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Members of a yoga ashram who have committed themselves to work in the association’s facilities for a certain period of time are entitled to minimum wage. The Federal Labor Court decided today that the constitutional right of self-determination of religious and ideological communities can only be claimed by an association that has a sufficient degree of religious system formation and worldview.
Lawsuit for payment of minimum wage for work in the ashram community
The defendant is a yoga ashram in the legal form of a non-profit association whose statutory purpose is “popular education through the dissemination of knowledge, teaching, exercises and techniques of yoga and related disciplines as well as the promotion of religion”. The members of the association, like the plaintiff, who are organized in so-called Sevaka communities, are obliged for a certain period of time to work in the association’s facilities or to give yoga classes or lead seminars according to instructions. In return, free board and lodging, pocket money and social security protection are granted. After the end of the so-called Seva period of service, the plaintiff claimed the statutory minimum wage on the basis of the contractual standard working time of 42 hours per week. The Labor Court upheld the lawsuit. The regional labor court dismissed the claim on the defendant’s appeal, which meant that a Hindu ashram community was not an employment relationship. The plaintiff appealed.
BAG: Ashram must pay minimum wage
The Federal Labor Court upheld the appeal and remanded the case. As an employee of the defendant, the plaintiff is subject to the statutory minimum wage § 1 Abs. 1 combined with § 22 Abs. 1 Set 1 MiLoG to. The plaintiff was obligated to perform work that was bound by instructions and determined by others as a personal dependency. Neither the special organizational rights of religious and ideological communities nor the association autonomy of the Art. 9 Abs. 1 GG in contrast to. The defendant is neither a religious nor an ideological community, since the required minimum level of system formation and world interpretation is lacking due to a broad spectrum in the dogmatic superstructure of the association.
Protection regulations must not be circumvented
The constitutionally protected association autonomy also allows the performance of externally determined, instruction-bound work in personal dependence outside of an employment relationship at best if mandatory protective provisions under labor law are not circumvented. In any case, these include a payment commitment that guarantees the general statutory minimum wage, to which board and lodging are not to be counted. However, the labor court still has to make determinations as to the amount of the plaintiff’s claim.