Too fit for a pension, too ill for a job
A 55 year old man from Wels, Austria, is caught between two institutions: the pension authority says he is fit to work, while the employment service apparently cannot find him a job he can manage.
Otto T. has Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel illness. He has undergone 40 operations and has a recognised disability level of 70 percent. After nearly 30 years in warehouse logistics, he lost his job because of illness related absences, as reported by Heute on Saturday.
In 2025, he applied for an invalidity pension. The Pension Insurance Institution (PVA) refused. Its medical assessment concluded that he could still perform certain kinds of work. A further report prepared for court proceedings found that he could do light to medium work full time, mostly while seated. Otto later withdrew his legal challenge.
Finding that work, however, has proved much harder than the assessments suggest.
“It is almost impossible for me to find a job. Even the AMS says that they do not really know where there would be something for me, where I could work with my illness,” Otto told the Austrian tabloid Kronen Zeitung.
The AMS did not comment on his case in the report. His account refers to his conversations with the public employment service.
Crohn’s disease can cause severe abdominal pain, diarrhoea and exhaustion. Otto says his symptoms often flare up under stress or time pressure. In a workplace governed by fixed routines and deadlines, that makes ordinary employment difficult.
“I have to go to the toilet very often,” he explained.
The result is a painful contradiction. For the pension system, Otto is too healthy to receive support. For many employers, his health restrictions appear too serious to accommodate.
Walter Bruckner of the Austrian Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Association said his experience is common. Companies, he said, are often reluctant to hire people with chronic illnesses, while those affected cannot simply retire.
“It is a vicious circle,” Bruckner said.
His words point to a wider gap in Austria between medical judgments about fitness for work and the reality of the labour market. A person may be declared able to work on paper, yet find no employer willing to offer a suitable job.
For Otto, the question is no longer theoretical. After decades of work, he was forced to leave his old job and now hopes for a future neither system seems prepared to provide.
