Deregistration of jobseekers with health issues breach of legal certainty, says ombudsman

Deregistering people with health problems from the database of jobseekers is a violation of the principle of legal certainty because they lose their entitlement to unemployment benefits, according to a report by the ombudsman for fundamental rights released on Thursday.

László Székely’s finding came in connection with a case concerning a complainant who had been deregistered as a jobseeker and subsequently stopped receiving jobseeker’s allowance. The complainant said they had been deregistered on the ground that they had been ruled physically unfit to perform public work under the government’s fostered work scheme on the basis of a pre-employment physical exam.

In a separate complaint, an MP pointed out that unemployment benefits for jobseekers ruled physically unfit for work are withdrawn by authorities.

The ombudsman’s report said that under the relevant law, jobseekers are only allowed to be deregistered if a change in their circumstances indicates that they can no longer be considered active jobseekers.