Continued payment of wages

AK calls for better protection for emergency services

AK Burgenland is calling for financial and organizational improvements for volunteers.(Bild: Christian schulter)

Current regulation applies to very few cases. In future, entitlement to continued pay should be granted after four hours

Whether it's an accident, fire or environmental disaster - the emergency services of the voluntary fire departments and all voluntary disaster organizations are always on hand when their help is needed. In the previous year alone, there were around 8,000 fire department operations in Burgenland, in which the thousands of volunteers put in 136,000 hours. As a rule - with the exception of the special provision for state employees - the volunteers perform their service at the expense of their vacation days or they work off the time spent on call. Their salary is only paid by the employer if it is a so-called "major incident". To qualify for this, 100 emergency personnel must be deployed for at least 8 hours and only then are they reimbursed a flat rate of 200 euros per day.

People who volunteer to help others in emergency situations deserve respect. We are calling for better financial protection and a simplification of the eligibility requirements for volunteer emergency services.

AK-Präsident Gerhard Michalitsch

AK Burgenland is therefore now calling for financial and organizational improvements for volunteers. "The current regulation is neither practical nor realistic, because despite the many deployments, the criteria of 8 hours and 100 emergency personnel are rarely met," criticizes Brigitte Ohr-Kapral. Therefore, according to the AK expert, it would only be fair to replace the respective continued remuneration payments in the employment relationship (capped at the maximum contribution basis) with funds from the disaster fund. The AK is also calling for the definition of a "major disaster" to be based solely on the duration of the operation. In any case, 4 hours of deployment during the employee's regular working hours should be sufficient to maintain the entitlement to continued remuneration.