New German Government expected to embrace issues of Digital Employment

This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.

The parties to the new German government, CDU, CSU and SPD, last night finalised their negotiations on the agreement on a coalition (Koalitionsvertrag) these days, which was presented this morning.

The coalition agreement sets out the political agenda of the German government for the next governmental period of the upcoming four years. The agreement describes the political goals of the new government in 8 chapters, comprising in total 15 subchapters.

Subchapter 4.4 is entirely dedicated to the "Digital Agenda for Germany". In this section of the coalition agreement and under the heading "Digital Life and Work - Strengthening Chances and Rights" ("Digitales Leben und Arbeiten - Chanen und Rechte stärken"), the parties are addressing the evolution of the workspace in the age of digitalisation and are stating the necessity for policy makers to react to the ascent of digital media at work.

This section contains provisions for the reconciliation of work and family by supporting work from home and remote management as well as protection for the digital exposed job applicant. The draft urges the social partners to promote teleworking jobs. It proposes that the social partners shall not only establish and equip such workplaces but they shall draw up arrangement that implement a worker's right to a teleworking place. The coalition seeks to link the achievements of digital working environment with concepts of flexitime.

Furthermore, companies are encouraged to expand their range of digital training and qualification tools. Apparently, the designated government foresees that digital measures arise at all levels of recruitment, training and the assignment of responsibilities.

Digital recruitment - or "e-recruiting" - is mentioned to shed light on the challenges of the digitalisation on employment and the negative impact on privacy digitalisation may have, especially in the scope of e-recruitment tools. The draft calls for greater job applicant and employee data protection. It mentions that employers should be restricted in monitoring social networks to gather private information on job applicants. The future coalition demands for greater respect of the private sphere and announces to prevent the circumvention of privacy settings in social networks or comparable platforms. Furthermore, the coalition agreement mentions the requirement to introduce effective means of protecting employees from stress following constant availability due to digital devices such as smartphones or tablet computers.

These developments do not come by surprise: in the past legislating period, parliament had established an "Enquête Commission" to deal with these questions and find apt and balanced solutions. The commission's report passed parliament in April 2013, and it has been expected since that the commission's results would be considered in the framework of setting out the political guidelines for the next legislative period that has now begun after the general elections.

We may now expect that the German parliament and government will begin tackling these issues, which arrive from the digitalisation of employment. Or in other words: Digital Employment has reached the government's agenda. We will report on any development in German legislation, which refers to these issues.