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[return to "Petition to formally recognize open source work as civic service in Germany"]
1. little+gb[view] [source] 2025-11-28 15:28:51
>>Philip+(OP)
I see the danger of corporations "reimbursing" people to work on very specific plugins and extensions, that coincidentally match the requirement of the corporation, at 12€/hour to evade taxes, social security contributions and minimum wage. As a German, I oppose that petition since "open source" is a vaguely defined term, and might not be clearly seperable from commercial work.
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2. crote+Wg[view] [source] 2025-11-28 16:05:32
>>little+gb
Aren't those kind of reimbursements usually strictly capped?

For example, if you do volunteer work in The Netherlands you can get at most €5.60/hour, with a maximum of €210/month and €2100/year. I assume Germany will have similar rules.

€12/hour is just about minimum wage. Explaining how that isn't a salary is going to be pretty much impossible - it'll rightfully be interpreted as tax fraud. On top of a violation of labor laws for paying less than minimum wage, of course.

I do see a lot of benefits, though. There are plenty of people who aren't well-off who are doing incredibly valuable work for F/LOSS project. If you're holding a conference you really want to be able to invite those people without putting the burden of travel expenses on them: a €200 train ticket can easily be a dealbreaker for a poor student.

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3. little+wr[view] [source] 2025-11-28 17:05:52
>>crote+Wg
I picked 12€ because I have heard of volunteers getting that. Depending on the kind of the work there can also be a fixed travel-reimbursement. I.e. donating blood gets you 20€ for roughly 60minutes of "work".
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4. port11+PU[view] [source] 2025-11-28 20:06:41
>>little+wr
Where is this happening? AFAIK most (all?) of the EU strictly forbids being paid for blood or blood component donations outside of very specific research.

(As a donor I tried to sell blood when I couldn't afford rent and food, but it seemed impossible.)

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5. f1shy+VM1[view] [source] 2025-11-29 06:56:33
>>port11+PU
Must be referring to the little money they give you for travel expenses and breakfast (so you don’t pass out) is typical in many places. But is in no way a compensation, and mixing that topics is really confusing things.
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