Is a medical resident who works 40 hours or more per week a student or not?

That’s the question being asked right now in Minneapolis’ U.S. District Court in a civil lawsuit filed by the University in December 2006. The case is expected to be heard by Judge Richard Kyle on Feb. 21.

University lawyers filed the lawsuit seeking nearly $1.1 million plus interest in refunds from the government for medical residents who paid Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or social security, taxes in the second quarter of 2005.

Attorney Michael Pahl, on behalf of the United States, said in a statement to the court that medical residents whose normal work week is 40 hours or more don’t qualify for the student exception due to the Secretary of the Treasury’s amendment in 2004 concerning residents.

The University contends that the regulation was changed specifically to target medical residents, and that the regulation is arbitrary and conflicts with the statute.