Background information:

- The internship law was proposed by the former Minister of Labour Nicolas Schmit and ACEL in March 2018

- It has been criticised by various stakeholders including UNEL (our positions can be found here) and amendments have twice been published

- There were elections in October 2018 and a new minister of labour was elected: Dan Kersch

- UNEL has met with the Minister, Corporations (UEL), Chamber for Employees (CSL) & ACEL to lobby for our demands

- A compromise has been published on the 24.05.19 between the above-mentioned stakeholders: UNEL, the Minister, Corporations (UEL), Chamber for Employees (CSL) & ACEL. Whereas new amendments have been decided upon

- This law regulates Internships conducted during high school or throughout university studies. Formation Professionelle (VET) is regulated through another law

- This law HAS NOT YET been voted upon and HAS NOT YET BEEN ENACTED

- Up to now, no details have been published regarding when the law will be voted upon and when it will be enacted

The Compromise:

- Mandatory internships, as being part of the university’s curriculum, and non-mandatory internships will ALL be PAID NOW. This was not the case with the former version of the law proposal and was a major demand from UNEL

Furthermore, the payment for non-mandatory internships, which are conducted after one receives a Bachelor degree,  will be based on the QUALIFFIED MINIMUM WAGE, which was also one of our demands

                                           *  - unqualified minimum wage (01.19): 2.071,10€

                                               - qualified minimum wage (01.19): 2.485,32€

 - Now, it will be possible to conduct an orientation internship after acquiring a Highschool Diploma (Diplôme de fin d’etudes secondaires) or a Bachelor Degree. This will be possible from the moment of the acquisition until one year later, whereas, the internship can have a maximum duration of 6 months

- With this compromise, every Intern has the right to get a tutor, an evaluation, guidance throughout the internship and the role and tasks of the tutors are better defined

- It is possible to do part-time internships with adapted remuneration

- It is not possible to do internships after one acquires a Master’s degree

- There are no limitations for employers regarding the number of interns they can have per company/organisation with mandatory Internships. However, there are limitations regarding non-mandatory internship, to reduce exploitation, whereas, the total workforce cannot be composed of more than 10% of interns. This limitation will be lifted during Luxembourgish summer holidays from July until beginning of September

UNEL’s Criticism regarding the Compromise:

- We are criticising that there is no grading of remuneration with mandatory internships compared to non-mandatory internships. Hence, mandatory internship will always be calculated with 30% of the unqualified minimum wage instead of a higher percentage from 3 months on

- We have concerns regarding the unregulated allowance of interns per company and we hope there will not be exploitation. If so, limitation must also be installed for mandatory internships to guarantee the quality of internships  

- There are still a lot of details and unclarities which need to be discussed and regulated, such as: the regulation of overtime, if one can re-new the convention de stage, if interns can pay contributions to the pension fund etc.