The Federal Labor Court (BAG) has recently ruled that prospective students who have to complete a compulsory internship in order to study are not entitled to the statutory minimum wage. The statutory minimum wage was EUR 2015 when it was introduced in 8,50 and has since risen to EUR 9,82 gross.
The case:
Specifically, a prospective doctor who had applied to a private university for a place to study medicine sued a clinic where she worked as a nurse for six months for payment of the statutory minimum wage.
According to the study regulations, among other things, the completion of a six-month nursing service was a prerequisite for admission to the course. The payment of remuneration was not agreed between the contracting parties.
BAG: No entitlement to minimum wage for compulsory student internships
The lower courts had dismissed the lawsuit. With a decision of January 19.01.2022, 1, the Federal Labor Court also confirmed the decision of the LAG Rhineland-Palatinate and stated that the defendant was not required to pay the statutory minimum wage according to § 22 in conjunction with § 1 paragraph 2 sentence 1 half clause. XNUMX MiLoG.
Justification of the BAG:
The plaintiff does not fall under the personal scope of application of the Minimum Wage Act, since it can be clearly inferred from the explanatory memorandum that not only compulsory internships during the course of study, but also those that are already mandatory in study regulations as a prerequisite for taking up a certain course of study, are excluded from the recording of the statutory minimum wage are excluded. Incidentally, this applies not only to state universities, but also to private universities.
Significance for practice:
As a result, this means that not only internships that are completed during the course of study are excluded from the regulation for payment of the statutory minimum wage, but also internships that are intended as a prerequisite for admission before the start of the course. This decision is interesting for prospective students as well as for employers who offer such internships.
(cf. Federal Labor Court, judgment of January 19, 2022 - 5 AZR 217/21; LAG Rhineland-Palatinate, judgment of March 16, 2021 - 8 Sa 206/20)
