Sick Leave Dispute Escalates: vida Attacks WKÖ Over Misleading Statement

In the ongoing discussion for weeks about possible abuse of sick leaves by employees, the union vida is now deploying heavy artillery. It demands a retraction from the Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) of what it considers misleading statements by the chamber and has also approached the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labor with a request to initiate a supervisory procedure against the WKÖ.

Dispute over Billion-Dollar Damage from Sick Leaves

The trigger is a report by the daily newspaper "Der Standard" from October 1, according to which the Chamber of Commerce calculates that abusive sick leaves cost the economy up to 8.5 billion euros annually in lost value creation. For vida, the case is clear: "This approach by the WKÖ constitutes the offense of deliberately misleading the public and WKÖ members," it writes in a release on Thursday.

Hebenstreit: Number Taken Out of Context

"This number is demonstrably false in the context of abuse. The 8.5 billion euros come from the WIFO absenteeism report from 2023 and refer to the total costs incurred by all reported sick leaves - both legitimate and illegitimate," says vida chairman Roman Hebenstreit in the open letter. Hebenstreit demands therein to initiate a supervisory procedure against the WKÖ "to clarify the circumstances of this false report."

He justifies this by stating that "the intentional or grossly negligent dissemination of untrue facts by a public law corporation" contradicts the principle of legality.

(APA/Red)

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