Experts from the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor provided a total of 316,040 consultations last year. The bulk of that — 245,965 — was done over the phone. Significantly fewer consumers – 40 percent fewer than before the start of the corona crisis – came to the AK personally with their problems: 37,011. The rest was clarified in writing. Although the year 2021 was also marked by the corona pandemic, the number of consultations and the amounts won by the AK had fallen to the pre-crisis level, said Ernst Stummer, Deputy Director of the AK Upper Austria, yesterday at a media event on the occasion of the “Performance Account 2021 “.
The consulting practice in the AK Linz and in the 14 district offices was mainly characterized by questions about the currently valid corona rules in the workplace. Towards the end of the year, there were still more inquiries from employees about the 3G regulations and the planned compulsory vaccination. In addition, there were also questions about labor law, such as the termination of employment, examination of employment contracts or questions about pay, said Stummer. In labor law, the consultations had mainly revolved around dismissals, unpaid overtime or outstanding wage and salary payments, while in social law it had mainly been about pensions, care allowances and unemployment benefits.
If advice was no longer sufficient, the AK lawyers came into play: 12,700 legal acts were processed in the past year. 7,600 legal cases were brought to a conclusion in or out of court for the AK members in labor and social law matters as well as in insolvency proceedings. “The success rate in labor law was over 80 percent,” said Stummer.
AK President Andreas Stangl explained that the AK Upper Austria had fought for a total of 89.2 million euros in the previous year and thus significantly less than in the previous year. This is due to the decline in insolvencies, said Stangl: While 46.4 million euros were won for the affected employees in insolvency proceedings in 2020, it was 10.3 million euros in the previous year. The reason for this is the generous Corona aid for companies, which would have prevented numerous company bankruptcies.
Stangl sees the vaccination requirement critically. 3G should remain in the workplace. “I believe that it is not justified for me as a company to decide whether 2G or 1G applies,” said Stangl.
Source: Nachrichten
