Overview

• Vienna’s municipal authority was directed to examine the psychiatric assessment that enabled the legal gender change, while the Federal Criminal Police Office opened a probe into suspected social-benefit fraud.
• The pensions agency said a letter showing an earlier retirement date was only provisional and that eligibility will be determined at the relevant cutoff date based on the individual case.
• If doubts persist at the pension decision point, the agency noted it can apply the men’s statutory retirement age rather than the earlier age for women.
• Legal expert Helmut Graupner said the registered gender must reflect the socially lived gender and warned the psychiatrist who issued the report could face criminal liability if the assessment was negligent or willfully false.
• The Social and Justice ministries stated that current rules are sufficient, prison placement is decided individually to protect all inmates, and parties remain divided over whether any procedural tightening is needed.