The SP is demanding that Health Minister Wolfgang Mckstein (Grne) speed up the corona bonus. Because although the government announced a tax-free premium averaging 500 euros for health workers in mid-May, there are still no corresponding guidelines or guidelines. Without this, however, the countries cannot pay out the bonus, according to Krnten’s state health officer, Beate Prettner (SP), the complaints are therefore increasing in the countries.
The turquoise-green government originally announced a tax-free premium averaging 500 euros for doctors and nursing staff in mid-May. The federal government will provide up to 95 million euros for this purpose, which will be distributed by the federal states and institutions, according to the press release at the time. One month later, the special payment (expanded to include cleaning staff and staff in inpatient rehabilitation facilities) was decided in the National Council, the countries or facilities should differentiate according to the degree of difficulty of the assignment and thus be able to award a higher premium for activities in Covid or intensive care units. The expansion called for by the SP at the time to include paramedics, hospital building technicians and professions in the field of services of general interest such as supermarket employees was rejected.
“People call and get angry”
“Today it turns out, regardless of whether you have been included in the federal government’s plans or not, you have never seen any money”, criticize the Social Democrats. After all, there are still no regulations from the health department about which professions, under which conditions and in what amount, a corona bonus can be paid out and what the payment modalities look like in concrete terms.
The result, according to SP Lander Prettner: “People call us and are annoyed that they haven’t heard of, let alone seen, about the corona bonus since the big media announcement by the federal government.” In the absence of guidelines from the ministry, however, you cannot do anything other than defend yourself. “To this day there is still no solution for the paramedics in the rescue service and none of the others have heard of, let alone seen, the Corona bonus since Kurz and Mckstein presented themselves,” criticized SP health spokesman Philip Kucher. “It is high time that the so much vaunted heroines and heroes finally experience a sign of appreciation.”
“Complex billing modalities”
“The guidelines for the billing modalities with the countries include the consideration of more complex framework conditions and are currently being finalized,” said Health Minister Mckstein’s office in relation to the APA. The “corona premium” should be a sign of appreciation for employees in hospitals and care for their work under particular stress and with an increased risk of infection in direct contact with patients and those in need of care. Through changes to the Care Fund Act and the COVID-19 Special Purpose Grant Act, federal government grant grants for federal states, municipalities and certain hospital providers have therefore been made possible.
At the same time, it is emphasized in the minister’s office that rewards for work performed under difficult circumstances continue to be “primarily the tasks of the respective employers”. Once the guidelines for the accounting modalities have been set, the corona bonus is paid out via the employer.
