Facts
The Compensation Fund of the Canton of St. Gallen had paid child allowances to Walter [Z.] for his daughter Verena Z. When it became known that Verena [Z.] had terminated her apprenticeship as a nurse at the end of July 1990 and only started a new apprenticeship as a commercial employee in August 1991, the Compensation Fund demanded the repayment of the child allowances paid for the period from August to December 1990, amounting to a total of CHF 675. Walter [Z.] filed a complaint against this, which was upheld by the Insurance Court of the Canton of St. Gallen. The Compensation Fund then filed an administrative court appeal to the Federal Insurance Court.Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court concluded that the Compensation Fund was justified in reclaiming the child allowances. Although Verena [Z.] had to terminate her apprenticeship as a nurse for health reasons and intended to take up a new training program afterwards, there was a break of over a year between the termination of the first apprenticeship and the start of the new apprenticeship as a commercial employee, during which Verena [Z.] was engaged in an occupation that did not serve the preparation for the second training. In such a situation, it can no longer be said that the young person is "in training" within the meaning of the law. Therefore, there was no entitlement to child allowances for this period.
The court explained that short-term…