02. November 2024

Ombudsman Achitz calls for the abolition of absence regulations for people with disabilities

Many people with disabilities live in residential facilities - as independently as possible, but with care. The costs for this are covered by public authorities. However, Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz has repeatedly been confronted with one problem. If the residents are not in the residential home for a certain number of days because they are staying with their parents at weekends, for example, the families often have to pay quite a lot of money. "This contradicts the right to a life that is as self-determined as possible, as stipulated by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). And it is unfair, because the compulsory attendance only applies to people who cannot afford the 'penalty payment' for days of absence," says Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz: "The Ombudsman Board is therefore calling on the federal states to abolish such absence day regulations."

Parents had to pay 1,400 euros for picking up their son at the weekend

The parents of Stefan S. (41), who has been living in a residential home for people with disabilities for almost ten years, have recently contacted the Austrian Ombudsman Board. He not only spends holidays and holidays with his parents, but also every weekend. They had to pay over 1,400 euros for this last year, as the number of "authorised" days of absence is limited to 70 per year. This is stipulated by the funding conditions of the Vienna Social Fund (FSW). There are similar regulations in other federal states, where the practical consequences are even worse because the journeys are longer than in Vienna.

Centre of life must count - no one always has to stay in their flat

The funding bodies say that such regulations are necessary because they want the residents to spend as much time as possible in the facilities, because there are care staff there who are paid with taxpayers' money, and these funds must be used efficiently. For Ombudsman Achitz, the argument is basically understandable, but there is a strict needs assessment anyway. "Only those who need such a place to live get it. Then they have their centre of life there, and that doesn't change if you go to relatives at the weekend," said Achitz, and in the ORF programme "Bürgeranwalt" on 2 November, he drew a comparison: "You don't have to pay back the housing benefit because you don't spend your weekends in your flat. Absence doesn't change where the centre of your life is."

Sick leave eats up holiday entitlement

The Austrian Ombudsman Board has repeatedly drawn attention to UN CRPD-compliant and socially unjust absence regulations, both in residential facilities and in "workshops". In the latter, those affected can lose their place if they are absent too often due to holidays and, above all, illness. "It's like employees losing their holiday entitlement if they take too many sick days," says Ombudsman Achitz.

FSW announces new regulation for workshops

The FSW has now announced a new regulation for workshops - but not for residential facilities - in "Bürgeranwalt": In future, 30 days of absence for holidays and 50 for illness are to be permitted; hospital stays are not to be included in this quota. Ombudsman Achitz: "I am very pleased that there is progress here." This sick leave regulation is a step towards the socially insured and remunerated jobs demanded by the Ombudsman Board. They are intended to replace the workshop jobs in which people with disabilities only receive pocket money.

In 2019, the Ombudsman Board drew attention to this in the special report "Wages instead of pocket money" to Parliament and the provincial parliaments. Achitz: "We received a lot of support for this, but our demands have still not been implemented."

Translation was AI-generated