Germany: Employment Law Pitfalls for Working Students, Interns, and Summer Workers

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Quick Hits

Working students may not work more than twenty hours per week during the academic term in order to maintain their preferential status regarding social security contributions.

For interns, it is important for employers to distinguish between mandatory and voluntary internships so that any obligation to pay compensation can be assessed.

Summer workers may be particularly attractive because qualifying short-term employment can be exempt from social security contributions.

Working Students: Temporary Employment With Special Social Security Rules

Working students are employees and generally enjoy the same protections under labor law as other employees—from protection against termination of employment and vacation entitlement to the right to continued pay in the event of illness. However, working students receive preferential treatment regarding social security, meaning they do not pay the full social security contributions: Anyone enrolled at a university who works no more than twenty hours per week during the academic term is exempt from health, long-term care, and unemployment insurance. The obligation to pay into the pension insurance system, however, remains in effect. Overall, working students retain more of their gross pay as net pay. For this reason, employers often request a current certificate of enrollment at the start of employment and at the beginning of each new semester.

The twenty-hour limit must be strictly observed. It applies during the academic term. Although working hours may be temporarily exceeded during breaks between terms, employers often carefully document the working hours of working students to ensure that their employment does not jeopardize their working student status. If the twenty-hour limit is exceeded during the academic term, the working student privilege no longer applies—with the result that social security contributions may have to be paid retroactively. The social insurance agencies regularly review this during audits.

Another practical consideration: Working student status requires that one’s studies remain the primary occupation. However, students who are no longer actively pursuing their studies do not meet the requirements.

Interns: Mandatory Internship or Voluntary Internship?

The classification of interns under labor law depends largely on whether the internship is mandatory or voluntary. This distinction has significant implications for employers, particularly regarding the obligation to pay compensation.

Mandatory internships, which are required as part of a school or higher education program, are not subject to the Minimum Wage Act (Mindestlohngesetz (MiLoG)). The legislature assumes that the primary focus here is on the educational purpose rather than the work performance itself. Employers are therefore not required to pay the statutory minimum wage. Compensation for mandatory internships is not required by law; if the employer wishes to pay compensation, the amount can be freely agreed upon.

The situation is different for voluntary internships. These are generally subject to the Minimum Wage Act, at least if the internship lasts longer than three months. The three-month limit refers to the actual duration of the internship. If this limit is exceeded, the statutory minimum wage must be paid starting on the first day of the internship, not just from the fourth month onward. For such voluntary internships lasting more than three months, the employer must pay the statutory minimum wage. As of 2026, this amounts to EUR 13.90 gross per hour. Violations of minimum wage requirements can have significant and far-reaching consequences.

Regardless of the issue of compensation, the following applies: Interns are not employees, let alone second-class employees. The primary focus of their work is transferring skills and knowledge and gaining insight into the company or the profession. Statutory employee protection regulations, such as the Working Hours Act, apply in full.

A common pitfall in practice is the incorrect classification of a purported internship as an employment relationship. If the intern is primarily used as a regular employee and there is no longer a discernible educational purpose at the forefront, the internship can be reclassified as an employment relationship—with all the resulting consequences, such as the obligation to pay the minimum wage.

Summer Workers: Properly Structuring Short-Term Employment

Summer workers are typically high school students or college students who are employed for a short period during school breaks or the semester break. Under social security law, short-term employment offers significant advantages with regard to Section 8(1) No. 2 of Book Four of the German Social Code (Sozialgesetzbuch IV (SGB IV)): If the employment is limited from the outset to three months or seventy working days in a calendar year and is not carried out on a professional basis, the employment is exempt from mandatory insurance in all branches of social security (statutory health and long-term care insurance, unemployment insurance, and pension insurance).

The criterion of whether the employment is carried out on a professional basis is of particular practical importance here. For high school students and college students who hold the job alongside their education, it is generally not considered to be carried out on a professional basis. For other individuals—such as unemployed persons—however, short-term employment may be classified as being carried out on a professional basis if it is not merely of minor economic significance. This is typically assessed carefully on a case-by-case basis before the employment begins.

Legally, summer jobs are generally considered fixed-term employment relationships. To be valid, the fixed-term provision in the contract must comply with the requirements of the Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Act (Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz (TzBfG)). In particular, the written form requirement under Section 14(4) TzBfG must be strictly observed: The fixed-term employment contract must be concluded in writing (i.e., with handwritten signatures from both parties) before the employee begins work. A verbal agreement, an exchange of emails, or a delayed conclusion of the contract after work has begun renders the fixed-term provision invalid and results in an indefinite employment relationship. These mistakes occur frequently in practice—especially with summer workers who are brought in on short notice. During the summer break, the human resources department is often understaffed, which further contributes to such mishaps.

If minors are employed as summer workers, the provisions of the Youth Employment Protection Act (Jugendarbeitsschutzgesetz (JArbSchG)) must also be observed. Minors aged fifteen and older may generally not work more than eight hours per day or more than forty hours per week. If they are still subject to full-time compulsory education, employment during school breaks is generally permitted for no more than four weeks per calendar year. Night and weekend work is permitted only in very limited exceptional cases.

Takeaways

Employing working students, interns, and summer workers offers companies flexibility—but requires careful planning and attention to employment law. Errors in contract drafting, social security classification, or compensation can have significant negative consequences. The specific characteristics of each form of employment and the timely review of internal processes are therefore relevant well in advance of the summer season.

Ogletree Deakins’ Berlin and Munich offices will continue to monitor developments and will post updates on the Cross-Border and Germany blogs as additional information becomes available.

Anna von Lieres und Wilkau is an associate in the Berlin office of Ogletree Deakins.

Maximilian Gössling contributed to this article as a legal trainee in the Berlin office of Ogletree Deakins.

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