Too many minus hours

Mayor Oleschko kicks out deputy mayor without notice

A bang in the Pyramidenkogel community: Mayor Gerhard Oleschko (Team Kärnten) dismissed his deputy mayor Karl Dovjak (SP), who is also the manager of the Pyramidenkogel facilities, without notice. One of the reasons is said to be manipulated minus hours.

It is no secret that the mayor of Keutschach and his deputy are not the best of friends. Time and again, the two politicians cause a stir with cross shots against their rival. Now the dispute between Oleschko and Dovjak has culminated in a dismissal without notice. "I had to do it to protect the community," Oleschko told the "Krone" newspaper.

Vice allegedly manipulated working hours
Dovjak, who has been the manager of the Pyramidenkogel for years, is said to have accumulated a total of 1,600 minus hours since 2018. "A red party colleague then reported him to the state's municipal department in March," says Oleschko: "And shortly afterwards, the hours were manipulated. Minus hours suddenly became plus hours."

It paints a bad picture for our municipality. That's why I had to do this to protect the municipality.

Bürgermeister Gerhard Oleschko

For this reason, the mayor of Keutschach also contacted the company responsible for electronic time recording. "They then confirmed to us that the hours had been changed retrospectively." Oleschko then pulled the ripcord and dismissed the operations manager without notice. "But there were several reasons that led to the dismissal," says the head of the municipality. However, Oleschko does not want to name them. 

"I didn't manipulate anything"
 "The correction I made was only because vacation days were not recorded in the time recording system and there were some incorrect stamps when clocking in and out. I also corrected these and even ended up with overtime. But the municipality knew about this," defends Dovjak, who has not yet been served with his summary dismissal.

The SP deputy would also like to take legal action against the dismissal. "I'm not an isolated case. Since 2021, when Oleschko became mayor, a total of ten employees have had to leave the municipality. I can't accept that," says Dovjak. The mandatary does not see any reasons for resigning.