bureaucratic. Dagmar Belakowitsch (FPÖ) agreed with Loacker and described the legal changes overall as a “botch”.
State Secretary Susanne Kraus-Winkler, who represented Labor Minister Martin Kocher, was pleased with the committee’s treatment of the amendment. She pointed out that there had been rounds of negotiations with the social partners in which some of the content was discussed.
Opposition motions on child influencers, tourism funds and people with disabilities
The SPÖ was concerned about so-called child influencers, i.e. minors who work as influencers on platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube (3506/A(E)). Katharina Kucharowits (SPÖ) called for a package of measures to protect children in the digital world. Norbert Sieber (ÖVP) pointed out existing advisory services from Saferinternet.at and advocated postponing the application. On the part of the Greens, Süleyman Zorba nevertheless assured that he wanted to stick to the problem. State Secretary Kraus-Winkler also agreed to bring the issue to Minister Kocher’s attention. The motion was postponed with the votes of the ÖVP and the Greens.
A motion by the Freedom Party, with which they are calling for a feasibility study to create a tourism fund based on the model of the construction workers’ holiday and severance pay fund, was also postponed (3818/A(E)). Rebecca Kirchbaumer (ÖVP) justified her request for a postponement by saying that she was not aware of any specific cases where vacation entitlements of tourism employees were not paid out. Laurenz Pöttinger (ÖVP) also did not want to expand the construction workers’ vacation and severance pay fund to all areas. Peter Wurm (FPÖ), on the other hand, spoke of a pragmatic proposal from which companies and employees would benefit equally. Josef Muchitsch (SPÖ) confirmed this. The aim is to ensure that the holiday entitlements of people who change employment seasonally are not lost.
For NEOS, the recently decided change to the incapacity for work test, according to which the ability to work of young people with disabilities will only be determined from the age of 25, is going in the right direction. However, they take issue with the deadline regulation provided for in the law. The Minister of Labor should therefore be asked to present a concept that also allows young people under 25 who received a notice of incapacity for work before January 1, 2023 to benefit from the change in the law (3841/A(E)). Kira Grünberg (ÖVP) explained that she would also have preferred a solution for everyone affected. However, this would have placed an unreasonable burden on the AMS, she said, and submitted a request for a postponement, which was accepted by the ÖVP and the Greens. Fiona Fiedler (NEOS) called for concrete figures on those affected and the “immense administrative effort”. She doesn’t think there are particularly many people involved.
Postponement of opposition concerns regarding labor market access for migrants
Numerous opposition initiatives on migration issues were postponed. The FPÖ, for example, renewed its demand for a “stop of immigration to the Austrian welfare state” (3713/A(E)). The Freedom Party advocates limiting basic services for all refugees to benefits in kind, even if they have been granted asylum. In addition, they should be able to be obliged to do community service without pay and – if they are integrated into the labor market – have to pay a temporary special tax of 10% of their income.
With another motion for a resolution, the FPÖ advocated restricting access to the labor market for non-Austrians (3670/A(E)). Both sectoral restrictions on immigration for non-EU citizens and EU citizens are called for: internally according to certain criteria as well as a degressive unemployment benefit for long-term unemployed people with non-Austrian citizenship.
NEOS initiatives, which were also postponed, go in a different direction. They are therefore in favor of abolishing the requirement for an employment permit for asylum seekers in shortage occupations (3781/A(E)). They also call for a “modern immigration law” that reduces complexity and bureaucracy in order to attract qualified workers (3839/A(E)). Specifically, only a single authority should be responsible for the red-white-red card and the process should therefore only last a maximum of a week. In addition, the catalog of criteria should be revised and based on the needs of the domestic economy as well as international examples. A red-white-red card for apprentices is also part of the package required by NEOS.
Further opposition initiatives postponed
Further motions from the opposition parties were also postponed. For example, the Social Democrats once again advocated reversing the recently decided reduction in contributions to unemployment insurance, increasing unemployment benefit to 70% of the last income, valorizing unemployment benefit and emergency assistance annually, moving the calculation period for unemployment benefit closer to the time it is claimed and the family supplement to triple (3726/A(E)).
In view of the rise in prices, the Freedom Party once again insisted on relief measures. The demands range from halving or eliminating VAT on basic foods and fuels to an automatic valorization of unemployment benefits to a significant reduction in non-wage labor costs and an abolition of the CO2 tax (3550/A(E)).
An initiative by the FPÖ to legally anchor the 13th and 14th monthly salaries was also postponed (3859/A(E)). What is required is a government proposal that should also ensure tax relief for the sixth of the year as well as the elimination of the payment of the housing subsidy contribution and the Chamber of Labor levy for these special payments.
Reports from the Ministry of Labor on expenses for Corona special care time
Also on the agenda were monthly reports from November (III-1077 dB) and December 2023 (III-1095 dB) on the expenses for the special care time for parents created due to Corona. By the end of 2023, around €37.63 million had been spent from the COVID-19 crisis management fund. A total of 38,746 applications were submitted across all eight phases. The majority of applications (35,882) were approved and paid out, while 2,864 were rejected. As of the end of 2023, there were no longer any applications open. According to the report, the federal government reimbursed the health insurance providers a total of around €58.16 million by May 2023 for the pandemic-related exemption of pregnant women, which was possible from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022 . Both monthly reports were acknowledged with the votes of the ÖVP and the Greens. (Continuation of the Social Committee) kar
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