Administrative emergency costs Viennese teachers hundreds of euros

On average, it takes around three years for a teacher in Vienna to be correctly classified, says Simon Lechner, chairman of the Austrian Professors Union (ÖPU). Years of staff shortages in the Vienna Education Directorate are to blame for the “incredible delays” in calculating previous service periods and the associated “massive loss of income”. The presidential department in the Education Directorate is responsible for the calculations. “There is a major administrative emergency there,” says Lechner, who immediately calls for more staff and reports that the clerks have a “high potential for frustration.”

“Sometimes drastic net wage losses”

The ÖPU interest group calculates: If a teacher has three years of previous service and the education directorate needs three years for the classification, the gross salary for this period is almost 18,000 euros too low. If the file of a teacher with eight years of previous service remains unprocessed for four years, the sum rises to almost 46,000 euros.

A current recalculation and additional payment will be made without interest. In addition to inflation, the additional complicating factor is that the selective additional payment leads to higher taxation than higher monthly salary payments. “In the end, the Vienna Education Directorate’s default will result in some drastic net wage losses,” writes the ÖPU in its broadcast on Monday. The Vienna Education Directorate left an OÖN query unanswered.

In Upper Austria “not so dramatic”

Pregnant teachers in Vienna also have massive disadvantages, as the current – too low – salary is used to calculate the weekly allowance and the income-dependent childcare allowance. In addition, according to the ÖPU, the delays affect older career changers who would usually have a higher level of previous service.

In Upper Austria the situation is “not so dramatic,” says Werner Hittenberger from the ÖPU technical committee for Upper Austria. The correct classification would be in the range between three and six months.