If you want to know why Europe’s largest economy is a digital laggard — indeed, if you want to know why progress is difficult anywhere — regale yourself with a trip into the fine print of a new German law governing employment contracts.
The occasion for the anecdote is a directive from Brussels requiring all 27 members of the European Union to update their legislation on what employers must stipulate when hiring people. This concerns everything from pay to vacation and other conditions. The world of work has changed dramatically since the EU first opined on these matters in 1991 — just think of the gig economy, teleworking or home offices. So a good legislative tweaking makes eminent sense.
The EU’s instructions mention explicitly that “in light of the increasing use of digital communication tools, [this information] can be provided by electronic means.” Duh, you might say. But it’s good to make clear that employers and employees should have a choice for their contracts: paper, PDF or both.
Except Germany isn’t having any of it. It just passed a law that completely bans digital contracts and signatures. Whether you’re a coder who finds jobs online, an Amazon delivery guy or a Dilbert character, you’ll now get the fine print of your terms on paper — the dead-tree kind. And it’ll have your new boss’s signature in just-dried ink. If employers provide a digital contract instead, they’ll get fined up to 2,000 euros ($2,049) for each instant.
This sort of thing is, of course,...
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