Controversial sickness absence – sick leave counts for the disabled as a “vacation”

According to Statistics Austria, around 760,000 people live in Austria with a “registered handicap”. Most of them are provided by family members. One of these caring family members is Claudia Sengeis. The Viennese takes care of her adult son, who is in care level 5, and also leads a self -help group for parents who are in a similar situation. That is why she knows exactly what problems with family members who care about have to struggle every day.

When Sengeis hears the term ‘self -determined life’, she can only laugh, because it is a dream for her. “Where is the self-determination if you are not allowed to go to the family every weekend and is also bad if vacation is counted?” Is the 53-year-old irritated and indicates that residents of guided residential institutions in Vienna can take a total of 70 absence days and a total of 80 an annual annual job or absence of vacancies.

The background is clear: the airlines and their partners are largely financed with tax money. Of course you should pay attention to efficiency. Nevertheless, the head of the self -help group is “removed”, in which around 500 families have networked with family members who are nationally dependent on care: “Saving is saved in the wrong place.” Moreover, you do not choose a disease, so there are often no days that have no debts.

In the case of a contingent, the inhabitants of houses or visitors of such a fairly daily structure often have to pay space costs, otherwise the loss of the care location threatens for people who are already on a waiting list. Sengeis had to pay 700 euros for her son in 2023 and 1127 euros in the previous year. These regulations are largely applicable in all federal states. However, the costs and financing heights are equipped differently. Disabled representatives have long insisted on a standardization. In the course of Krone’s investigation. Ate Vienna and Lower Austria (82 absenteeism) came to the fore as those federal states where is the greatest protest.

The public prosecutor also criticizes this “fine payment” that not everyone can afford – especially single mothers or fathers who have to accept salary as a caring family member because they are not fully available for the labor market. The lawyer of people Bernhard Achitz also sees the need for efficient use of tax funds. However, he emphasizes that there are already strict tests. “Only those who need such a place to live it.

Volksanwalt: “You have the right to weekends with the family”
The public prosecutor welcomes the fact that sickness absence in Vienna was increased to 80 in the daily structures in Vienna. At the same time, Achitz points out that an increase in the contingent in Lower Austria would be more important, because due to the larger distances, “a few hundred kilometers can come together for a week.” The public prosecutor even demands the complete abolition of the absence rules, because: “Austria has promised to implement the UN Convention on the rights of a disability. People with disabilities must be able to decide as independently as possible about their lives.

Especially people with a higher degree of disabled people need more contact with their own family or close people, as well as a nourishing mother of Sengeis’ self -helkgroep: “I get my son every weekend for therapeutic measures, ie activities that do his mind and body well.

What is actually considered an absence
In fact, the personnel situation in many places in many places in the weekend is even worse, so it would be thought that it would even be an “exemption” for the supervisors if the number of residents on Saturday and Sunday is reduced. Daily structures are of course excluded here because they were not open during the weekend. Professions can only be ‘collected’ during the week in these facilities. Incidentally, the absence is in daily structures if the person involved is less than four hours in one day. Visits to the doctor and the hospital and spa enclosures are not considered an absence. However, you do not always go to a hospital if you are sick. This is the aspect that is criticized by the affected. Because vacation and illness “apparently equated”, Sengeis complains.

In the fund of the Social Affairs Vienna, which is responsible for the financing and promotion of childcare and residence in the federal capital and is bound to the Vienna Social Welfare Act and the financing guidelines, the fact that the tax money must be used efficiently: “Care spots should not remain unused.” The shortage regulation offers a “reliable framework”.

FSW: “Loss of space or extra payment very rarely”
At the same time, the FSW ensures that the partner organization is disconnected “whether or not the space agent in the care contract has been agreed”. Additions or even the loss of a space would only be “very rare”. “If sickness absence is exceeded, the partner organization generally proactively contacts customers, family members or representatives of adults to discuss the individual situation and to show possible extra costs,” explains FSW spokeswoman Anika Sauer.

The increase in absenteeism that is a contingent to 80 days, which, by the way, with the participation of the FSW customer council (a selected group of residents or visitors to daily structures, Anm. D. Red.) had already been drawn up, but had already contributed to a “significant improvement” of the situation. Another increase is currently not planned. FSW spokeswoman Sauer mainly points to the 70-day border for places in fully supervision, which are “particularly cost-intensive”. These facilities must be available for customers who need this close form of care.

Speaking of the costs: the contribution that must be paid by the customers in Vienna depends on the amount of the income and the amount of the healthcare allowance. The guided persons have a certain monthly amount to cover personal needs (20 percent of income and 45.20 euros from the healthcare allowance; at least 132.82 euros and EUR 45.20 of the healthcare allowance).

Caritas as one of the largest social institutions in Vienna and Lower Austria and also a partner organization of the FSW also evaluates the increase in the absent contingent, but sees the regulations as a major burden for the people involved and their family members. As with the public prosecutor, the question here is: “We would welcome the abolition of the deviation to reduce this burden. In our opinion, it would be logical to compare people in day structures with employees- with a clear right to vacation and sick leave.” Caritas is also looking for the conversation before it is absent, “that has not yet been lost or high extra payments,” the aid organization emphasized. The focus is on individual solutions in consultation with residents or daily structural customers and their adult representatives.

Lower Austria department argues for the shortening of the absent days
Just over a year ago in a statement from the state of Loower Austria compared to the news platform behind Bijtenpfeit. In the establishment of a compensation fund for hardships, it is no longer spoken. There is also no change in the planned deviation. On the contrary, there is the office of the Responsible FPö State Councilor Susanne Rosenkranz on Krone. At: “The Lower Austria Landelechungshof spoke for a reduction in the absence days when the handicapped assistant assessment, especially in the case of absence of the client through the legal entity for the legal entity for the payment of the country.”

In other words: for less performance, the same flat rating amount is still paid by the country. The switch to a daily exercise model is also stimulated by the Hof van Auditors. The council member’s office answers the criticism and the fear of the affected and their family members that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Generational Support “is not known in this context known for the loss of care”.