This is what happens when you throw morality out the window...

[Franklinnoble]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...30/wgerm30.xml



'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'
By Clare Chapman
(Filed: 30/01/2005)

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

When the waitress looked into suing the job centre, she found out that it had not broken the law. Job centres that refuse to penalise people who turn down a job by cutting their benefits face legal action from the potential employer.

"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."

Miss Garweg said that women who had worked in call centres had been offered jobs on telephone sex lines. At one job centre in the city of Gotha, a 23-year-old woman was told that she had to attend an interview as a "nude model", and should report back on the meeting. Employers in the sex industry can also advertise in job centres, a move that came into force this month. A job centre that refuses to accept the advertisement can be sued.

Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.

"Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" said Miss Ulyanova.

Ulrich Kueperkoch wanted to open a brothel in Goerlitz, in former East Germany, but his local job centre withdrew his advertisement for 12 prostitutes, saying it would be impossible to find them.

Mr Kueperkoch said that he was confident of demand for a brothel in the area and planned to take a claim for compensation to the highest court. Prostitution was legalised in Germany in 2002 because the government believed that this would help to combat trafficking in women and cut links to organised crime.

Miss Garweg believes that pressure on job centres to meet employment targets will soon result in them using their powers to cut the benefits of women who refuse jobs providing sexual services.

"They are already prepared to push women into jobs related to sexual services, but which don't count as prostitution,'' she said.

"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars.

I have to hit some bars next time I'm in Germany!!!

[Cringer]

But is she hot?

Pix Pls, Thnx.

Ok, dumb jokes out of the way. That is B.S.

[flere-imsaho]

Wow, there's an unintended consequence....

[Klinglerware]

Whatever you think of welfare-to-work, there has to be some option to be able to refuse an assignment.

[weinstein7]

I think Flere hit that one right on the head. The inspiration behind legalizing prostitution I think was noble, to get prostitutes more legal protection. But man, this one is certainly kind of an "oops." Still, now that it's such a public embarrassment, I think they'll come up with a reasonable solution pretty quickly. It will be interesting to see where they end up drawing the line, or maybe they'll even redo the entire policy. I don't know if any customer service jobs at all should be included, because it's such a gray area.

[rkmsuf]

She must be hawt. They don't recruit just anyone for these spots.

[sachmo71]

Ironic that Franklin would post this.

[MikeVic]

I had no idea it was legel in Germany...

[Tekneek]

Which is worse? Their socialist system, or just that sex jobs are legal jobs? There is an easy way out of this for her. She can turn her back on being propped up by the socialist welfare system and then they have no power to force her to take a job she does not want.

[WSUCougar]

I guess that brings new meaning to the term "I'm going out for a little schnitzel."

[Arles]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

Which is worse? Their socialist system, or just that sex jobs are legal jobs? There is an easy way out of this for her. She can turn her back on being propped up by the socialist welfare system and then they have no power to force her to take a job she does not want.

Of course, it's hard to turn your back on the "socialist welfare system" when you get 70% of your pay taken out in taxes to have said system.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

Which is worse? Their socialist system, or just that sex jobs are legal jobs? There is an easy way out of this for her. She can turn her back on being propped up by the socialist welfare system and then they have no power to force her to take a job she does not want.

Well, isn't the socialist welfare system the only way to get healthcare in that country?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the problem with an all-inclusive policy like that.

[stevew]

I was gonna start a

"This is what happens when you throw Moriarity out the window...." parody thread. I will refrain however.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by stevew

I was gonna start a


"This is what happens when you throw Moriarity out the window...." parody thread. I will refrain however.

I deliberately titled this thread for parody potential... have at it...