As of: February 22, 2024, 3:37 p.m
By: Bjarne Kommnick
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Overtime, night shifts and weekend shifts – this was the order of the day for a baker for 28 years.
But he wasn't paid for it.
Vorarlberg – A baker from Vorarlberg, Austria, receives compensation of 27,000 euros from his former employer, as
today.at
reports.
The Chamber of Labor in Austria came to this conclusion after the man was fired.
Baker works overtime for 28 years - without being paid for it
The baker worked for the company for 28 years.
His employer used a prolonged illness as a reason to terminate his employee.
When he had his employment relationship checked retroactively, it turned out that overtime, night shifts and weekend services were consistently not paid.
Most recently, an entrepreneur called for overtime to be exempt from tax.
A baker was not paid for overtime, weekend work and night shifts for 28 years - now he is receiving compensation © IMAGO/imageBROKER/Oleksandr Latkun
However, the compensation amount would not begin to reflect what the man would have been entitled to.
“In the current case, the baker has probably lost a lot of overtime and bonuses for many years,” as Gloria Kinsperger from the Chamber of Labor explained to ORF.
According to the expert, “something could only be claimed for the most recent three years”.
Employees are not allowed to work overtime, with the exception of two special cases
According to the United Services Union (Ver.di), overtime is generally not permitted.
Labor law states that “working hours on weekdays may not exceed eight hours per day”.
Although working hours could be extended to up to ten hours, employers must compensate their employees within six months to guarantee an average working time of eight hours.
The case of illness when working overtime is also regulated by law.
Unfair working conditions: What can I do about unpaid overtime?
If in doubt, colleagues who know operational processes and your situation can give helpful tips to avoid overtime in the future.
Talk to colleagues.
If colleagues find the situation similarly stressful, it may be easier to address problems in the group.
Speak to your supervisor who is responsible for the roster.
Explain the grievances and make it clear what burden the overtime causes.
Ask for relief or appropriate compensation.
If the conversation with your superiors has no effect, contact your works council or employee representatives.
The United Services Union (ver.di) also
offers
help.
(Source: Macht-immer-sinn.de)
Ordering overtime is only permissible in two special cases.
On the one hand, in crisis and emergency situations that threaten the existence of the company.
On the other hand, overtime is also permitted if there is a special operational need.
This can be the case, for example, if many employees are sick at the same time and the company is therefore at risk.
But even in this case, compensation must be granted within six months.
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Federal Ministry of Labor: “Unpaid overtime has continued to decline”
At least in Germany, “unpaid and paid overtime have fallen continuously over the past ten years,” as the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor explains.
This emerges from statistics from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) on working time calculations from November 2023.
The number of unpaid overtime hours per employee was 20.1 in 2022 (2012: 27.5).
The average number of paid overtime hours was 14.2 (2012: 22.7).