Dispute Over Working Hours

Unfair? Outdoor Pool Cashier Loses Job After Eight Years

Helmut Riesenfellner feels he has been treated unfairly. For eight years, he worked as a cashier at the outdoor pool.(Bild: zVg)

For eight years, Helmut Riesenfellner served as cashier at the Lockenhaus outdoor pool (Burgenland). Week after week, day after day, often “ten hours or more.” Now it’s over—the mayor terminated his employment. And in doing so, he’s caused quite a stir—including politically.

Unfair treatment or a political maneuver? In Lockenhaus, at any rate, relations between the municipality and Helmut Riesenfellner have soured. This year, Riesenfellner worked as a cashier at the local outdoor pool, a job he has held as a seasonal employee for eight years. According to reports, he sat at the ticket counter every day for weeks on end, often for ten hours or more. He didn’t get a proper break. “I’d just take a bite out of a roll now and then,” says the 60-year-old. That wasn’t part of the agreement. Only in the first year did a second person briefly work alongside him. After that, he was always alone.

No Rehire
He didn’t really dare to speak up, for fear of losing his job. During the winter months, he was registered with the AMS. “But they left me alone because they knew I’d be rehired,” says Riesenfellner. This year, however, he was told that he probably won’t be rehired next year. That’s “not great,” says the 60-year-old.

66 hours in a week
The municipality received a reprimand from the state regarding his work hours: The report states that in July and August 2026, he worked continuously from Monday through Sunday. As an example, it cites a week in which he worked a total of 66 hours. The notice further states that weekly working hours must not exceed an average of 48 hours over a 17-week period, and that a half-hour rest break must be taken when daily working hours exceed six hours.

This has drawn criticism from FPÖ city council member and state parliament representative Sandro Waldmann: “On May 1, the SPÖ puts on its ‘laborer’s hat.’ Yet at its own outdoor pool, it needs the regulatory authority to ensure that a cashier gets a day off.”

A political maneuver?
Mayor Michael Kefeder (SPÖ), however, sees things differently: He calls it a political maneuver by Waldmann and Riesenfellner. “Everything went smoothly for eight years, and now, after I told him I wouldn’t renew his contract, this is suddenly an issue? Then why did he stay for eight years in the first place?” According to Kefeder, there had never been a complaint.

The cashier was still sitting at the counter in the evening when no one else was coming in. “The mistake was that we let him sit there all day, even though he wasn’t needed in the evening.” Furthermore, the 60-year-old was never prohibited from taking breaks; there’s even a supermarket nearby. But he preferred to stay seated. The town mayor suspects that the whole commotion is only happening because Riesenfellner, due to the lack of a promise of reinstatement, will now no longer be left alone by the AMS for another six months.

He was paid the minimum wage
Furthermore, Riesenfellner had already accumulated quite a few negative hours beforehand because he had been absent. In addition, the 60-year-old was still employed during the months of September and October, even though there was nothing left to do during that time. He was paid the state’s minimum wage. The mayor is convinced: “He was always compensated for everything. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

Riesenfellner and Waldmann see things differently and intend to take legal action. Meanwhile, Kefeder has announced that this type of employment will no longer exist.