Corner Cases Example

[andrewducker]

Here's a perfect one:
1)German employment law states that if you've been unemployed for over a year then you must take any job offered to you.
2)In a bid to cut down on the trade in women and other mistreatment of prostitutes, Germany has legalised brothels.

Can you guess what the end result of this is?

Read about it here.

I'm looking forward to reading your responses to this one :->

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

It's not true, it's just some urban myth put about by social conservatives as an argument against decriminalising the sex industry. In fact the German law which decriminalised prostitution put some explicit controls in place - you aren't allowed to coerce women into prostitution, prostitutes don't have to work enforced hours or work out a notice period if they resign etc. In other words, the law is set up so that nobody has to work for even one day in the sex industry without full consent.

If it were set up like this it would be appalling of course, but it could never happen in a Western social democracy.

[stillcarl.livejournal.com]

It does seem to be a story with little foundation, as in it doesn't seem to be government policy. From here: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=664273

Mon Jan 31, 2005

A spokesman for the Federal Labour Office said that if job seekers said they were prepared to work as, for example, dancers in strip bars, advisers could put them in touch with any suitable employers, but vacancies would not be displayed in job centres.

He also stressed job centres would not look for prostitutes on behalf of brothels, nor offer sex industry jobs to people who hadn't specifically mentioned it as an area of interest.

Speculation has grown over recent weeks that Germany's new welfare reforms, obliging the long-term unemployed to take any available job or risk losing their benefits, could lead to women being offered jobs in the sex industry.

So, no more than speculation, with the original article Andrew cited being a bit of a beat-up, I suspect.