Adjustment of remuneration for student assistants

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
Dear Colleagues

As part of the collective bargaining agreement of the German federal states in December 2023 between the trade unions and the tariff community of the federal states (Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (TdL)), under "IX. Student employees No. 1b minimum pay aa)", the parties to the collective agreement reached a contractual agreement under the law of obligations to the effect that the hourly remuneration of student employees (without a degree) will be at least 13.25 € for each hour agreed in the employment contract with effect from the summer semester 2024 on. No agreements have been made for academic, artistic, and student-assistants with a degree from a university of applied sciences or a bachelor's degree (para. 3 letter b of the MWK circular of 30 October 2019 in conjunction with the circular of 22 November 2023), and for academic and artistic assistants with a university degree as defined in No. 1 of the protocol declaration to Part 1 of the remuneration regulations for the TV-L (collective agreement for the public service of the German states), or with a master's degree in an accredited university of applied sciences degree programme (para. 3 letter a of the above-mentioned circular). No recommendations have yet been made by the TdL's general assembly on increasing the remuneration rates for these groups of people.

Based on the contractual agreement under the law of obligations, the remuneration rates for student assistants without a degree will be increased to 13.25 € effective from the summer semester on. As academic, artistic, and student-assistants with a degree from a university of applied sciences or a bachelor's degree should under no circumstances receive less than student assistants without a degree, the expected MWK circular decree is also expected to increase the current remuneration rate of 12.77 € for this group of people retroactively to the summer semester, at least to 13.25 €, but probably to more than 13.25 €. In anticipation of the changes to the above-mentioned circular, the MWK is in agreement if a remuneration rate of 13.25 € is agreed when concluding contracts for student assistants with and without a degree. The increased remuneration rate of 13.25 € effective from summer semester 2024 on also applies to existing employment contracts and is automatically taken into account by the NLBV in the procedure for current cases.

The remuneration rate for academic and artistic assistants with a university degree as defined in No. 1 of the protocol declaration to Part I of the remuneration regulations for the TV-L, or with a master's degree in an accredited university of applied sciences degree programme (para. 3 letter a of the above-mentioned circular) will initially remain at 17.34 €.

Furthermore, it was agreed in the contractual agreement under the law of obligations that employment relationships with student employees are generally concluded for one year; in justified cases, shorter or longer periods can be agreed upon.

Please inform your student and research assistants accordingly.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact our colleagues in the department.

Kind regards
Corinna Kloodt
Human Resources and Legal Affairs
Head of section student assistants / teaching assignments