The first reported the daily newspaper “Der Standard” on Thursday. The ban on unemployment benefits should therefore follow “if they only refuse a reasonable job or do not apply at all because a vaccination is required there”.
From the AMS it was said that it was not a matter of a decree and that the legal situation had not changed either. Kocher only answered an informal request from the AMS how to deal with cases when an unemployed person applies for a job that requires vaccination. A request for a vaccination does not automatically make a job unreasonable.
Head: “AMS has not been corrected to query vaccination status”
In the past there were only a few problems, for example when a kindergarten required a vaccination that the applicants could not show, according to the AMS about the “standard”. In such cases, another job was found.
“The AMS is not authorized to ascertain the vaccination status of jobseekers. For this reason, the AMS cannot take this into account when making applications,” wrote AMS board member Johannes Kopf on Twitter on Thursday. “After consultation with the Ministry of Labor, the AMS informs that in those cases in which a future employer permissibly requires a vaccination (e.g. in the health sector) and employment is refused for this reason, the examination of a sanction according to § 10 AlVG is assigned has to take place “, so Kopf. In individual cases, the AMS can block unemployment benefits for a certain period of time as a sanction.
Criticism from SPÖ and FPÖ
SPÖ and FPÖ criticized the approach. “This is the next time that Sebastian Kurz will break a promise that he made only a few days ago in the ORF summer talk, namely that there will be no compulsory vaccination,” said SPÖ social spokesman Josef Muchitsch in a broadcast. “People have paid in. This is their money from an insurance that they have previously paid into,” said Muchitsch in a broadcast. FPÖ federal party leader Herbert Kickl locates unequal treatment. “This particularly affects women who are disproportionately not vaccinated, including perhaps a number of single mothers,” said Kickl. One would in any case introduce an anti-discrimination law for unvaccinated people in parliament.
The Ministry of Labor pointed out that the legal situation has not changed. Under labor law there is no distinction between “reasonable” and “unreasonable” vaccinations. “The unemployed can also be placed in positions where vaccinations are required in connection with the exercise of the profession. Whether sanctions are possible in individual cases depends on the circumstances in the individual case,” said the Ministry of Labor on Thursday at the APA request. In some areas it is currently necessary in the health sector to show proof of vaccination against certain diseases, such as measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox and in some areas also for hepatitis A and B.
“In individual cases, a sanctionable job interview can be given to people who are looking for employment, particularly in the health or care sector, and who indicate to the employer that they are not prepared to oppose COVID-19 without demonstrable, individual health reasons to get vaccinated “, so the Ministry of Labor.
The number of corresponding cases in which job seekers have not accepted a job because of a mandatory Covid vaccination can only be estimated according to the AMS. So far, there have been only a few individual cases, it said at the APA.
Salzburg Chamber of Labor: “Counterproductive individual measure”
Criticism also came promptly from Salzburg: The Chamber of Labor called the possible suspension of unemployment benefits on Thursday a “counterproductive individual measure”. One is against “compulsory vaccination through the back door for people looking for work”. “There is no compulsory vaccination in Austria. The ministry can therefore not demand from the AMS that unvaccinated people receive unemployment benefits if they do not apply for jobs for which a vaccination is required, ”said AK Salzburg President Peter Eder Society.
