Definition
A distinction is made between the following types of traineeships:
- Compulsory work placements
- Voluntary placements
- Seasonal employment (‘holiday jobs’)
- Traineeships after completion of (technical) university education
A traineeship can take the form of an employment relationship or an apprenticeship. The contractual relationship must be assessed in each individual case.
COMPULSORY WORK PLACEMENTS
Compulsory work placements are required by school or university training regulations or curricula and are intended to complement theoretical (school/university) education and to help pupils or students gain first-hand work experience while still at school or university. Compulsory work placements can be completed not only during the holidays, but throughout the whole year.
The legal situation concerning contracts:
- The content and duration of the compulsory work placement must comply with the relevant training regulations or the curriculum (of the school, university, university of applied sciences) and the trainee is only permitted to do work in accordance with these regulations. A compulsory work placement can take the form of an apprenticeship or an employment relationship. The actual form that the contract/agreement takes is decisive, not what the contract/agreement is called.
- With apprenticeship contracts, the focus is on the learning and training objectives of the work. If the contract/agreement contains rights of instruction and supervision that go beyond the purpose of the training and/or the integration of the trainee into the organisational processes of the company, then this is in reality not an apprenticeship but an employment relationship. This means that all employment law provisions apply, including the entitlement to remuneration according to the relevant collective agreement (including 13th and 14th month’s pay). Compulsory work placements undertaken by students in higher educational institutions for commercial professions, and in higher and intermediate educational institutions for tourism professions in hotel and restaurant enterprises, are only possible within the framework of employment relationships. Compulsory work placement recipients in the hotel and catering industry are entitled to remuneration according to the collective agreement for workers in the hotel and catering industry in the amount of the apprenticeship income for the apprenticeship year corresponding to the recipient’s school year (work placements carried out between 2 school years are to be attributed to the previous school year in each case).
- Trial apprenticeships are organised by schools in accordance with education law to supplement the curriculum as a school activity (‘practical vocational days’ or ‘practical vocational weeks’), as a school-related event or as individual career orientation in companies. The main aim of a trial apprenticeship is to give pupils an initial insight into the world of work. A trial apprenticeship is not an employment relationship.
The legal situation concerning social insurance:
Pupils and students on compulsory work placements who are in unpaid training are insured against accidents during their work. There are special pupil/student accident insurance schemes for this purpose.
Paid compulsory work placements are subject to compulsory insurance under the Act on General Social Insurance (Allgemeines Sozialversicherungsgesetz, ASVG), both as employment relationships and as apprenticeships. If individuals on compulsory work placements are engaged as employees, they must be registered with the relevant social insurance institution.
If the remuneration of trainees exceeds the marginal earnings threshold (as of 2023: EUR 500.91 per month), it is compulsory for them to be covered by health, accident and pension insurance; if they earn less than the marginal earnings threshold, they are only covered by accident insurance.
VOLUNTARY PLACEMENTS
The legal situation concerning contracts:
A voluntary placement is usually treated as an apprenticeship relationship. The focus is on expanding and applying the knowledge learned in practice as well as on acquiring new skills, not on the performance of work. Therefore, employment law and collective agreement provisions do not normally apply. It should be noted that a voluntary work placement must be arranged in such a way that there is no personal dependence and no obligation to work on the part of the volunteer.
The legal situation concerning social insurance:
Only accident insurance is compulsory for volunteers; they are registered for it by their employer.
SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS
The legal situation concerning contracts:
Holiday employees are pupils or students who work primarily during holiday periods in order to earn money and are engaged as conventional employees. A ‘holiday job’ is not a prescribed mandatory supplement to education.
As a rule, seasonal employment relationships are employment relationships that are subject to the provisions of employment law and collective agreements.
The legal situation concerning social insurance:
Seasonal workers are subject to compulsory insurance under the Act on General Social Insurance and must be registered with the appropriate health insurance institution.
If the remuneration exceeds the marginal earnings threshold (2023: EUR 500.91 per month), they are covered by health, accident and pension insurance; if they earn less than the marginal earnings threshold, they are only covered by accident insurance.
TRAINEESHIPS AFTER HIGHER EDUCATION
The legal situation concerning contracts:
‘The intern generation’ is a catchphrase referring to the fact that many graduates of (technical) higher education enter the world of work through traineeships. Such programmes either take the form of apprenticeship contracts, to which employment law provisions do not apply, or they are referred to as ‘voluntary work placements’ or ‘traineeships’. However, given the lack of focus on learning and training objectives, these agreements should in fact be classified as employment contracts.
Employment relationships are subject to the requirements set out in employment law and collective bargaining agreements.
The legal situation concerning social insurance:
In any case, trainees with a (technical) university education must be registered for social insurance with the responsible health insurance institution.
If earnings exceed the marginal earnings threshold (2023: EUR 500.91 per month), the trainee is covered by health, accident and pension insurance; if earnings are below the marginal earnings threshold, only accident insurance applies.
Trainees with a university education who are completing the traineeships required by law for future professional practice (such as legal interns, for example) are always covered by health, accident and pension insurance, even if they earn below the marginal earnings threshold.
Act on the Employment of Children and Young Persons (Kinder- und Jugendlichen-Beschäftigungsgesetz, KJBG)
For trainees who have not yet reached the age of 18, the Act on the Employment of Children and Young Persons provides for restrictions on working hours and permitted activities. This Act applies to both employment and apprenticeship relationships.
Working at night, piece work, transporting large amounts of money and valuable objects, working in certain establishments (e.g. premises dangerous to young people) as well as dangerous work, such as working underground, roofing work or working on construction sites, carrying heavy loads, and working with dangerous substances (e.g. explosives) are prohibited. Certain jobs may only be carried out under supervision, and certain activities only from a designated minimum age (16 or 17).
Health and Safety at Work Act (Arbeitnehmerschutzgesetz, ASchG)
The general safety provisions set out in the Health and Safety at Work Act also apply to trainees in an employment or apprenticeship relationship.
You can find further information at http://www.arbeitsinspektion.gv.at
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
Trainees who have reached the age of 15 and are not only insured against accidents but are also subject to full insurance (employment relationship, freelance relationship) amass periods of insurance under the unemployment insurance scheme during their traineeship.
FAMILY ALLOWANCES AND STUDENT GRANTS
If you complete a traineeship during your studies, please note that the remuneration received from this traineeship has to be taken into account when calculating additional income capacity in accordance with the Family Benefits Act (Familienlastenausgleichsgesetz, FLAG) with regard to your entitlement to family allowance. It also has to be taken into account when applying for a student grant under the Student Support Act (Studienförderungsgesetz, StudFG).
Being a citizen of an EEA Member State or Switzerland does not in itself entitle students to a student grant in Austria.
Eligibility
Trainees from EU/EEA states are not subject to the Employment of Foreign Nationals Act (Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz, AuslBG). There is no difference between them and Austrian trainees.
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