If no change is made, an appeal to the VfGH is possible
Vienna (OTS) – The Medical Act stipulates that the children of deceased doctors receive an orphan’s pension up to their 27th birthday if they are full-time students. The Medical Association for Lower Austria does not adhere to this legal regulation, criticized Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz in the ORF program “Citizens’ Lawyer” on May 19th. In the statutes of its welfare fund, it links the orphan’s pension to the receipt of family allowance, which ends at the latest at the age of 25. “I assume that the medical association will correct its legal error and change the statutes accordingly,” said Achitz: “If not, the Ombudsman has the opportunity to challenge the provision at the Constitutional Court.”
The Medical Act stipulates that the surviving dependent is entitled to an orphan’s pension if he/she has not yet reached the age of 27, as long as he/she is in school or vocational training. The more detailed regulations should be set out in the statutes. The statutes of the Lower Austrian Medical Association’s welfare fund have stipulated family allowance receipt in addition to the legal requirements for the orphan’s pension.
“It does not work like that. Through the statutes, the medical association may specify details of the payment or set a higher pension. What it is not allowed to do: reduce the legal entitlement,” explains Ombudsman Achitz: “The statute is a regulation, and a regulation may not contradict the law, but only clarify it.”
An example of this is the Vienna Medical Association, which only stipulates the requirements set out in the Medical Act for receiving an orphan’s pension.
Achitz is calling on the Medical Association for Lower Austria to adapt its statutes to the legal rules as quickly as possible: “Normally, regulations are quickly corrected when the Ombudsman points out that they are illegal.” If this still does not happen in this case, the Ombudsman has the legal authority to challenge the relevant provision at the Constitutional Court: “We use this again and again – quite successfully.”
SERVICE: The Ombudsman’s office is at post@volksanwaltschaft.gv.at and the free service number 0800 223 223.
Questions & Contact:
Florian Kräftner
Media spokesman in the office of Ombudsman Mag. Bernhard Achitz
+43 664 301 60 96
florian.kraeftner@volksanwaltschaft.gv.at
volksanwaltschaft.gv.at