Austrian Post to Pay €47.8m to Austrian Republic
Austrian Post has reached an agreement with the Austrian Finanzprokuratur, acting as the legal representative of the Republic of Austria (Austrian Federal Chancellery), to make a payment of 47.8 million euros to the Republic of Austria.
This payment obviates the need for legal proceedings regarding the amount of Austrian Post’s obligations to make compensation payments to the Republic of Austria for contributions to the Family Burden Equalisation Fund (Familienlastenausgleichsfond – FLAF) and regarding any obligation to reimburse Austrian Post for the period from 1 May 1996 to 31 May 2008.
The background to this is a ruling by the Austrian Administrative Court in 2015, according to which Austrian Post and its legal predecessor were under no statutory obligation to pay the relevant contributions from the payroll to the Family Burden Equalisation Fund (FLAF) on behalf of the civil servants assigned to it. As a result of this ruling, the Austrian Federal Finance Court reimbursed Austrian Post for contributions already paid between 2015 and 2019. In this context, however, Austrian Post had obligations to pay potential compensation to the Republic of Austria. Until recently, there were differing legal interpretations between the Republic of Austria and Austrian Post regarding the amount of these payments.
Austrian Post had already made a provision for the potential compensation payment since 2018. The agreement reached now falls well within the anticipated range, provides legal certainty and resolves the matter conclusively.
