Nobody Knows Anything

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The law of unintended consequences

Posted on January 31, 2005 Written by Diane

Well, I think you’ve got to file this one under “Oops”:

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.

There must be some way out of this conundrum, but boy am I glad I’m not the bureaucrat who’s got to figure it out.

Update: Oops to me! Sadly, No! sets me straight with a Sadly, No! on this one, with additional pointers to Damnum Absque Injuria and Snopes.

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