At the end of March 2022, 50 ground workers unexpectedly received too much salary from their employer Austrian Airlines. However, it was not a bonus, but a mistake that happened in the HR department. They contacted the employees and a solution was found that 60 percent would be returned by those affected and the rest would then be deducted from the holiday pay in June 2022. It was not paid out too little, but accidentally too much.

According to a spokeswoman for Austrian Airlines, the small debacle had its origins in the fact that an error occurred in the IT system. It came out that “the computer” took the view that the 50 affected ground workers were no longer on short-time work. However, the opposite was the case and the responsible specialist department is said to have quickly contacted the affected employees and reached the 60 percent/40 percent agreement with them. Pretty much everyone stuck to that.

But if the proverbial “worm is in there” then a second system error is not long in coming, because the 50 affected AUA employees were mistakenly deducted the mentioned 2022 percent not in June 2022, but already in April 40, and that even though it was so good how everyone dutifully paid back the agreed 60 percent to their employer. But that's not all: AUA accidentally paid far too much wage tax for these ground workers, which was of course also deducted from the wages.

Ground staff jobs aren't exactly ones that compare to senior executive pay. Therefore, the annoyance of those affected was great, because they assumed that they would only get the wage tax that was too high back with the annual tax adjustment and that a lot of money is now missing. The free newspaper “Today” also reported on this, but it wasn’t quite as written in their report.

A spokeswoman for Austrian Airlines confirmed that the employees concerned will receive a payment on account from their employer. With this, the financial disadvantages are immediately compensated, so that the 50 ground workers do not lack any money. It was agreed with those affected that they would only have to return the advance payment if they themselves had received the money from the tax office as part of the tax equalization. This will be the case in February 2023 at the earliest.

On Tuesday, the HR department of the Austrian Lufthansa subsidiary contacted the 50 ground employees again and answered their questions. They also apologized for the chain of errors that led to this unfavorable situation. A spokeswoman emphasized that Austrian Airlines is working intensively in the background to ensure that such mistakes cannot be repeated.

The free newspaper “Today” claims in a report that there were even negative payslips and repayment requests. This suggests that the ground staff also have to pay for the work. Research by Aviation.Direct has shown that one important circumstance was concealed: Contrary to the agreement made with the employer, the 60 percent of the overpayment by individuals was not returned. But since the money was already in the account of those affected, there can be no question of non-payment of wages. Since the agreement to fix this was not complied with by a small minority, AUA deducted the overpayment from the next salary, i.e. at the end of April 2022. 

The Austrian Airlines spokeswoman emphasized that the company is uncomfortable with the mistakes, but that the most recent payment on account has ensured that those affected do not suffer any financial disadvantages. The HR department tried to solve everything as quickly as possible.