Due to current circumstances, Krebshilfe is calling on those responsible for politics to enshrine effective protection against dismissal for seriously ill people in law.
If an employee is in hospital, a written notice of termination must be sent to the hospital. A cancellation delivered by post is deemed to have been effectively delivered if the cancellation letter is left on the bedside table or in a post office box designated for the patient.
Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO)
Vienna (OTS) – “If an employee is in hospital, a written notice of termination must be sent to the hospital. A cancellation delivered by post is deemed to have been effectively delivered if the cancellation letter is left on the bedside table or in a post office box designated for the patient.”
These “instructions” for termination can currently be found on the website of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and are causing indignation among cancer patients, relatives and the Austrian Cancer Aid. “When the WKO openly “advertises” to its members how employers can terminate their employees on sick leave as easily as possible and without personal contact in the hospital, we find this to be extremely disturbing and borderline, to say the least,” says Krebshilfe -President Univ.-Prof. Dr. Paul Sevelda.
The Austrian Cancer Aid would like to expressly thank the many employers who do not abandon employees suffering from cancer and do not fire them when they are on sick leave – although it is often difficult to do so, especially in small (family) businesses with few employees Time to “get through” work-wise. However, cancer patients must not be dependent on the social responsibility of employers. They rightly demand that their jobs not be taken away from them in the midst of their strenuous therapies and psychological highs.
No general protection against dismissal during sick leave for cancer patients
There is currently no general protection against dismissal during sick leave in Austria. Cancer patients do have the right to apply for “favored disability status”. However, this only provides “conditional” protection against termination. If a dismissal occurs, it must be taken to an arbitration tribunal at the Ministry of Social Affairs and negotiated with the employer – but Cancer Aid identifies a number of problems. “Firstly, it is hardly known that there is the possibility of applying for “favored disability status,” says Cancer Aid CEO Doris Kiefhaber. “Secondly, for many patients it is an understandable emotional hurdle to apply for “disability”. And thirdly, our experience shows that negotiations before the arbitration tribunal very often do not result in reinstatement but rather in advance payments. This means that the patient no longer has a job after the strenuous therapy has ended,” says Kiefhaber.
One example of many
If, in addition to the shock of the diagnosis, stressful medical treatments and the difficult emotional processing of their serious illness, cancer patients are completely unexpectedly confronted with the termination of their supposedly secure job, cancer support is often their first point of contact – this was also the case with Andrea. “I was 45 years old and had been working as an accountant in a medium-sized company for 9 years. Due to my breast cancer, the operation and the stressful chemotherapy treatments, I had been on sick leave for a few months when I was unexpectedly given written notice of termination. I was blown away. I never would have expected that. Until then, I didn’t know that it was even possible to be fired while on sick leave.”
Fear of termination
According to Krebshilfe, it is not “just” about effective dismissals during sick leave, but above all about the fear of cancer patients BEFORE dismissal. “We are concerned that more and more patients are continuing to work despite exhausting cancer treatments for fear of being fired,” said Kiefhaber. “But this inevitably leads to them completely overtaxing themselves mentally and physically.”
Krebshilfe calls for legal protection against dismissal while on sick leave
The Austrian Cancer Aid sees several options for protecting cancer patients from dismissal while on sick leave – for example by aligning the protection against dismissal for pregnant women or by blocking periods for dismissals for the duration of incapacity to work due to illness (Swiss model). “From our point of view, with the appropriate political will, it would be easy to ensure the urgently needed protection against dismissal for cancer patients in Austria too,” said Sevelda. “It is imperative that this protection is enshrined in law.”
Questions & Contact:
Doris Kiefhaber, Managing Director of the Austrian Cancer Aid
Tel. +43 676 502 43 72
e-mail: kiefhaber@krebshilfe.net