## Facts

- An Italian national residing in Austria worked as a waitress under a fixed-term contract for about 2.5 months.
- After the employment ended, she did not obtain further work and enrolled at an Austrian university.
- She applied for Austrian study finance under national law that granted equal access to non-nationals who had an EU-law right to equal treatment.
- Austrian authorities denied the application, disputing that she qualified as an EU “worker” entitled to equal treatment for study finance.
- The Austrian Administrative Court referred questions to the Court of Justice for interpretation of EU law on worker status and equal treatment.

## Issues

1. Whether employment for only about 2.5 months can confer “worker” status under Article 48 EC where the activity is not purely marginal and ancillary.
2. Whether a person who stops working and then begins studies in the host Member State retains “worker” status, permitting reliance on Article 7(2) of Regulation 1612/68 to claim study finance as a social advantage.

## Decision

- The Court held that employment lasting about 2.5 months can confer “worker” status if the activity is genuine and effective and not purely marginal and ancillary.
- The Court stated that certain personal circumstances are irrelevant to whether the person was a worker during the employment period, including: taking the job years after arrival, becoming eligible for university shortly after the job ended, and attempting to find work between the job and the start of studies.
- The Court held that a former worker who begins studies in the host Member State may retain worker status where (i) there is a link between the prior occupational activity and the studies and (ii) the studies begin within a reasonable period after the work ends.
- If those conditions are met, the person may invoke Article 7(2) of Regulation 1612/68 to claim study finance on the same terms as nationals; application of the criteria to the facts was left to the national court.

## Legal Principles

- “Worker” has an autonomous EU meaning and is interpreted broadly to support free movement.
- The essential feature of an employment relationship is performing services for and under the direction of another in return for remuneration.
- Short duration of employment does not, by itself, exclude worker status; the key inquiry is whether the work is genuine and effective rather than purely marginal and ancillary.
- Intentions or later educational choices do not negate worker status during a period of genuine employment.
- A person can retain worker status after employment ends when later studies are sufficiently connected to the prior work and commenced within a reasonable time.
- Study finance may qualify as a “social advantage” within Article 7(2) of Regulation 1612/68, triggering equal-treatment protection for qualifying workers.

## Conclusion

The Court interpreted EU free-movement rules to allow worker status to arise from brief but genuine employment and to continue into a subsequent period of related study begun soon after employment, enabling equal access to host-state study finance where the required link and timing are shown.


Ninni-Orasche v. Bundesminister für Wissenschaft, Verkehr und Kunst, Case C-413/01, 2003 E.C.R. I-13187 (ECJ 2003)