The working student contract
Employment as a working student opens up advantages for both employees and employers. The student gains practical experience, improves his CV and can thereby finance his studies, while the employer can recruit qualified employees for the company on favorable terms, with possible long-term loyalty to the company.
From a tax point of view, the working student contract is also extremely worthwhile for both sides. For the working student, there are almost no ancillary wage costs, only in the pension insurance both sides have to pay 9.35 percent of the gross salary.
In this way, students are paid almost 100% of their gross salary without having to forego cheap student or family insurance.
Working hours up to 20 hours per week
The statutory maximum working time for working students is 20 hours per week. If this is exceeded to a certain extent, the employer is obliged to register the working student as an employee who is subject to full compulsory insurance.
This would result in significant cuts in net salary. The notorious 20-hour limit for working students has the following background: “Working as a student predominates,” explains Peter Mayer in an interview with the Giessener Anzeiger. Accordingly, a student who works more than 20 hours during the semester is no longer considered a full-time student, because in this context he can no longer fully fulfill his academic achievements.
However, there are also special regulations here: If it can be proven that the overtime does not conflict with the study times, the working student could possibly work more than 20 hours per week during the semester.
Working time more than 20 hours per week
However, a different regulation applies to the lecture-free period, i.e. the semester break. Here it is possible for the working student to work full-time without being kicked out of student insurance.
The decisive factor here is the so-called 26-week limit; if this is exceeded, social security contributions must also be paid. This regulation verbalizes that during the semester break, working students can also work more than 20 hours a week if the following is guaranteed.
The student must not have worked more than 20 hours per week for more than 26 weeks in the past 12 months. This means that if the student has worked full-time for more than six months in the past year, you may not work more than 20 hours a week during the semester break.
Who is allowed to work as a working student?
In addition, not every student may be hired as a working student, and the employer must take certain factors into account.
The working student must be enrolled as a properly enrolled student at a university, college or state-recognized vocational college. The country in which the respective university is located is irrelevant, so it is also possible to study at a university abroad.
However, the top rule is always that the working student must focus on their studies.
Also excluded as working students are students on a vacation semester, dual students, doctoral students, part-time and distance students and guest auditors.
Henry Ely / Editor finanzen.net
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