Labour, social affairs & consumer protection Health programme for the unemployed undermines data protection The Constitution recognises the particular sensitivity of health data. Within the scope of the “fit2work” programme that was established for the unemployed and other persons, unclear care agreements were used. As a result, the fundamental right to data protection and privacy was obfuscated. By signing up for this programme, all the participants had agreed to a comprehensive disclosure of their health-related information. Referral of an unemployed man to a health programme Mr. N. had been unemployed for a long period of time and was receiving emergency financial aid from the Public Employment Service Austria. Due to his age, but for health reasons as well, Mr. N. had not been able to find a suitable employment, despite sending innumerable job applications to various companies. During an appointment with the Public Employment Service Austria, his adviser offered him the opportunity to participate in the “fit2work” health programme at ÖSB-Consulting GmbH (hereinafter: ÖSB). Initially, the offer sounded promising. Alarming care agreement The disillusionment began when Mr. N. went to see the ÖSB. The ÖSB gave him an agreement to sign that was titled “Care Agreement and Consent Declaration fit2work Case Management”. The disturbing thing was that Mr. N. was supposed to consent to a comprehensive disclosure of his health information to all of the main public social insurance carriers, including various branch offices of the Public Employment Service Austria and the Federal Social Welfare Office, and also had to waive most of his patient confidentiality. As far as the details were concerned, the “Care Agreement” was very contradictory. Text passages regarding health care services were inseparably mixed in with consent declarations regarding disclosure of data; in another places, “confidentiality” was mentioned. The agreement did not make it clear what applied and what did not apply. Mr. N. contacted the AOB und requested clarification as to whether he had to accept such an agreement. In addition, the unsure, unemployed man wanted to know whether the Public Employment Service Austria could cancel his emergency financial aid if he were to reject the agreement with ÖSB. 82