The 9 euro ticket is a hit. Millions of citizens have already secured the state bargain. Including many Hartz IV recipients. But the cheap ticket could cost some people dearly.
If children of Hartz IV recipients need a student ticket for bus and train, the respective job center pays for it. If a student now uses the cheap 9-euro ticket, it reduces the price paid by the job center. A possible consequence: The authority demands back the difference between the normal price for a student ticket and the 9-euro ticket. That can be really expensive, as the website “HartziIV.org” reports.
Because it’s about the amounts of three months, since the 9-euro ticket is valid for June, July and August. At least if someone buys three consecutive tickets.
The article refers to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics, Labor and Tourism, which is responsible for the federal state. The Stuttgart lawyers rate the facts as “unjust enrichment”, as the article says. The experts refer to paragraph 29 paragraph 5 SGB II (“Social Security Code II”). This is about the provision of services for education and participation. In addition, Section 34a Paragraph 6 Sentence 2 regulates the “claims for compensation for services rendered illegally”.
In addition to the state of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Thuringia also carry out such a legal assessment, as the report states. Here, too, claims from the authorities are to be expected.
However, not all Hartz IV recipients have to tremble in the face of high remittances – even in the “strict” federal states. Because even Lower Saxony emphasizes that the administrative practice of the individual job centers is decisive for the specific procedure. That means in plain language: The job center decides whether the Hartz IV recipients have to reimburse the “overpayment” for the student ticket. If the authority does not insist on a refund, the families can keep the money.
Germany is a federal state, which means that many regulations differ in the individual federal states. This also applies to possible refunds for the 9-euro ticket for schoolchildren. In Schleswig-Holstein, for example, according to the Hartz IV report, recipients only receive a notice of change in connection with the 9-euro ticket. However, the job center refrains from claiming back. This is justified with the argument that the assumption of costs for student tickets is about services from the education and participation package and that no reclaim is made here.
Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt follow this legal opinion. Hamburg also waives possible refunds – for a completely different reason. In the Hanseatic city, the authority for school and vocational training bears the cost of the student ticket.
All of this shows: Hartz IV recipients with children who use student tickets have to wait until the authorities report and demand money back.
