Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Sickness Insurance (Industry) Convention, 1927 (No. 24) - Austria (Ratification: 1929)

The Committee notes the observations of the Federal Chamber of Labour (BAK) communicated with the Government’s report.

Article 2 of the Convention. Income threshold for sickness insurance coverage. The BAK indicates that workers with earnings less than €425.70 per month are covered only in case of incapacity for work due to an industrial accident, but not in case of suspension of earnings due to ill health, as required by the Convention. The BAK further indicates that the number of domestic workers in “marginal employment” who are excluded from sickness insurance coverage is higher than those who are fully insured. The Committee recalls that, notwithstanding Article 2(1) of the Convention which requires that manual and non-manual workers, including apprentices, employed by industrial undertakings and commercial undertakings, outworkers and domestic servants be compulsorily covered by sickness insurance, Article 2(2)(a) allows some exceptions to be made in respect of employment of a certain nature, including occasional, casual and subsidiary employment. In view of the above, the Committee requests the Government to indicate how many workers are excluded from sickness insurance due to the earnings threshold, and to provide information on any other means of protection to ensure that these workers, in case of sickness, have access to medical care and, where sickness involves a suspension of earnings, to income support.