Unemployed people in Austria who refuse to take a vacancy offered by the Labor Office because their employer requires a mandatory coronavirus vaccine may be deprived of unemployment benefits. The ordinance issued by the Minister of Labor gives the right to such decisions.
The sanction is admissible, but each case must be considered on its own merits in order to establish the grounds for the person’s refusal to be vaccinated.
The labor office has no right to ask jobseekers if they have been vaccinated. However, if he receives a message from the company that the unemployed person sent there does not want to start work because the employer requires him to be vaccinated, the Labor Office can suspend his unemployment benefits.
Opposition parties have criticized the provision, which forces those who want to start work to get vaccinated, pressured by the circumstances and despite their reluctance.
